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Please, May 1 Buy a Dress With No Top
(Editor's note: Sidna Brower is 23, comes from Memphis, Tenn., is a former editor of the University of Mississippi Mississippian and winner of a Scripps-Howard Henry Taylor internship under which she currently is working with United Press International in London.)
1 stared timidly at the current world stir, the topless dress. It had taken me all week and several trips to Oxford Street to work up enough courage to ask for the new fashion.
LONDON — (UPI) — "There 'tis,
Madam—the dress."
My curiosity finally got the best of me. I bravely walked past the naked bust mannequin in the window. After fumbling among the rain-coats for a few minutes, I blurred out my request to the saleslady.
By Sidna Brower
Summer Session Kansan
"OH, OF COURSE, right over this way," the plumpish bleached blonde said as she led me to a rack with four black sheaths hanging in cellophane bags.
"May I try one on?" I gulped.
"Actually, I just want to try one on." my voice trailed off in a panic as she turned to another woman.
May I try one more?
"I think so, dearie, but let me check," the saleslady said. "You may have to order one."
"Here, dearie, follow me," the blonde said. "You can probably buy this today. Usually, you have to order them, but we have several extras today."
"Why, we've sold hundreds," she rapidly answered. "Well, here 'tis, Madam—the dress."
"YOU MEAN, you've had that many requests?" I asked with a little more confidence.
When she closed the door, I stared at the slinky black dress and glanced around the tiny dressing room.
Cautiously I peeped through the narrow crack in the window to make sure no one could peep in. One more glimpse around the drab cubby-hole and I decided I might as well plunge in. Or out?
WITH A SHORT tug, I achieved the intended effect. I shuddered. What if my dear mother could see me now? But on second thought...
Then I recalled the label on the dress—"It's a symphony." Yes, I suppose such a dress would cause quite a bit of noise, but not necessarily music.
I undressed and dressed—if you can call it that—at record setting speed. At once I realized the topless dress wasn't designed for my figure. The neckline was only sweeping—not absent.
More thoughts rushed through my mind when suddenly I shivered. Not that the stuffy little room was chilly. Self-consciously I looked over my shoulder and took one last look at the profile in the mirror.
Hastily I threw on my own conservative clothes and not a moment too soon. Just as I had feared, the saleslady barged in.
"WELL, DEARIE, how did it do?" she inouired.
"It doesn't fit," I sheepishly replied.
"It doesn't fit around here," I said, indicating the waist.
p "What do you mean 'it doesn't
6t?'" she snapped.
"But that isn't the point, dearie, is it?" she remarked. "Don't you want it?"
Friday, July 3, 1964
"No. I really don't think so," I admitted. She grabbed the dress and walked out, looking, no doubt, for braver souls.
Slowly I started out of the store.
The mannequin with the toppless dress in the window now had a chiffon cape draped over her shoulders. Well, no wonder!
A University of Kansas alumnus, who earlier this month received KU's citation for distinguished service, has been elected to a 5-year term on the governing corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
KU Citee Wins Term On MIT Corporation
M. Wren Gabel of Rochester, N.Y., a native of Larned, earned an engineering degree from Kansas in 1931, and was the honor man of that class. He is now executive vice-president of the Eastman Kodak Co.
Three films will be shown at 8 p.m. today on the lawn east of Robinson Gymnasium. They are "Hawaii Calls," "Three Trout to Dream About" and "Glacier National Park."
Three Films Tonight
SAIGON, South Viet Nam—(UPI)
—Communist Viet Cong guerrillas ambushed a South Vietnamese army convoy in broad daylight Wednesday. Twenty-nine soldiers were killed and five were missing. At least three Communists were killed.
Ambush Strikes Viet Convoy
The Defense Ministry said the Red rebels hit the convoy of 27 vehicles before noon as it climbed into the foothills of the rugged central highlands near An Khe, 258 miles north of Saigon.
The trucks were carrying supplies from the coastal city of Qui Nhon to the headquarters of the Vietnamese army's II Corps at Pleiku.
The Communists left three bodies behind before they were beaten off, but their full casualty toll was not known. The Reds also lost three submachine guns. They captured one machine gun and 30 smaller weapons.
In other violence, a bomb believed to have been thrown by a Communist terrorist exploded yesterday on a sidewalk several hundred yards from the American officers' quarters in a Saigon suburb. A Chinese taxi driver was injured. The bombthrower escaped.
Jaycees to Present Fireworks Saturday in Stadium
An extensive Fourth of July fireworks display will be presented in the KU Memorial Stadium at 8 p.m. Saturday.
The event, which is sponsored by the Lawrence Jaycees, also will feature a band concert at 7 p.m. at
the stadium by the Local Federation of Musicians Union No. 512.
The $1,700 display will feature a large selection of ground and aerial displays including the Apollo missile, seal juggler, Indian, buffalo, and flying fox.
Tickets purchased on an advance basis will cost 25 cents, and are available from many downtown merchants. Sales will last until 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets will be 50 cents at the door. All pre-school age children will be admitted free.
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