Garments

Earlier this fall, we wrote about a new catalog targeted at African-American women that will debut early in 1993; to be called "E Style," the catalog venture is being developed by Ebony magazine and Spiegel Inc.We've since learned that a catalog with the same target audience already exists. Essence By Mail catalog was launched seven years ago by Essence Communications, Inc., publisher of Essence magazine, and Hanover Direct, Inc., a mail-order retailer.Essence Catalog Director Michele Mullings, says, "We feature African-American women who model garments with the black figure (fit)

The Laurel ZIPS dry cleaners, along with 22 ZIPS locations on the East Coast, is offering free dry cleaning to the unemployed if they need an outfit clean for an interview. Those seeking free dry cleaning must present documentation that proves they are unemployed and looking for a job. In return, they are allowed to have three garments cleaned each week. There are no exclusions on the type of garments accepted and the offer will last as long as the economy remains bad. The Laurel ZIPS is located at 14705C Baltimore Ave.

Angela Grube quickly combed through the clothing rack ignoring several pristine looking garments before the prized item caught her eye: a black dress with a torn zipper and holes in the underarms. Grube was shopping in the basement of a vintage store in Hampden when she found the treasure: a three-quarter length, cocktail dress adorned with bluish glass beads atop embroidered trees. She basked in her good luck. The damage to the dress would be a quick fix for the self taught seamstress and vintage clothing store owner.

It can be one of the nasty surprises for breast cancer patients. After the lump, the biopsy, the surgery, the radiation and the chemo, the wig and the mastectomy bathing suit — as if these things were not enough — suddenly one arm, or both, swells monstrously, painfully. It is lymphedema. And nobody warned you about it. "I never expected it. I never even heard of it," said Tia Neale, a breast cancer patient who lives in Owings Mills. She is resting on an examining table at Mercy Medical Center's Weinberg Center while therapist Maureen McBeth gently massages her chest, stomach, arm and hand, doing manually what Neale's lymphatic system isn't doing on its own anymore — urging the fluid the body makes ceaselessly into the circulatory system and out of the body.

The Laurel ZIPS dry cleaners, along with 22 ZIPS locations on the East Coast, is offering free dry cleaning to the unemployed if they need an outfit clean for an interview. Those seeking free dry cleaning must present documentation that proves they are unemployed and looking for a job. In return, they are allowed to have three garments cleaned each week. There are no exclusions on the type of garments accepted and the offer will last as long as the economy remains bad. The Laurel ZIPS is located at 14705C Baltimore Ave.

The model cliche that '60s and '70s woman with a figure like Macaulay Culkin's no longer slinks down fashion show runways or sashays through photo shoots. She's been dethroned by curvaceous '90s models like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Elle MacPherson.And while these women are leaner, firmer and far more athletic than the hourglass goddesses of eras past Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Jane Russell there's no arguing that the femme fatale is back. With this new appreciation for cleavage and curves comes a renewed interest in what apparel manufacturers call "foundation garments."

Catsuits cause comments.Sometimes they're compliments. More often they're catcalls derisive references to thunder thighs, hippo hips and the urgent need for liposuction. Meow, meow. (Could this be why they're called catsuits?)The fact of the matter is, unless a woman is shaped like Cher, a clingy, one-piece catsuit is not the kindest cut of all.So why did so many designers include catsuits (a.k.a. bodysuits or unitards) in their fall collections? And why are so many stores stocking them?Of course, designers fit their creations on models, lithe, leggy women who look sensational in sleek, second-skin garments.

Who would have ever thought an old cotton nightshirt, a beige raincoat and some men's cotton socks would be given a serious display at a local historical society?These garments, all made in Baltimore, are surviving artifacts from a once-thriving clothing industry. Local sweatshops, factories and tailoring rooms once outfitted the South. From the 1880s through the 1920s, men's clothing production was Baltimore's leading industry in terms of numbers employed."Threads of Life" is a new and instructive show at the Jewish Historical Society, Lloyd and Watson streets in East Baltimore.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- It was a story of hope: a Central American sweatshop transformed into a unionized, worker-run apparel factory thanks to nearly $600,000 in loans and donations, including help from retailers Gap and Land's End, and the AFL-CIO. Boosters traveled to U.S. college campuses and church basements, promoting the Just Garments plant in El Salvador as a company looking to do well by doing right by employees. Impoverished Salvadorans saw a chance to earn better wages and to have a say in their future.

Teflon is no longer just about pots and pans.This fall, the protective surface treatment developed by the chemical division of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. for kitchenware also protects fashion wear."

Anna K. "Honey" Glebas, a retired Baltimore garment worker, died Tuesday of multiple organ failure at Stella Maris Hospice. She was 94. Anna Eva Kleinota, the daughter of immigrant tailors from Lithuania, was born in Baltimore and raised on South Paca Street. She was a graduate of Southern High School and had worked for more than 40 years as a seamstress for Stetson Dee and the Haas Tailoring Co. before retiring in 1973. She married Charles Glebas, a tailor, in 1934, and for many years the couple lived on Bateman Avenue in Windsor Hills.

Angela Grube quickly combed through the clothing rack ignoring several pristine looking garments before the prized item caught her eye: a black dress with a torn zipper and holes in the underarms. Grube was shopping in the basement of a vintage store in Hampden when she found the treasure: a three-quarter length, cocktail dress adorned with bluish glass beads atop embroidered trees. She basked in her good luck. The damage to the dress would be a quick fix for the self taught seamstress and vintage clothing store owner.

SALARY: $120,000 AGE: 49 YEARS ON THE JOB: 5 How she got started: : Zia Boccaccio, a native of Cuzco, Peru, easily remembers the first time she became interested in alpacas. She was 6 or 7 when she spotted an alpaca on a trip with her family to ancestral land in the Andes Mountains of Peru. She describes the animal as aloof, delicate and beautiful. When she was 21 years old, she married an American and moved to Washington. For about 12 years, she worked as an operational manager for Steilmann European Selection, a German fashion company.

Lena Della Schmidt, a retired garment worker and longtime Glen Burnie resident, died of heart failure Monday at Harbor Hospital. She was 70. Lena Ellingson was born in Baltimore and raised on Light Street. She was a graduate of city public schools. She worked for 43 years as a sewing machine operator for the Acme Pad Corp. on Warwick Avenue, before retiring in 1999. Mrs. Schmidt, who enjoyed playing bingo and cards, was an active member of American Legion Post 277 in Pasadena. Services will be held at 11 a.m. today at the McCully-Polyniak Funeral Home, 3204 Mountain Road, Pasadena.

Lillian E. Wright, a retired garment worker who held an office in her union, died of congestive heart failure Feb. 5 at the Genesis Healthcare Loch Raven Center. The Randallstown resident was 83. Lillian Elizabeth Harris was born in Baltimore and raised on East Eager Street. She attended Dunbar High School and later earned her GED diploma. In 1975, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Antioch College. For many years she worked the London Fog raincoat factory in Woodberry and was an member of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union, where she served a term as local president.

As head of a Park Heights children's mentoring program, David Edmondson, 30, is constantly telling his young charges to keep a neat haircut, tuck their clothes in, and most important, "Pull up your pants!" But that doesn't mean he's in total agreement with an Atlanta city councilman who has caused quite a buzz recently by proposing a ban in his city on visible bra straps and thongs and low-slung pants that expose underwear. "If I see my son [showing his underwear], I'm going to smack him straight in his head," says Edmondson, executive director of Children All Around Mentoring Program and a proponent of the neat-and-clean look.

New York--Maybe it's the result of the poor economy, her recent divorce or simply a welcome burst of creative energy.Whatever the reason, designer Rebecca Moses is suddenly awash in new projects.Though she didn't hold a fall show this year, it wasn't for lack of new garments to introduce. In addition to her regular sportswear collection, she has launched a separate knitwear collection as well as a new line called Rebecca Moses One Hundred and One. This one features perfect, go-with-everything basics, what Ms. Moses calls "fast, fun fashion."

THEY ARE either the greatest invention since liposuction or the worst since the chastity belt.In lingerie departments across the country, women of all ages, shapes and sizes are buying new types of foundation garments that promise to provide the control and shape of girdles, corsets and merry widows of the past but without the pain.It's a combination of fashion with foundations that is stirring up sales for many manufacturers. From 1989 to 1990, sales of body-shaping garments increased by more than $25 million, from $324 million to $350 million, according to the Intimate Apparel Council.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- It was a story of hope: a Central American sweatshop transformed into a unionized, worker-run apparel factory thanks to nearly $600,000 in loans and donations, including help from retailers Gap and Land's End, and the AFL-CIO. Boosters traveled to U.S. college campuses and church basements, promoting the Just Garments plant in El Salvador as a company looking to do well by doing right by employees. Impoverished Salvadorans saw a chance to earn better wages and to have a say in their future.