There is a talismanic quality to the tough little jacket, thrown over a disco dress or topping a cat suit.

Absent were the disco dresses and "press dresses," the kind that make great runway photographs but seem improbable on the retail rack.

Then "the tube man" began designing disco dresses (an avid roller skater, he still convenes with the old Roxy crowd).

Fantastic as it seems now, when she is so tall and lovely in her spangled disco dress, she was then overweight and eight.

But come evening, disco dress for men and women alike strove for a flashy, look-at-me style that would attract the spotlight and stand out on the dance floor.

Richard Tyler worked the same magic in his show yesterday, with his lean silhouettes, the long proportions of that era, and even a disco dress, in a brilliant, confident collection.

Some suits can even double as disco dresses.

Liza Bruce, a London designer, created a swimsuit that can double as a disco dress on a hot summer night.

What disco dress means is hard to say.

Then she was roaring across the parking lot, the horror in her disco dress running after her.