ReTRo HouSeWiFe

RETRO-SPECTIVE: HOUSEWIFE FASHION:

 TV Covers the Mini Skirt

IT'S A MOD, MOD, mod, mod world! And U.S. television viewers got a glimpse of it on a recent ABC-TV color special,- "The Mini-Skirt Rebellion," which turned out to be one of the utter modness for armchair girl watching. - It was a light-hearted, pop-eyed look at the leggy mod maids and explosive styling, trends that have turned the mini-skirt into England's newest, most exciting industry. From London to Los Angeles, the booming boutique business was stressed as the raised hemlines raised the blood pressure of male viewers and the eyebrows of middle-aged matrons.

The half-hour documentary emphasized that there's far more to the scanty-skill saga than mere fashion news. It's about a swinging young English generation which forgot about being angry and discovered how easy it is to make money. "It's a revolution in retailing," said the young American director Bill Kyriakis, who made the Carnaby Street scene. You have to see it to believe it. These kids start out with little money, no inhibitions and a flair for the what's now fashion." His cameras captured this angle—the young designers and their offbeat, shops catering to the Right Now Generation that has made boutiques big business in London and, now, along Main Street, U.S.A. "The shops not only have a new look but a new sound," Bill said. His sound track recorded the mod yeah-yeah beat. The kookie and catchy music even gets middle-aged mothers in a mini-mood. "Records blast off with an upbeat," he said, "that seems to send shoppers into a frantic buying fever. Full racks are emptied in no time at all. Supply can hardly keep up with the demand."

"The Mini-Skirt Rebellion," filmed in London, New York and Hollywood, covers the mod fashion trend from both sides of the Atlantic. There were shots of the London boutiques Bazaar, Biba, Countdown and Top Gear. Film star Jill St. John is shown trying on a mini-dress at Gene Shacove's boutique in Beverly Hills, Calif., and being reassured: "You've got the legs for it.".

Chris Noel, who recently toured. U.S. military installations in Vietnam, is seen doing her disc-jockey broadcast for the Armed-Forces Radio in her favorite attire - a mini-skirt. The lithe, leggy London models, including Twiggy, the 17-year-old British mannequin, are shown amidst the pulsating background of discotheques and the most "in" boutiques in town. Among the mod innovations featured are a mini-dress that lights up and one made of bottle caps. Women's Wear Daily, the U.S. trade publication, commented: "The ABC show gave a wonderful bird's eye view of what's making fashion tick today . . . . Let's hope that 'The Mini-Skirt Rebellion is just the beginning of a whole new series showing fashion as it is today because this program was great."