Hip Zip

At first the zip fastener seemed like a machina ex deo: a lightweight, lightning-fast way of closing the fabric gap with none of the muss of laces or the fuss of snaps, the bulge of buttons or the bother of hooks and eyes. To be sure, there were snags--a bit of silk here, a pinch of flesh there--but such were the risks of a game that pitted mortal ingenuity against an army of tiny, tenacious metal teeth. Only the teeth always won.

Casualties were heavy on both sides (not to mention abdomens, rib cages and lower backs). For, like superhighways, zippers were super only so long as all systems were go; let one tooth snap and total chaos was sure to ensue, and did. Chief villain was the overlying flap of material originally designed to camouflage, but ultimately destined to sabotage the zipper by slipping, snarling and snagging.

All the same, when zippers worked, they worked wonders, and few dressmakers dared boycott them. Occasionally, on an elegant suit, a fur coat or a ball gown, there was nothing for it but to button; for zippers were never thought handsome enough to merit exposure in polite society. What was called for, obviously, was a version half the size and bulk of old-fashioned metal zippers that would lie flat, be invisible and lock to perfection. Eventually, Pennsylvania's Talon Inc. came up with a nylon model guaranteed not to unzip female vertebrae, recently turned out a similar model that spares men the embarrassment of a "gleaming fly" or, worse still, suddenly unzipped trousers.

But now French and U.S. designers have suddenly decided that the zip is hip, the bigger and more blatant the better. As Paris Designer Emmanuelle Khanh put it, they "go with the times--the machine, fireball sports cars and speed." They are going too well in the U.S.: zippermakers are busting a gusset trying to meet demand, as designers clamp flies on everything from short-short shorts to evening clothes.

French couturiers also got busy building the bulkiest models available --luggage zips--into prominent places in their fall collections. Some buffs stuck to conventional zipperables, like slacks and jackets. Not so High-Fly Prophetess Khanh, who went ahead and zipped pockets, sheaths and hats, as well as a skirt that opens into a culotte. Her chef-d'oeuvre, a dress that zips from top to bottom, is a sellout wherever it goes. And no wonder.

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