FASHION NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 291, 9 December 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

FASHION NOTES.

SELECTION OF STYLES. SUMMER COLOURS AND BEACH CLOTHES. : _____ (By A PARIS EXPERT.) Although the dressmakers constantly advise their saleswomen, especially for evening dresses, to respect the length of the model, as the mannequin wears it, they declare that nearly always they cannot do this, because women insist upon having their dresses cut shorter. And isn't it curious how little women in general know what is becoming to them ? Aside from a few who form the clan of "the well-dressed woman," they imagine that in exaggerating a mode, they make it smarter. In reality, for a. smart woman there is no absolute rule for her fashion of dressing; she takes from each style what suits her and discards the rest.

And may I remark, however, very modestly, that I think that this last sentence of mine deserves etudy. In it, lies the secret of chic and the reason for French fashion prestige. Beyond a few general teachers, each couturiere creates as personally as any painter, and a dressmaking house is only successful when its type becomes so well known that one can sec a dress and say that is a dress made by "so-and-so," just as one can recognise a Raphael or a Botticelli. Each house has its own clientele.

Feathers Are In Again. Feathers, which were fashionable in pre-war days, are returning to favour again. Any women who have cherished bird of paradise plumes and ospreys in the bottoms of trunks for many years, may now bring them out and count themselves lucky not to have thrown them away, for such feathers are fetching high prices and arc used by every important milliner this season. A favourite hat trimming is the stiff quill clipped into triangular shapes and laid one over the other to make neat toques; indeed, the feather toque is a mode which is already firmly established. It may be of such downy plumes that it looks like velvet, or again each separate feather may be clearly visible.

Another trimming, but an expensive one, is the aigrette set straight against a crown, generally in the front, or in the middle of the back. Bird of paradise tails are seen placed stiffly on either side of a simple close-fitting toque. The peacock feather ie also to the fore where hat trimmings are concerned. A little toque I saw the other day composed entirely of soft sheeny green plumes, had, straight in front, a tall peacock feather. Lacquered feathers clearly prove the increasing vogue of waxed fabrics. Some are so heavily lacquered they appear almost like straw, and when need with such a material blend into it until only upon close observation can one distinguish straw from feathers. Summer Colours. How refreshing, yet how restful to the eyes, are the new summer colours. This year dressmakers, abolishing all dark or startling colours, eeem to favour soft pastel tinte of blue, green, yellow or pink. The blues, which range from deep cornflower to pale sky and powder blue, ifre lovely. Besides a quantity of deep pink, there is also a becoming rose-petal shade. A sober colour scheme consists of beige combined with warm apricot.

■ A tailleur with a three-quarter coat of beige tops, for instance, a light apricot dress in some soft fabric, such as mousselinc or georgette. A hip-length and long three-quarter wrap seen at the spring collections has ■now resulted in a regulation threequarter coat, which is very smart with the new dresses. Generally speaking, the line reijiains straight as ever, swathed belts about the waistline do away with any accentuated waists. Bodices, both for day and for the evening, are mostly draped or gathered, while from the normal waistline the skirts hang almost straight, with just sufficient fullness to permit easy movements. The combination of two blues in a single model, or of two pinks, is not uncommon, while that generally considered difficult colour combination, blue and pink, adheres in several models. r Beach Clothes. Immensely feminine are the new beach clothes. Not a pyjama is shown, but in their place are lovely beach aprons and frocks worn over smartly-tailored shorts. Bare backs that conform with the ever-popular tanning vogue, and the

narrowest of bretellcs, make these beach Snodels ideal for the warm summer weather.

To wear with theec new beach clothes the dressmakers have supplied copper bracelets, necklets and other ornaments. These have a moat obvious advantage, as the warm colour is so suitable for sun tan backs and arms. Ankle bracelets are also being worn, and dangling earrings of the same dull copper. A point in favour of this copper jewellery is that it does not tarnish and lose colour, as do the white and gold metals that were used formerly. Boyish Ensembles. Boyish "ensembles" and suits go out a good deal in fashionable society, done up with linen crash or patterned cotton. These suits wear big bows at the neck in most caees. However, the Parisienne, now having the run of her own stamping ground, keeps this boyish mode in its place, knowing only too well that it takee a slender Anglo-Saxon figure to get away with such severity. Cinema evenings, dinners in the Bois Se Boulogne and at the popular restaurants in Paris, reveal the Parieicnne, either in all black or playing the rustic' in field flower prints or checked materials. The all-black dress in crisp, transparent stuff, in silk with lace insertions, or ruffles over it, is the Parisiennc's meat, and she thrives on it. She wears the most frivolous of evening hats, often in lace or flowers to top such frocks.

Beautiful summer fripperies are the new heavenly twins in organdie —a little froth of a beret, with a dashing pair of gloves to match. The Curved Front Corset. The curved front coreet is coining back with a rush. Ap a matter of fact, this article of apparel has been battling for position for at least a year. Will the wasp waist take? This is the corset query that now confronts dressmakers and their clients. Echoes of this trim figure are already to be seen at the races and in places where women dance. Anyone who has watched the progress of the preeent-day feminine figure at Paris fashion openings, can be fully aware of the of clothing the young woman of to-day. All manner of flat-boned plaques applied to the front of present elastic corselet and girdle, have failed to control the rather pleasing curves of the girl of the moment. She may revel in easy jersey fabrics all day and wear a comfortable elastic ceiiiturc, but when evening dresses demand a long, lithe line, figure-control approaches, in the person of the fitter, with-corset in hand.