Smartness For Small Budgeteers

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 196, 20 August 1938, Page 5 (Supplement)

Smartness For Small Budgeteers

Fashion Notes

IMPORTANT and indispensable ' for any well-planned spring and summer wardrobe. to be seen in Paris are the brightlycoloured crepe and marocain outfits of suit and top coats. Besides being most practical models for a small budgeteer, as well as a shopper with a large allowance, they are smart, casually fashioned, without being dowdy.

The suits are streamlined, the skirts brief, slender sheaths, with just the right amount of extra inches in sharply creased centre or side pleats. They fit smoothly over the hipline and boast only the stitched seams, for anything that could be dubbed tricky or fancy. The jackets are so crisp that both the young and the not-so-young can wear them with equal smartness. A higher neckline is found in the current spring showings, the lapels are smaller, shorter and notched, so that the skirt and jacket can easily be worn as a dress with or -without something in the way of a contrasting coloured ascot in the neckline.

When the jackets are collared the effect is youthful and decidedly boyish and demure. The collars, cuffs and pockets are all of the same material as the suit itself. So are the details such as edgings, bands around the pockets, pocket flaps and applique motifs. Later on we shall see these in linen, in pique and, so surprising, even in organdie.

Smooth and Young-looking Colours stage the biggest comeback of fashion history. YouH find anything from fire-truck crimson, tawny copper, deep old-gold, clear strong blues, bottle greens, flashing shades of odd colours like mustard, apricot, acid greens, occasional shades of purple or amethyst, plum, and the top colours of the spring such as moss green; cinnamon brown and daffodil yellow. Dresses for the coming season will flash colours of every kind. Screeching colour combinations, like the new lurid pink over an orchid dress, will be seen along the avenues, worn by "don't care" women.

Belts, hosiery and handkerchiefs are three small but effective ways of achieving good colour contrasts; coloured zippers is another idea. Black, deep blue, dark brown, forest green and even extremely dark red are basic colours that can be dramatised with white, dotted scarfs, ascots, belts and bows with lighter shades of the ensemble colour.

Gloves -will be made of suede with etitchings in every colour, or they will match the ensemble colour. They may be trimmed with contrasting colour notes, or trimmed with ostrich or flowers on the cuffs.

ByA Paris Expert

Feet will look trimmer than ever. Pumps or sandals made of very supple leather cut moderately low will tie on high around the ankles in the newest and smartest footwear for town. Stockings will be discreetly light, rather than the mournful taupe and brownish shades.

The amount of plissees the Parisienne is wearing this season is amazing. It is so accommodating, so tactful, it looks bo slim and is so wide. I always think of a smile which can grow easily into a laugh when I look at the plissee skirt. You know that it will hang straight and look tidy, and you know that when you want to walk fast or dance that you will be able to do so with ease. The short tight skirt never permits that, and the fullness of the fashionable tunic is hypocritical, unless there are hidden pleats—and there often are, fortunately.

In Paris the milliners' salons are so crowded that one is reminded of boom time. Not only are Parisiennes seeking new hats, but every departing foreigner, whatever l>e her nationality, seems to decide at the last minute that she must have just one more hat from Paris. Every mirror is besieged and the shelf before it is heaped with discards, while fruits of felt, of cellophane, of silk, muslin or velvet hang heavy on the hat trees. The tendency to feature height is still in evidence, but with the maximum of subtlety. The windswept line has made another bow to the public. These hats look as though not a gust but a mere breeze would send them flying. And the entire balance is thrown to one side of the head. Another very fashionable model is the hat with the high crown thrust well forward instead of backwards, as has been the vogue up to now. No hat. according to the latest news from milliners, can reach dimensions too large in breadth, plus height.

For smart afternoon wear there are enormous hats in velvet or lace to match dresses. These have moderate closefitting crowns, but wide brims which swerve boldly off the face and down towards the sides.

Toques are heading up for an innings. Some of them are seen in wide bands of interlaced colours, some in the form of embroidery on felt or faille; in soutache designs. Most have a high point somewhere, or a quill or wing that stands up saucily in the air. On a black pointed hat a quill red as a stick of sealing wax was twisted like a corkscrew in front, and looked immensely smart. There is a decided feeling for little hats of flowers. Fortunately, they cannot be copied cheaply with any success, and only when they are made of the best-quality flowers are they worth wearing. At the same time, a lot of the new hats have flower trimmings. Feathers, too, various fancies, birds, paradise plumes, quills, twists of chiffon in bright colours and an enormous amount of veils.