"After all," asked Oscar Wilde more than a half-century ago, "what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months."

But, save for a few absurdities, Spring and Summer fashions would escape the malediction hurled by the fellow who himself wore flowing green silk neckties, a green velvet jacket and knee-breeches, and who strolled around London with "a flower or a lily clutched in his medieval hand."

For the most part, warm-weather attire remains a pretty stable affair. Cool, classic, and casual, the raw materials are cotton and acetate. Seersucker and cord suits, light-colored dresses made of cotton, and Bermuda shorts are among the Spring stand-bys.

The Starving Moth

A quarter-century ago, warm-weather designs were becoming so scant that an ananymous writer commented, "Give feminine fashions time enough and they will starve all the moths to death." Apparently, they haven't had enough time, and the moth is far from extinction. For a while, bathing suits threatened to disappear under the French influence, but they are once again coming into use as an article of clothing. Dresses, suits, and blouses are not spare of material, either.

Only Fantastical

As for the male, he must keep in mind Lord Chesterfield's admonition, "If you are not in fashion, you are nobody," and Robert Burton's warning, "He is only fantastical that is not in fashion."

The male, too, has certain staple garments on which to reply. Beige gabardines, blue and light-grey denims, nylon and cotton cords, and Irish linens give him a broad range of coats from which to choose. Trousers may be of the same material, but are usually the common chino or the warmish grey flannel. Of course, in ultra-uncomfortable weather, Bermuda shorts or chamois-bottomed crew shorts are in order.

And, in selecting their wardrobe, both male and female ought to keep in mind Joseph Warton's conclusions on fashion in his play of the same name: "Disguise it as you will.

To right or wrong 'tis fashion guides us still."