FASHION NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 28

FASHION NOTES.

(BI AN EXPERT.)

PARIS, February 24. Paris has provided a fine field this season for all women who would, be well dressed and have a background suitable to their clothes. There was a time when dressmakers were jußt, dressmakers, but to-day they are a hundred things as well.. They design frocks and the rooms in which they shall be worn. They make hats and lingerie, scents and umbrellas; they collect pictures and pottery; their fitting rooms are furnished like museums; they give balls, tango and concerts, and before their autocracy, that of the Roi Soleil pales. The. caprices of Marie Antoinette are mild things when compared with their wild fancies, and the wealth of millionaires is theirs. The women who dare to gainsay them are brave. Fortunately, they uphold their authority by real taste, when they find those who can appreciate it. All the greatest dressmakers this season have specialities. One charms by the originality and the well-bred simplicity of her styles; another has a flair for knowing what the girf who plays golf and the woman who does exercises likes; a third is expressive of the inner Parisian socjcnry which dresses simply in the streets and richly indoors. Prices, of course, are awful; this is inevitable, when the Exchange looks so good to the individual foreigner, though it may be bad for his country. There are materials, so clever in design, so good in texture\that they cost les yeux de la tete. And the dressmakers employ brodeuse, who must be well paid. Add to that the actual cost of the work, the wages of the staff, and the upkeep of a palace, such as most dressmaking houses now are, and you will not be surprised that the dress of madame and the hat of madame cost as much as some of her jewels.

There is a curious reaction of a historical nature in the style of many evening dresses. Many of them are being cut with medieval lines, especially like the petticoats worn at the Court of Marie de Medecis. Many houses are exhibiting this style of cut. Ifls a fulldress, short and generally in very soft blue or mauve. Colours in the evening shimmer and glow; they are mixed-to harmonise, as well as to form a contrast. Tulle is thrown about the shoulders in one or two shades to go with the dress. Shoulder scarves are a part of the dress now, and many have fur, embroidery or tasselled ends. Fringe, tassels, every kind of embroidery, lace and braiding and buttoning, come into the trimming. Feathers are still used, and fur trims everything, einmply everything it edges lace, chiffon, silk and satin; it is conspicuous on tulle frocks, even, and on lame it looks almost regal. It forms collars and cuffs on coats of every description; it is put on.to look like an underskirt. It lines cloaks and capes, and those new evening capes shaped; like shawls, which are so graceful. Some houses believe in reproducing the famous Riviera sunsets in evening dresses and capes. This is the latest Cote d'Azur innovation. The dress and cape have the exact appearance of the different lights seen in the sky at sunset. "i v There are, above all, two great old-new facts to recall. The .total, absence of sleeves in the evening frock/ and -the extraordinary' elaborate affair that. they - have become in the day frock. They are full and they are narrows They are trans-, parent. They are'opaque. They fall in wide, loose billowis- roundthewrist,'of button closely almost to the knuckles. They are slashed and they are ruffled.' They are ornate and they; are, plain. The jjr. are gaint-like _nd frumpiah-in outline; they flop about the wrists. In fact, the wider and longer you can'get them and the more they flop about your wrists the better.-* They are indeed an extraordinary mixture-of any and every style that has ever been Been. There is only one exception—you may wear anything you like, except that monstrosity of the late Victorian, the leg o' mutton. , Under sleeves, guimpes and vests, much in demand,-are shown in- many new and attractive styles. The wide flare and the short plain coat: sleeve that ends at the elbow, or shOrt'of.iti are popular. These accessories in muslin, lace, crepe and chiffon, have usually- been white. But n'ew;and exceedingly interesting variants are done now in coloured georgette, chiffon or marquisette; to harmonise with or match the' gown. °Blu_-and beige, black, and white, scarlet: and ; grey,.and other colours are shown. , -V

Our Sketch. The illustration Bhows a pretty afternoon frock in Jasper-coloured silk mus-

lin, the inset sections on the bodice part and the skirt being of the same muslin,, with delicate embroideries in jasper and purple.