No Zippers, No Buttons, No Hassle

DEAR HOT: I’m an elderly woman with severe arthritis, but just because I can’t button buttons or zip zippers anymore doesn’t mean I want to live my life in muumuus and pull-on, elastic-waisted pants. Is there anyplace I can find more fashionable clothes with Velcro or similar fasteners?

DEAR HOT SHOPPER: We don’t know anybody who’s making skintight, Guess?-style jeans without buttons or zippers, but JC Penney is offering a zipperless, buttonless, Chanel-inspired suits.

In fact, Penney’s now has a small catalogue for women who cannot wear clothing with traditional closures. The fashions are designed with no buttons and no back zippers. Velcro fasteners, roomy armholes and other features make putting on clothes far less frustrating. A free copy of the Easy Dressing Fashions catalogue is available by calling (800) 222-6161 and asking for item TA 953-7689A.

DEAR HOT: I have a rule when I shop: If the whole outfit doesn’t come on one hanger, I don’t buy it. This way the colors and/or patterns are matched exactly--by pros! But my friends disparage my wardrobe as unimaginative and unfashionable because of my one-hanger rule. What do you think?

MISS STEIN SUGGESTS: I know plenty of people--possibly like yourself--who don’t have a knack for putting together a polka-dot skirt by Designer A with a floral blouse from Designer B and making it look decent.

Manufacturers and designers realize this, too, so they frequently match everything up for you. But wearing a prefab ensemble won’t carry your sense of style--you have to give it that yourself, and accessories are the best way. The jewelry, scarves, shoes, belts and handbags you wear with an outfit can give it an imaginative touch. And that way, you won’t look like one of those little designer clones I like to make fun of.

MISS KRIER ADDS: I admire anything that brings simplicity, efficiency and beauty to life, and it sounds like your one-hanger rule may do precisely that.

But it also drastically limits your wardrobe choices. Too many glorious items--sweaters, for example--don’t always come with matching separates in tow. That’s where the real fun and challenge of shopping begins. It takes more time, but when you discover the perfect complement for your outfit, you experience the consumer equivalent of finding the Holy Grail--or at least discovering a Judith Leiber handbag for less than $300.

DEAR HOT SHOPPERS: While shopping at Bullock’s, Century City, a few days ago, we found an adorable black and white bustier and asked the salesperson to put it on hold while we decided whether to spend $34 on something we absolutely did not need.

“Sorry, I can’t hold it for you,” said the salesperson. We were sure she hadn’t heard us correctly, so we asked her again. She replied, “We don’t put things on hold.”

In a nearby department we asked another salesperson if the store had stopped its policy of putting merchandise on hold for customers. Yes, she said, it was a new store policy.

We called Kathy Waugh, Bullock’s Atlanta-based vice president of public relations. “There is no across-the-board policy not to hold merchandise,” she told us. “There are some stores where the requests for customer holds have been so excessive that someone coming in to shop can’t find their size, and the store might have been reacting to that. But Bullock’s will still hold merchandise.”