What’s in a Name?

Regarding “Fonda Photos Click for Free Versace Duds” by the Fashion ’89 staff, Feb. 10):

Now that you’ve allayed my worries about the ethics of Jane Fonda’s gift clothes, please walk me through its economics.

Fonda spokesman Stephen Rivers claims that she (Fonda) would never spend “that kind of cash” on her clothes; Versace designs sell for between $4,000 and $20,000 each. It seems Fonda elected to model the clothes and got her choices of several of them, “free of charge,” in exchange for modeling them.

Now, I believe that Versace would not be willing to make the same deal for me, which leaves me to think that Fonda’s name has more commercial value than does mine. Therefore, logic dictates that Fonda’s modeling of the clothes could have been readily translatable into several thousand dollars’ worth of cash, instead of the designer dresses she chose to accept. She could then have used the money more in keeping with her professed priorities--whatever they might be.

ANNE A. VILKIN

Los Angeles