Britain's Bizarre Silks

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 86, 12 April 1941, Page 18 (Supplement)

Britain's Bizarre Silks

DRITISII novelty silks will soon be U on sale in America. They have beautiful colour schemes and designs and have been executed by an artist whoso designs for printing on fabrics were once used in France.

Somo of the patterns are distinctly bizarre. One shows war slogans, sente. e-s from Mr. Churchill's speeches, shelters and so on. Another pattern consists of rope ends, buoys and sailors' caps in white, against a background of sea blue, petunia or old gold. There is a print of circus figures—ringmaster, clowns, equestriennes, acrobats and elephant—ajid another of old spurs, bits and stirrups, copied from exhibits in a south Kensington Museum. The Museum also inspired a design, in petunia and bright green, of bicycles and their riders, dating from 1816, each figure being in the fashion of the period. The newest colours are derived from England's own land. They are inspired from the deep red earth of Devon, from pale yellow primroses, from silvery grey skies. There are also sea mist, a delicate air force blue, barley gold and rustic red, the pinkish shade of old bricks. The only foreign colour is Venetian scarlet.