Q: My husband is throwing a big dinner dance to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary. He is a very attractive man, and after 25 years of marriage the women still go after him. I want to look absolutely drop-dead but can't make up my mind what color I should wear. Any suggestion?
A: The three colors that make for drop-dead entrances are white, pink and red. These also flatter and enhance most women's complexions.
In Milan, Giorgio Armani went for white. He says it is most alluring for evening:
"White can be mysterious as well as modern. I like a dress to glide over the body as easily as a sweater -- to have the fit of a second skin."
So try for white, and if you cover it with silvery beads, all the better for a silver anniversary.
Q: I've always been fascinated with fabrics. Even when I was little girl I collected scraps of different prints to make my doll's clothes. Last month on my 12th birthday, my aunt brought me a book from Bali on Indonesian batiks. They are so beautiful they made me decide to be a fabric designer. But no one in my family knows anything about it. How do I start? Is it difficult? Do I have to go overseas to train?
A: I turned to a woman who is one of the most respected artists in the field, Murray B. Douglas, for advice. She oversees all creative activities of Brunschwig & Fils, a century-old decorative fabrics firm. Ms. Douglas not only works with modern fabrics but helps develop reproductions for museums and historical buildings in America and Europe. She tells me you've already started your design career -- by your observation! "To understand designing decorating fabrics, you need to learn how fabrics are used in homes, and the effect of pattern and scale on furniture or as hangings."
Ms. Douglas suggests working with a decorator on Saturdays and after school to see how a professional chooses and works with fabrics. You should also find courses that will teach you about fabric manufacture. "Most important," she adds, is to "experiment at home with textile techniques. Keep a scrapbook and a camera to record ideas you like, and read the decorating magazines for trends.
"Museums are a great source of inspiration, and so are books about textile designs around the world.
"And consider the past -- good design lives comfortably in the future. Apply to a good design school, like the Philadelphia College of Textiles, the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Cranbrook Academy in Brookfield Heights, Mich., or the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York."
Designers and architects buy fabric from specialty fabric houses like Brunschwig that create their own unique designs that can be had in quantity.
"We have our own design department where the development of a collection takes two or more years. We also use outside designers to develop our ideas and occasionally buy completed designs directly from artists who understand our style.
"I wish you well," Ms. Douglas concludes. "I have very much enjoyed my career in textiles."
Send questions to Elsa Klensch, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Times-Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.