cover image The Fashion Cycle: A Behind-The-Scenes Look at a Year with Bill Blass, Liz Claiborne, Donna Karan, Arnold Scaasi, and Adrienne Vittadini

The Fashion Cycle: A Behind-The-Scenes Look at a Year with Bill Blass, Liz Claiborne, Donna Karan, Arnold Scaasi, and Adrienne Vittadini

Irene Daria. Simon & Schuster, $21.45 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-671-66729-0

From March 1988 to March 1989, fashion journalist Daria attended planning and working sessions of eminent designers Bill Blass, Liz Claiborne, Donna Karan, Arnold Scaasi and Adrienne Vittadini. Her day-by-day report, while burdened by minutiae, nevertheless offers an absorbing inside view of the ``rag trade.'' Daria conveys the air of urgency in the studios as the women's wear moguls prepare for the twice-yearly, make-or-break showings, spring and fall. There are intriguing notes on sources of designs (a colorful beach towel, film costumes); on crises demanding last-minute changes in some styles; on exhausting trips abroad, etc. But most impressive are glimpses of the designers as persons: Blass and Claiborne, competent and knowledgeable; Karan, driven to succeed in a career she ``hates''; Scaasi, promoting himself and his gowns and publicizing his famous customers, including the then-new First Lady. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)