N.Z. WOMEN’S ATTIRE

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26886, 12 November 1952, Page 2

N.Z. WOMEN’S ATTIRE

FASHION EXPERT CRITICAL

“LAG” BEHIND OVERSEAS STANDARDS

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 11.

From the fashion point of view, New Zealand lags very much behind other countries in every way, according to Mrs J. J. Delahunt, of Wellington, who has returned from a three months’ overseas trip, during which she has been making trade inquiries in the United States, Britain, and on the Continent as a representative of the New Zealand Garment Manufacturers’ Federation.

Fashions were usually six months old by the time they reached New Zealand from Europe, and their adoption was put further behind because of the difference between the seasons here and on the other side of the world, she said.

One thing New Zealand women’s clothes lacked was trimmings, which were verv much in vogue in Paris and in Britain, Mrs Delahunt said.' Australia had long been ahead of New Zealand in its fashions, said Mrs Delahunt. This was partly because of the influence of the large number of Continentals who had settled there since the war, and partly because the hotter Australian climate enabled women to wear clothes which could not be worn in New Zealand. Mrs Delahunt also studied overseas production methods. “I found,” she said, ‘‘that people overseas work harder than in New Zealand. For example, I have seen one girl working two shirtfront-making machines at the one time, and another working two buttonhole machines at once. ‘‘These are things unheard of in New Zealand. Also, though they work harder overseas, the girls in the garment industry there seem more contented with their jobs than the girls in the New Zealand clothing industry,” Mrs Delahunt said.