FASHION NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

FASHION NOTES.

USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL. BLACK BEING WORN. (By AN EXPERT.) Bean's inevitable comment in his diary, at the commencement of a new day, was, "Got up." This is a classic Blogan for the beginning of each epic of twentyfour hours. The one following it involves a lot of subtleties and complications: "Put on my clothes." If you are a woman, and of course you are, when you read fashions, the putting on the clothes means a great deal. Just getting into the protective covering demanded by the police, has very little to do with the ease, At any time, or in any place, clothes fox woman are supposed to enhance her person. Otherwise —what's the use? Gunny sacking will satisfy the representatives of the law. One of the great arts oi France is the transformation of clothes, from their mere quality of usefulness to a decorative aspect as well. They must not lose their necessary trait of being useful, but at the same time, in France, they must be ornamental also. Any little Montmartre maiden can tell you this. She will also add her opinion that Englishwomen think far too much of either the decorative side of clothes or the practical. My own opinion is, that Englishwomen think a vast too much of the utilitarian purpose of their clothes— how long they will wear, etc. They want smart clothes. Oh, yes, indeed, but they want them to endure through sunny, snowy, and rainy seasons. Therefore they often fail in attaining the grand chic, which is an inalienable attribute of the true Parisienne. Don't expect too much wear from your clothes, and you have a change to indulge in some sort of a beautiful fantasy, in delicate colour harmonies, and in lines that would other, wise be verboten. You can get along easily an entire season without many changes in costume, but each ensemble should not be chosen because it will do duty for more than one season of the day. Daily Seasons Divided into Four Seamstefs. These daily seasons are, roughly speaking, divided into four seamsters. The morning season, the afternoon, the dinner, and the evening. Sometimes the seasons merge, so that two of them become one, as, for instance, afternoon and dinner seasons, or dinner and eveing. In these cases, don't let your toilette be cut and dried for one daily season only. Never take the stability of morning into the erratic gaiety of evening. I haven't any faith in those costumes which are supposed to cover every occasion of day or evening. Maybe, they are immensely successful for isolated women, but in my experience they do not function properly. So to be safe, divide your day into as many seasons as your purse and your station demand. And let it go at that. It is better than essaying the impossible. Black Always in Fashion. There are many good models to be seen this season in black, and if our purse is limited we do well to choose black. Black satin, black moire, black mpe de chine, black marocain, black all go to make coats and dresses, from which we can select. A number of coats in soft black cloth, or dull black satin are this year trimmed in ermine. Bright colours do not look well in the street, and unless one has a car to hop in and out of, and an unlimited bank account, so that one can, when tired of red ensemble, or of the green frock, cast them aside for other colours, it is more sensible to have black,' or black and white. There are, of course, other nondescript colours, such as misty greys and smoky browns, which will bo quite as useful. These dead colours are all the fashion, and can be varied by the touch of another colour, carried out somewhere in the costume—the scarf, the collar, or the hat. So much of the colour depends upon the material. Good colours are never found in anything cheap. In buying an evening gown with an economical eye, a misty colour can again be chosen, since ii is the fashion once more to have coloured shoes. A black frock may have scarlet shoes, and a dark blue frock green shoes, or only the heel may bo coloured. This srives one the opportunity of camouflaging the same frock by a change of shoe Banana Lingerie Among New Colours Banana is one of the new shades exhibited in lingerie this season. A nightgown is shown of this shade. Of course, lingerie nowadays means "sets"—stepins, or scanties to match the nightgown Pinks and greens are also seen as well as white. Our Sketch. Lace is coming into its own again, and in this simple black crepe de chine frock we see it very effectively used as & finish to the Y-shaped corsage and cuffs.