FASHION NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 170, 20 July 1935, Page 3 (Supplement)

FASHION NOTES.

CLOTHES AND CHATTER.

DICTATES FOR THE SPRING. (By A PARIS EXPERT.) Men, it is said, loathe women who chatter about their own affairs. They may pretend that they do not, but they do, and the reason so many clever women are tiresome, so said a philosopher, is that they will talk about themselves.

More women, though, are talking "dress" this year than ever ;,.;fore. Of course, they shouldn't be cncouraged. Those who think dress looms too large on a woman's horizon denounce her for vanity and extravagance. When beautiful clothes serve a woman fairly they are things to be cncouraged. When a woman is a slave to her clothes —and especially if she talks of nothing else, as is so often the case in Paris —she becomes boring to the last degree. On the other hand, the badly dressed woman is not to be encouraged in her slack ways. The extravagantly dressed woman non plus. In Paris one sees both sorts,

although one is told that the ill-dressed women do not belong to the "City of Beautiful Clothes."

Be that as it may, one thing is certain and that is: A woman should look as nice as she possibly can, but she should not talk about her clothes in season and out of season. She should give all her mind to the business of choosing them, she should learn how to wear them and be very careful to keep them in good order. And then—• she should forget all about' them! To all appearances a woman should forget all about her clothes and she should certainly hardly talk of tliem at all. Fascinating Linens. Among the numerous materials which have found favour with the Paris dressmakers this spring are the fascinating linens featured in the fabric novelties, which are being used in a myriad opleasing ways. It is made into suitings, into blouses, and even into coats. Coloured linens are cleverly combined in the popular dark brown and red tones. Then there are barred and plain linens and other linen materials with new embroidery patterns finely inter-

woven

A rubber-backed linen has been chosen bv a number of designers for capes or coats over plain linen dresses. Another favourite this summer will be a selftoned embroidered linen, while one of the greatest successes this season is a two-coloured motif upon a plain white ground. There are, indeed, a range of fashion fabrics'suitable for every type of wear. White and cream are always popular linen shades, as well as the "natural" tone, which is likely to enjoy great popularity. There is a fine weave suitable for blouses in both white and cream, and stripes and speckled effects promise well as fashionable designs.

Prints are frequently used for evening gowns and organdie and broderie Anglaise. Important Features in the Fashions. An important feature in the new fashions is the shortened front of many skirts, while the back, falling in a peacock tail, is designed on the lines of an over-skirt. Uneven hemlines are not uncommon, and skirts, pleated all round with fine knife pleats, are frequently seen.

While day dresses have frankly bellshaped skirts, evening dresses, as seen in Paris, are as full an'd voluminous all round as they were in by-gone centuries. The modern touch, however, is seen in the way they all fit the slender waist, while a slightly tailored appearamce is sometimes given to the bodice of an elaborate evening gown, quaintly set off with puffed sleeves. The longer waistline is again sometimes seen in evening clothes. Wide belts make it almost as low as the hiplines. The movement tends to a high neckline in front, with deep rounded decolletage in the back. Most of the evening things have hems that sweep the floor, the back falling into a slight train. Day Clothes.

Day-time clothes are exceedingly wearable this season. Pocket trimmings, plastrons, tie-on collars and cuff strips of a new "paper" cloth, all lend freshness to navy and black dresses of new woollens and cottons. These resemble the paper cutouts children delight to

make at school. Necklines are mainly high in daytime clothes, but frequently a dress is cut low, and the space filled in with a crisp little blouse effect in white muslin.

Sleeves are of special interest, some being quite full between the shoulder and elbow, and others just below the shoulder itself, many are rucked up in the bend of the elbow, while yet another type boasts fullness gathered into a tight wristband. In sports ensembles, Paris launches a new silhouette. The waistline, for instance, is lowered, and extremely wide girdles allow of hip-length coate to fall in very full folds. Wide levers appear on little jackets. Coloured blouses contrast a bit, and sometimes match the colour pattern of the jacket. New and Amusing Millinery. Amusing hats are being shown this season. Hats that women find amusing and which arc the very sort they want to brighten up their new wardrobes. Delightful is a new "George Washington," with a wig-bow at the back, as if holding in the curls, but in reality holding down the dip of a red-knotted straw, alternating with rows of cornflowers worked oif coarse white net. New beret shapes are being shown in wide, very flat cones, of Indo-Chinese inspiration, hexagonal and losenged, and the capelines with square brims of geometrical architecture. In spite of the commonplace of the rounded effects being banished in the greater part of the new models, it remains harmonious and becoming. The god of geometry has this time become a goddess, adding grace to the exactitude of measurement and proportion. These original and charming hats are sometimes brightened by a metallic effect of fluttering feathers and sumptuous aigrettes.