Israel’s economic development received a boost yesterday at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Israel Bond Fashion Show and Luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria, when more than 800 women purchased $1.2 million in Israel Bonds to expand the growth of that country’s agriculture, commerce and industry.
Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D.NY) and Bess Myerson were special guests and mode award presentations to Eleanor Fields, who was the guest of honor, and Etta Goldstein, wife of the former New York State Attorney General.
Mrs. Fields is the immediate past chairman of the Greater New York Women’s Division of State of Israel Bonds, which sponsored the event. She currently serves on the National Executive Committee of the Israel Bond Women’s Division and as chairman of its Greater New York Advisory Committee. Mrs. Goldstein is a former fashion show chairman and now serves as Manhattan chairman of the Israel Bond Women’s Division.
To commemorate the silver anniversary of the Israel Bond Fashion Show, top American designers Bill Blass; Bonnie Cashin, Vero Maxwell, Mollie Parnis, Adele Simpson, Pauline Trigere and Maximilian Fury presented a retrospective of their own fashion creations in a prologue to the show. In their offering, “Hands Across the Sea,” they saluted Israeli designers on their 25-year association with Israel Bonds.
Alice Peerce, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Israel Bond Organization, told the luncheon guests that “Israel is convinced that peace is the true path to the future. Only Israel’s continuing economic strength and development can persuade its unfriendly Arab neighbors that there can be no alternative to peace.” She added “Clearly, then, Israel must remain strong economically–and the fashion industry is one avenue of the economy which is gaining yearly and helping the country to achieve that goal.”
Jane Stern, national chairman of the Israel Bond Women’s Division, who served as luncheon chairman, noted that New York’s annual Israel Bond Fashion Show-Luncheon has realized over $26 million in Bond sales during the past 25 years. “This is a record which is unparalleled in the annals of fashion presentations in the United States.”
Rivka Evron, wife of Israel’s Ambassador to the United Sates, extended greetings to the assembled guests on behalf of her country as the fashion show saluted Israel on the occasion of its 32nd anniversary of statehood.
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