FASHION NOTES

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 65, 17 March 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

FASHION NOTES

A LOVELY DREAM

MERMAID OR SHEATH LINE. (By A PARIS EXPERT.) Paris is the setting dreamed of by all women, for it is here that each can develop most harmoniously all the resources of her person. It is most consoling to women to whom Nature has not been over-generous to know that they, by dint of stratagem, can achieve elegance. Not easily, of course, because to achieve this elegance charming femininity must take its role most seriously. From the first ray that enters liei bedroom at dawn, the successful woman must think of her obligations to the world. She must banish laziness with the thought of her beauty, and then rejoice in the morning exercises which give her suppleness and health. The art ol pleasing is most happily learned in Paris. Hero we have the cult of the past and from our great history, we draw the purest of our traditions, many of them dealing with charm and loveliness. We are in the midst of beautiful things, exhibitions of antique treasures, and of wonderful modern art. And our great dressmakers—princes and princesses of frivolity—are among the greatest artists of our age. The New Silhouette. Some call the new super-slim lin© the "mermaid" silhouette, others, less poetic, call it the slip-line, and still others, that remember the ancient history fashions of 1910, call it the sheathline. Called by any name you like, the fresh silhouette is about as snaky and narrow-looking below the waistline as the sealed parts of a mermaid. Waistlines are for the most part unmarked and unsung. Necklines go in for extravagance. Daytime necklines are in high style, and heaps of evening dresses have sleeves. To be at the top of the mode, your evening dress liiust be very high in front and very low at the back. The most important bit of fabric news for the autumn fashions concerns satin It is to be the material. And it is to be as shiny as can be, but not stiff.

Where colours are concerned, a very dark, rich green that has a jewel-like sheen in velvet and satin is a Paris pet, and dark reds are very smart. Grape and amethyst are two new evening shades, and dark blue and pansy-blue are also important. For the woman who wishes a demure touch in her toilette, there's the good, old-fashioned petticoat for her. In rustling, swishing taffetas that now and then peeps daringly beneath the skirt-dress, this petticoat is as smart as ever it can be. In black it's nice, but in burnt orange dreadfully, deliciousiy wicked. The Last Word in Tailor . Clothes. Broad shouldered, high-necked suits have made their debut in prominent dressmakers' salons here as the "last word" in tailored clothes for autumn wear. Rich wools are used as the outstanding fabric, and velveteen makes a few of the more tailored models. Shades arc sober, suits are designed with slender skirts, eight to eleven inches from the ground, • and plain hip-length or three-quarter length jackets which hang almost straight. Padded shoulders, epaulettes and yokes are used to give exaggerated width to the shoulders and slenderise the rest of the silhouette. High-necked effects are achieved in many ways. Sometimes a small scarf of contrasting colour is crossed demurely over the collar-bone, and sometimes a high-necked blouse is employed with scarf tied closely about the neck. Coat linings of contrasting colour matching the scarf or blouse instead of the suit are a new note. Blouses —both tuck-in and tunic—show the widest variety of fabrics which designers have used for many seasons. Beige crocheted string, pale coloured linens and plaid organdie, in addition to the classic crepes and crepe satins. Details of the Mode. The basque, with a fitted bodice above it, and narrow skirts below, is the prima donna of the Paris fashions this season. It is just as temperamental as a prima donna is supposed to be. Sometimes it ruffles out stiffly in taffetas or faille, sometimes it takes the form of involved coques of fur stuck on the sides of coats, or it suddenly becomes a couple of overgrown pockets hanging from the belt of a wool suit. Basque blouses and basque jackets are back in the fashion picture with a vengeance. Dresses seen about in Paris are high at the neck, subnormal at the waistline and slim at