The Dresses of the Duchess.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 44, 22 February 1927, Page 10

The Dresses of the Duchess.

Fashions that are Typically English as a Wild Rose.

The Duchess of York will have little time for shopping during the course of her tour, so her "u-anlrobe was completed before she left London. The clothes are all very charming. Some of the original models were elaborately embroidered and trimmed, as is the way of many simply cut frocks Jiowadays. In each case, however, the Duchess had tin* embroideries cither entirely omitted or reduced to a minimum, and the resulting simplicity and absence of fussiness i< a great pain in artistic and elegant effect. Of the hundreds of thousands of Australian women who will take the keenest interest in what the royal visitor wears, every one with an instinct for dress will agree that the Duchess gives an excellent lead to younger women in fashions that are as typically and fragrantly English as our own wild rose.

Of an exquisite soft blush-rose shade is one ensemble suit. The dress, in crepe de chine, is ornamented with hand-done pin tucks which are arranged in decorative manner in dual lines and small lozenge shapes on the skirt and above the narrow tie belt. The latter is fastened with a pinkyfawn buckle and eyelets. The coat worn over this is of softest kashmir cloth lined with crepe de chine to match the dress. It is collared and cuffed in sable and, though cut on straight lines, has a belt which is stitched on flatly at the back and is left loose in front to fasten with a buckle. Lilac-Mauve Summer Tweed and Moire. A very delightful suit is in summer tweed with a smooth finish. It is i in lilac mauve, through which white threads are woven. The short coat has cuffs and collar of cream fox and is lined with lilac-mauve moire to match the jumper which is worn with a skirt of the same fabric as the coat. The jumper has the V-shaped corsage opening turned back with Carrickmacross lace and an ornamentation down the front of about a dozen small overlapping ovals of the moire caught with as many email gilt buttons. The cuffs have a little ornamentation to match. In the skirt of a lovely mauve crepe de chine jumper suit all the fullness is arranged in seven narrow box pleats forming a front panel, these being stitched down part of the way. The front of the jumper has a V-shaped neck opening, the reverse being provided with long narrow ends, the only ornamentation being a second layer of the crepe de chine in fancy shape stitched on. Useful for Train Travel. This suit is duplicated in beige, which ought to prove a useful colour for train travel. All the juniper suits, it is interesting to note, have a long, plain, almost coat type of sleeve. A silver grey jumper dress is similarly severe in style, and a pale blue jumper dress with two side panels of fine pleats has a. little embroidery in white on the corsage. The Duchess has beautiful pearls, and the plain type of corsage shows them to good advantage. 6 An attractive little garment which the Duchess has had made like many of her clothes, at the Nattier salon in Maddox Street is one of those sleeveless coatees such as Mere worn last year at Burnt* DeauvUle, and La Boule. These were darned all round, border fashion, in bri-htly coloured wools and had ornamental pockets. "The Duchess , coatee is forget-me-not blue in colour, the ornamentation being done in aluminium and varvin" shades of blue. * e Picture Gown With Longer Skirts. Those people who admire long skirts and those ■who have been trying hard to bring them back to fashion in evening gowns will be interested to know that one of her Royal Highness' evening dresses, a deep cream lame, has the skirt full and rather long. As is the fashion with these new long-skirted dresses it is designed on picture lines. So is an evening frock of apricot velvet, the soft chiffon-ibacked variety that is so light in weight and so supple in wear. Pale pink satin and chiffon are used for another dinner gown with trimmings of bugles and big pink paillettes, narrow ends of the latter hanging at intervals down the skirt. The hats which the Duchess has had made are light in weight and light in colour. They follow the style which she usually adopts in being closely upturned in the brim and trimmed at the )Hght side. It is a style very well adapted for a royal wearer, since hate on those Hβ es remain in .and .do not require that fraction of readjust-

nient or that surreptitious pat or little pull which the average woman can occasionally give to her millinery—but which is denied royalty. Velvet and Felt Millinery. To wear with a pale pink sable-trimmed ensemble suit a delightful little pink velvet hat is fashioned, with the crown drawn up in goffered fashion, a sheaf of soft plumage exactly to tone being arranged at the right side in conical fashion, the wide part turning towards the front. A mauve felt model for wear with the mauve summer tweed suit lias one of those miniature belts, about half ar inch wide, in silver mesh passed round the crown to buckle at the right side. A white petersham ribbon with the ends frayed is the only ornamentation to a white crochet straw hat.

Shoes for the Duchess. The Duchess prefers shoes fastened by a strap, and in consequence the stock of Pinet shoes she has ordered are all of this type. Among those for sport and serviceable walking shoes there are several pairs in lizard skin. One pair, dyed bois de rose, is quite plain with a single bar and a medium heel. Anotlie, design is in white buckskin ornamented with tan calf. Her Royal Highness—who takes size 4—has all her shoes made with a short, slightly rounded toe. The pretty soft shade of blue which so frequently figures in items of the Duchess , wardrobe also appears in her shoes. A sandal shape in soft kid of this shade has a perforated vamp, the perforations having insertions of white kid. Replicas of this shoe have been made also in beigo and grey kid. The Duchess is fond of Beauvais embroidery for trimming, and has ordered a pair of black and a pair of beige satin slippers decorated with a rose design.

Turquoise Pearl Trimming. One pair of blue satin evening shoes has the vamp outlined with pearls and turquoise trimming. A pale pink satin pair was dyed to match the ornamental heel the Duchess has chosen. This is painted pale pink and is encrusted with diamente and red stones. Some of the shoes for evening wear have a single strap, others have the central strap of diamente as well as the strap with which the shoe is fastened. Two pairs of pink satin mules trimmed with chiffon flowers to match are replicas of those made for the Duchess' wedding trousseau.