FASHION NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 85, 11 April 1925, Page 22

FASHION NOTES.

(By AN EXPERT.)

i PARIS, December Iβ. ) Skirte in Paris! Are they slit and 1 slender? Bouffant or beaded? Draped jor dragging? Sashed or swathed? Pan- . niered, tucked, or shirred? ' Do they ' shimmer in satin, or twinkle in spangles? ', Do they trail in chiffon or fluff in net? Do they serge in town, and gingham in ! the country? Flannelled in the morning? And furbelowed at midnight? Do they frill and flutter under lace, or stiffen and grow formal under embroidery? What, in the name of crepe-de-chine or velvet, are they doing to-day, and what will they do to-morrow? writes our Paris correspondent. These are the questions which buzz and burn in the brain of every blessed skirted being in France to-day; and' elsewhere, n'est-ce-pas? The debutante being pleasantly complimented over a cup of tea in the Place Vendome becomes suddenly deaf to her escort's allusions, to the depths of her eyes, or the curve of her cheek in a tormenting wonder with regard to what the rue de la Paix will have to say about the length of her new dancing frock. She is engrossed in thoughts which are turning on the problem of what kind of drapery girls will indulge in when they go out on a Saturday night's spree with their sheiks! This yearning to wear what is being worn in the Rue de Rivoli, in the Champs Elysees, on the Boulevard St. Germain, in the Avenue dv Bois, and, in fact, in all the smartest quartiers de Paris, affects even the housewife who is not supposed to have any longings beyond soap and sponge cake. Those girls who are not in the magic city where La Haute Couture reigns supreme —do the best they can any way. They chop off their skirts, and lop off their sleeves, and invest their hard-earned salaries in cosmetics, simply because they know that in the same monde de la Haute Couture, knees and arms are a la mode, and the powdering cheeks with lavender, and rouging nostrils a la mandarine, is considered aa chic as it is possible to be chic. This Season is a Tailored One. Each fashion season has its characteristic feature, its keynote—the tendency predominating throughout its clothes. You remember, perhaps, when the sports craze had us in its vice, and women, all seemed as if they were to start on a long and arduous hike. This year the samo group are more apt to look as though they had serious business at hand, and were bent on doing it efficiently—but nevertheless, decoratively. For this season is a tailored season, par excellence. Clothes depend for their chic on good line, deft handling, and excellent material. Flamboyant colour schemes, and wildly patterned things, will have few followers among the best dressed women. Afternoon dresses show a tendency toward the trailing type of thing which every woman adores to wear. Long, diaphanous draperies may float from ,one shoulder, or both, and masses of lovely, filmy stuff, may ewing and swirl airily from ; the hip. Many alluring models have been designed which wert obviously inspired by the butterfly. A straight slim sheath of satin, forms the foundation to which all manner of trailing draperies are attached. The popularity of the 1830 ekirt ruffle, at first but timidly shown by the couturier, and not too quickly adopted by their customers, seems unabated. Many of the new models show adaptations of this idea with great success. The favourite variations show a circular treatment in the front only—a single flounce, or several—but all calculated to give that "wind-swept" appearance that the popular "shingle" and the flat back, invariably do give. Nothing could be more characteristic of this age of speed we live in, than just this—the atmosphere of haste and hurry apparent in the silhouette of the moment. Black satin is again chic for evening, but light coloured chiffons and mousseline and georgettes hold their own also. A great deal of strass and crystal embroidery appears on these diaphanous and sheer materials, giving them a heavy, "frosty" effect, that is very lovely —very alluring. Much latitude is permitted in the evening silhouette. Many women still cling to the bouffant prown, but the majority adopt the tube frock, cut to flare slightly on the ankles Our Sketch. Our illustration shows an orchid coloured crepe-de-chine frock trimmed in narrow bands of ostrich. It is embroidered very quaintly in a pattern of

A cheap ' and permanent " polish for stoves can be made by mixing a cake of. ordinary blacklead and its weight in bluestono crystals to a paste with •warm water. Apply wth-a soft : brush and polish in the usual way,