fashion flak

I strongly object to the theme of the Aug. 25 edition of Home, as it was my understanding that Home was a magazine of creative ideas and inspirations for home building, decorating and remodeling; original culinary creations; useful tips on gardening, etc.--in short, a magazine for anything and everything that has to do with managing and living in a home. What Home should not be is a fashion magazine. And what fashions at that! Apparently, your editorial staff labors under the mistaken impression that all of your readers are: (1) female, (2) extremely wealthy and (3) not employed outside the home. The price tags on the fashions that you featured (“Time Won’t Tell”) were beyond belief. Who could possibly afford them, except the very rich? And who in her right mind would dare to wear a long, white satin dress to the office? Or a silk madder smoking jacket? Or Ralph Lauren’s luxurious velvet turtleneck (just the thing for burping the baby, perhaps)? Coincidentally, in the same Sunday edition of The Times there appeared, side-by-side, humorous articles concerning fashion by Erma Bombeck and Leo Buscaglia. Although they certainly are not fashion arbiters, I am taking the liberty of quoting a line from each to sum up my own fashion philosophy (and perhaps that of many other readers): “Depression babies never throw anything away” (Bombeck), and “I regard it as a supreme reward of a secure adulthood that I can observe passing fads and styles without feeling that I must be influenced by them” (Buscaglia).

And just what is a madder smoking jacket anyway? Madder than what--a wet hen?

Judith Goldstein

Woodland Hills

In this case, madder refers to a bright crimson color.--Ed.