FASHION SHOWINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 213, 9 September 1935, Page 10

FASHION SHOWINGS.

NOTES FROM PARIS. Fashion news from Paris is well worth hearing from such a recoprnised authority on style trends as Mrs. Lottie Murdoch, a clever Australian who passed through Auckland on the Monterey en route to Sydney, returning from her eighth trip to Europe and America as international designer to a famous firm of foundation garment manufacturers. Six years ago, said Mrs. Murdoch, astounding news came out of Paris— waistlines were lower, skirts were longer—it was a revolutionary change. The leading , Paris designers again showed their winter collections in August. Many new things were displayed, but there was no change in the mode comparable with that of 1929, which was a« it should be, for fashion reflections ordinarily run through seven- [ year cycles. I Schiaparelli showed shorter ekirts and higher necklines. Her dresses cling to the line of the body; her draped evening gowns are worn over ankle-length pants. Molyneux favoured simplicity for daytime, the ultra' in glamour for evening. His day skirts are shorter, and some waistlines are almost at the hip bones. Most of the evening skirts are level with the ankle. Lanvill adapted the Italian primitive to the evening mode. The latest are purely Renaissance gowns of richly coloured crepes with round necklines and full trailing sleeves. The most wearable version of the Renaissance influence is being shown by Robert Piguet. He need huge full gathered loose Renaissance sleeves on simple wool or crepe frocks and coats of modernistic lines. A strong 1900 influence was manifest, said Mrs. Murdoch, in long, fitted, sheathlike end-of-the-day frocks, made with hems that are cut or draped to the knees in front. The changing silhouette, with ite more definitely pronounced slender effects and curves, added confidence to those interested in the corset business, as new fashions decidedly favoured the foundation garment aiid required even additional bonKng to control unsightly curves and give lovely lines to otherwise unruly hips. Xo longer could fashionable women consider their figures lightly and feel that a corset purchased over the counter, if it were the correct size, would do the trick. Those days had gone—at least for the present—since the new silhouette reflected everything beneath the surface.