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Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria was a wilderness of apple trees, fountains, and rearing white chicken-wire horses meant to conjure up the Normandy resort "Deauville, Ville du Cheval." It was time for the biggest party of October in New York, the April in Paris Ball. The 1,400 jewel-hung society folks from all over the U.S. and nearly 100 from Paris jammed into the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom and adjoining suites for a nine-hour blast for four French and American charities. "A gay and brilliant assemblage," said the society reporters next morning. It was indeed...
...Frenchman created rayon back in 1884, and European textile makers began weaving fabrics out of nylon a year after Du Pont developed it in 1938. But the havoc of World War II and a certain resistance to wash-and-wear and wrinkle-free clothes made Europe lag behind the switch to synthetic fibers that swept the U.S. in the 1950s. Now Europe is making up for lost time. Synthetic fibers have become a $2.6 billion business in Western Europe v. $2.4 billion in the U.S. Close to two dozen new chemical-based fiber plants are being built in Europe...
...addition of synthetics to wool, which makes for more durable pleats and a less rumpled look. Five years ago, the German clothing industry used almost no synthetics; now it weaves acrylics and polyesters into everything from socks to sweaters, has transformed the brassiere and girdle business by introducing Du Font's stretchable Lycra fiber. The Swedes practically live in synthetic parkas and stretch pants during the winter. Such designers as Pucci and Courrèges make dramatic use of the new fibers in their creations...
...Real Danger. The fiber makers are crossing borders and oceans to vie for markets. Courtaulds is building plants in Sweden, Imperial in Portugal, Holland's Algemene Kunstzijde Unie (A.K.U.) in Spain. Farbenfabriken is building in Belgium, Chemstrand in Scotland, Firestone in France. Du Pont will finish a new Dacron and nylon plant in Germany next year...
...rale is also growing in the Congo. Although the Congo government itself is now the biggest stockholder in the company's ore-mining subsidiary Union Minière du Haut-Katanga, Premier Moise Tshombe, an old friend of Union Minière, does not interfere with Brussels leadership-a fact that has encouraged the firm to increase its investment at the rate of $20 million a year. The Belgian company still suffers from some political tribulation. In former rebel territory, where ten of its employees were murdered, production of cotton and palm oil has been severely curtailed...