Nancy Reagan in a Final Bow as the Other Transition Starts

Nancy Reagan, capping a flurry of activities connected with the “other transition”--the switch of the First Ladies--conducted a personal tour Wednesday of the White House family quarters for Barbara Bush.

Mrs. Reagan, hoarse with laryngitis, served coffee to Mrs. Bush in the Yellow Oval Room before taking her through the third-floor presidential living quarters.

Like many women moving into a new house, Mrs. Bush wanted to know, “Where do you do the laundry?”

“A lot of people don’t think about laundry in the White House,” said Elaine Crispen, Mrs. Reagan’s press secretary. “Mrs. Bush did ask if there was a laundry room and where it was. She had been in the house many times but not in all the nooks and crannies.”

The White House tour was part of a busy week for Mrs. Reagan, who was honored by the fashion industry and participated in her last anti-drug abuse event Monday in New York. On Tuesday night, President and Mrs. Reagan hosted a White House farewell dinner for the cabinet members and their spouses.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Bush--who has kept a low profile out of deference to Mrs. Reagan--has been taking more steps into the public spotlight.

She granted her first major interviews for release this Sunday, when she also will be featured on Time magazine’s cover. There also were reports that she would name her press secretary--she has been searching for a minority woman to fill the post--and other key staffers at week’s end.

In New York on Monday night, Mrs. Reagan was among 10 guests honored by the fashion industry at a glittery dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mrs. Reagan was widely criticized as First Lady for overemphasizing fashion and for borrowing expensive designer clothes without publicly reporting them after she had promised to cease that practice.

The fashion industry has been her great defender throughout, and on Monday the Council of Fashion Designers of America made its appreciation known. With designers Oscar de la Renta and Geoffrey Beene looking on, Mrs. Reagan was presented the group’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Barbara Walters, who presented the First Lady, praised Mrs. Reagan, saying: “Didn’t she always look and behave just right? . . . She gave us pride, gave us hope, gave us style.” Walters also said that First Ladies should be “encouraged to borrow” designer clothes because that “stimulates American industry.” The remark brought vigorous applause from the crowd of more than 600, which included Audrey Hepburn and Liza Minnelli.

Mrs. Reagan bid the crowd a sentimental goodby, saying, “There are many pluses and minuses to being in the White House. One of the pluses is trying to help an industry that is one of the most important in our country and I think the American fashion designers are the best.

“And when I found myself in the position to make others aware of that, or at least try to, I was delighted to do so,” said Mrs. Reagan, who wore a red satin, floor-length gown by Oscar de la Renta. It was a favorite she had chosen for the state dinner for Margaret Thatcher and last week’s Los Angeles welcome gala.

Mrs. Reagan did not view the industry award as vindication for recent criticism over her gown-borrowing practices, Crispen said, noting, “They had voted on presenting this award before that happened. It wasn’t done just because of that most recent barrage of criticism. It was done because she is so very public she can’t help but help the industry.”

On Tuesday, Mrs. Reagan participated in her last public event as First Lady, viewing a skating exhibition on Rockefeller Center’s outdoor rink by by local “Just Say No” anti-drug youngsters.

Mrs. Reagan will keep a low public profile as the Bush inaugural draws near, using the time to prepare to move to Los Angeles and issue personal goodbys.

The Reagans will have some Reagan Library Foundation donors to dinner Thursday night, as they have done in the past.

On Friday, Mrs. Reagan will have 200 members of the American Newswomen’s Club to tea at the White House, and on Monday she will be taken to lunch by six women members of the media who have traveled overseas with the First Lady.

After attending George Bush’s swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20, the Reagans will board a plane for Los Angeles. It would not be customary for them to attend the inaugural balls that night.

“They’ve danced around twice,” Crispen said.