FASHION NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 104, 1 May 1920, Page 20

FASHION NOTES.

I (BY AN EXPERT). I PAULS, January 19. The oiiddcu renewal of pre-war social activities has had the most surprising results. Against all rules of Parisian I fashion etiquette, half-a-dozen styles are appearing simultaneously, and the I struggle for supremacy w ill end, in my 'humble opinion, in all th.ye modes being I worn madly until one quite naturally predominates and lixes the l i>2o nilhouettc.. Xever has a season been more exciting than tliia one: the very air is charged with electricity, and Paris becomes itself once more. This is the iir.->t winter since the. war that Parisians have felt they had a perfect right to enjoy anything. As a result tbi-y give Ihcin- | selves up to periect orgiee in the shape of ordering new dresses, new capes, new hate, new every til ing. Paris is young—surprisingly young;. She is a llapper iv a party frock. Sans doute, a wise and wary flapper, a demivierge, with Seine-green eyes and eyelids that are a little wdary. After her four years of silent endurance, of agonising suspense, of selt-saerilioe, and Borrow — I when one went to the theatre out of bravado, and pretended that all was well with non-deceiving hypocrisy, Paris is ready for any and every pleasure. Playhouses and cinemas are crammed, dancing academies are so packed that innumerable regulations have been-drawn up Ito apportion so many dancers to such a '•yardage" of floor. There arc picture exhibitions everywhere. Photographs exhibit surprisingly "arrietic" studies, and their studios are surprisingly overcrowded. In a recent article T discussed the comparative merits of the panier. hoop and flounced models. These all continue to flourish happily, and only tiny details distinguish them from last month's dresees. A welcome luid totally different j style enters the ring, and I shall call it "Mediaeval" for want of a better name, as it is too new to be classed and labelled anything as yet. The bodice is semiTadjusted to the figure as far as the I waist; it continues about seven or eight inches below this line, but draped in circular fold around the hips. This is where the skirt begins; 6hirred all round the front, it is caught up slightly under a fold at the back, which explains the frequent difference in the hem-line, the latter being aften a trifle shorter at the back. A dress, launched by the creator of this style, is of black charmeuse; the collarless blouse has a low rounded neck, and follo-ws the lines of the figure until stopped at the hips by a heavily soutached three-inch .band of maize coloured braid; the arm-holes of the tiny set-in balloon sleeves are soutached in the same soft yellow; the embroidery wanders down, the side seam, and blossoms out into a gorgeous oval design on each hip. The slightly shirred skirt is caught up at the back and simulates a trim bow of fhe same black satin. sees frocks trimmed with leather—leather 'bindings, fringes, and bands pasted on or stitched on the cloth. Several of the new models show a very decorative trimming —a sort of

arabesque of black varnished leather cut | out and stitched on cloth or duveteen. j Then there are white kid ■waist-1 roats embroidered with black, waistcoats of beige suede embroidered with jet, :uid blouses of fine smooth pale yellow chamoie, girdled with linked metal dioi«. and embroidered a bit with metal ;>nd black silk. T'lmvers trim many evening frocks this KPiincm. From the flower eoraagc and: clusters of flowers, which trim many | inodek, to the simple knot or flower-1 pirdle, we see flowers everywhere. 1-Vather trimming Lμ used also, but it is ' iviil or imitation crosse, which is preferred just now to the ostrich that was so much worn last autumn. Beeidn, I there are many frocks trimmed with; dyed lien's feathers and pheasant's I plumes. The back of most evening froclss, with tlieir voluminous sashes, their | i|uaint little attempts at a train, and Die magnificent (?) expanse of back they I reveal, is far more striking than the! front view of a modest little i bodice (well, as modesty goes these days!) and slim ckiit, with only a Hare at the hips to L'ivc it character. OUR SKETCH. In creating gowns and wraps for theatre and evening wear, Paris docs not forget the jeune fille, witness the charming frock and wrap illustrated.

Almost absurdly '"fetching"* is this getup, with the litle skirt mado with six superposed rippling flounces of the palest pink satin-charmeuse topped with a wrap of pink panne velours, the whole embroidered with silver threads, a finishing touch being supplied by the trimming of soft whito swansdown.