FASHION NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 230, 28 September 1935, Page 3 (Supplement)

FASHION NOTES.

SEASON FOR CAPES. SMART COLOUR ACCENTS. (By A PARIS EXPERT.) The fashionable woman this season is going to look like Diana, even if Nature _ didn't cut her 011 this plan. Her shoulders are going to be made sloping and feminine, her hipline will be increased a lot, her skirt will have the daring-and-demure allure of the lost epoch of 1900 to 1912 or that of 1800. Dancing dresses arc twice as easy to wear, infinitely more romantic and devastating than ever before. They are slinky, slithering, of rich, glamorous materials, glisten and glitter with a proper festive shine and trail interestingly at the back. They have plenty of slits, lots of swirl effects at the back. Huge flowers of chiffon velvet and wax are planted decoratively at the deep V in front or 011 the shoulders or at the waist. Double arrangements of straps are also featured,

tie-on sashes and the clever, trim trickery that only a good dance-drcss-inaker knows how to achieve. Capes. All kinds of capcs are being worn this season. Short capcs, cut square, and boxy round the shoulders, then hanging down to the waistline. Longer capes that flare dashingly at the back and around the hemline. Knee-lengtli capes that swing as you walk and fulllength capes on slim dresses. Evening capes of soft velvet and shorter models in crisp taffetas, some quilted, others lined with contrasting colour. You will even find capes on smart knitted costumes. Flattering double-tiered capes of tulle or net that repeat the colour in the printed dross, or contrast the pastel crepe Chiffon capes with finely plaited ruffles tie at the high neck lines of chiffon evening gowns. And these same double-tiered capes top some of the smartest of thin wool street costumes in dark and light colours. The capes are here to stay, at least through this year. While there is difference of opinion on the point, we may say that the new feeling about the day silhouette is its greater shortness and fullness. The newest day models mould the upper figure, and then go on into fuller shorter skirts. When they are frocks, the bodices are closcly fitted and often button up the front. When they are suits, the jackets are nipped in, and sometimes adjusted with seams. Daytime suits have often slit skirts. The skirts themselves remain slim and straight, to be accented with short, snappy jackets that are about the youngest, freshest-looking things you can wear. Many of the models are reminiscent of the clothes worn in '915. This is done by fitting jackets, shortening and widening skirts, and also by military touches, standing collars, important buttons, patch pockets, braiding and frogs. Street suits and costumes are straight and slim and severe. The colour accents come from bows, belts and scarves. Unusual white accents for dark clothes are the rickrack edging round neck, cuffs and beltlines. Sometimes even the hemline is edged with this white rickrack. The shorter, fuller day skirt bids fair to be accepted by many women, especially by younger ones. But because the mode is extremely eclectic, you may continue to wear a classic taifor-rnade if you like, and to keep your skirts slim, if you prefer that line.

Sun-bathing Models. When summer is come, with light dresses, the necessity of perfectly fitting .underwear is doubly important. The first thing to consider is a corset. Wear one, no matter how thin you aro; it will give you softer hips, a better bust, a neater, waist, and when you have, perfected your curves, take care to show them properly. So many women, especially the slender ones, and the ■ young ones, suffer from the aftermath of the debutante slouch. A drooping head and bad carriage do not go with the styles of to-day. You must stand straight and move correctly. Smart women are graceful nowadays. Much of the new lingerie is designed with lastex fabrics and laces. And these fabrics are ideal for all types of undies. This season a special feature is being made of lastex cellophane suits moulding the figure so perfectly that they form a veritable "swimming corset." From the most practical type of swimming suits the styles range through jersey lace costumes to elaborate garments of coloured cellophane, preferably blue, similar to one which was worn recently by a star in the Casino de Paris show. The surface of the cellophane is lined on the inside, with tlie result that it is as comfortable a suit to wear as one of line soft wool. Fashions Here and There. White is being seen a great ideal as well as black, and capes vie with long coats. When gowns are not extremely decollete in front they are very low in the back, and most coiffures are liberally curled and high on the head, giving that set Grecian effect which the Parisienrie likes so much for the evening. One sees very little real evening dresses in Paris these days, unless it is worn at some big gala. In their own homes Parisiennes dress elaborately and have accepted full-heartedly the enormous puffed and shirred or draped sleeves that came in earlier in the season. Romantic, clinging, vaporous chiffon evening gowns are seen, lovely models with fluttering flounces, with yards of pleatings or ruffles, and long scarves in pastel and dark colours. Some are printed, but the best and newest are the subtle one-colour creations that depend upon the feminine mode of flounces and ruffles for their unquestionably flattering appeal.

Flowers are being seen a good deal. A large calla lily, worn in the centre corsage front, is a season's favourite among smart women, while another fashion note is that of the finely pleated black niousseline evening gown of sweeping lines hung over flesh-pink satin of light quality.

While calla lilies and black iris or richest magenta and purple cinerarias are the flower fads of the season, small buttonholes so carefully copying natural flowers that the artificial cannot be detected show tip in parti-coloured effects, violet with pink, red with yellow, pink and blue, arranged in posies.

All dresses this year are wearable, and all hats must not be in any danger of blowing oft'. All pretty hats made in Paris may now be banded on or tied on, because nobody enjoys the chase after a cartwheel, beginning with an ignominious descent from an auto. The prettier the ehapeau the greater the necessity for having it on leash, so to say. Most beautiful blooms in loveliest Hower hues belong to the summer outfit, which includes the old long-handled parasol carried for shine or rain. Paris Snapshots. The jewel has become essential to the dress —an integral part of it. Clips are placed at the base of shoulder straps, at the hollow of a drapery, at the end of a back decollPtage. The jewel is an architectural motif. Skirt lengths are a shade shorter by day, and at night the prophecy of shorter, in front evening skirts and uneven hemlines is coming true. Before long they may even be ankle length all round.