NEWS FOR WOMEN V 7 Winter Fashion Trends Shown At Fitti Palace lit Florence

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27851, 27 December 1955, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN V 7 Winter Fashion Trends Shown At Fitti Palace lit Florence

Three pretty mannequins skilfully bowling a big wheel from a Sicilian cart over the silvery carpet on the platform in the white hall of the Pitti Palace in Florence, where big fashion parades are held periodically, was an idea of Emilio —a well-known Italian dress designer—for emphasising that the fabric he had used in his collec- , tion was inspired by Sicilian folklore Big wheels were printed on a number of textiles.

He also had mannequins carrying slender columns draped in textiles oririted with a design based on Sicilian mosaics. The mannequins olaced the column’ on the platform then turned graceful!’’ round to showoff the full skirts, which they nnod’-’led-The skirts were made of the s me printed fabrics. Christchurch women saw a number of Emilio’s designs when the Italian mannequins modelled them during their recent visit here.

Mirsa showed some of the best knitwear enseipbles in Florence. Very attractive was a blue and white .striped jacket with large pockets at the sides, accentuating the straight, elongated line. Valditevere made great use of handwoven wool textiles for casual tailored clothes, combining them with other fabrics such as tweeds, plaids and striped or checked wools. Suits and overcoats were cut on straight simple lines. Two-niece ensembles had long bodices and full, box-pleated skirts, says the “New Zealand Draper.” Crochet edging was used as trimming on the collars and cuffs of some jackets, and an interesting seveneighths length coat was entirely handcrocheted in thick white wool flecked with sparkling beads* The most eye-catching garments in the collection of Myricae were blouses in light wool muslin, printed in exclusive designs. These were trimmed either by a pleated band or by a frill of lace all round beneath the bustline, giving the effect of a short skirt. Braiding was also used as trimming on these blouses. Also very interesting in this collection were the full, gored skirts in large-grained tweeds, the fabric of which was emphasised by geometric or arabesque patterns embroidered in thick braids of black wool. Paisley-patterned printed wool textiles were favoured by G’ans of Milan for tapered trousers worn with very plain blouses in black jersey and for hill skirts with flowing pleats worn with low-necked blouses in lightweight wool jersey. Another designer who turned to folklore for inspiration—this time from Sardinia—was Umba, who used

it for the designs tfor hand-woven wool textiles.

Perfect cut and .faultless making distinguished the collection of Avolio. He used much wool jersey and felt The plainness and simplicity of his models were underlined by double seams at the double-breasted fastenings and armholes and on the pockets and halfbelts. The latter were sometimes fixed and sometimes removable. One of the roost attractive ensembles in this collection consisted of a suit in light-weight Shetland wool thinly checked in fuchsia and green and a r ull. loose ront of reseda green wool The elongated jacket of the suit was edeed, in the plain fabric of the coat. Most of the collection shown by Snagnoli consisted of slender tailored subs in thick knitwear. These were -’esigned in collaboration with one of Italy’s foremost designers, thus bringing the'couture touch to clothes of a reasonable price. Carrying on from the line establishedi last season, suit jackets were longer. Sometimes they were tube shaped. Oc~ ca‘ionally they flare out sl’ghtly from the bust like tunics. Many desianersi showed a marked trend towards the; Empire line, thus lengthening the silhouette from bust to hem instead of? from neck to thigh. This line is indi-j rated by means of horizontal seams J under the bust, slender shoulders, bare necklines, flat collars and narrow, sleeves. The natural waistline is often’, w°l] marked. Pride of place was held by Shetland? tweeds. These were often reversible and had been wwdely used for tailored.,' suits, two and three-piece ensembles; and overcoats.

It was noted that thick, hairy cloths were disappearing and were* being replaced by soft and compact} fabrics which gave a very good imitation of beaver fur. Other fabrics used! for casual coats included tweeds., raised wool fabrics -with blended col-| our effects, boucle and canvas and’ oasket weave wools. For the smarter.! more fitted coats, the favourite fabrics were heavy wool materials, velours with embossed patterns and glossy wool textiles which looked like seal’& fur.

Wool boucle are much less curly no-a than they used to be, because of < new shearing treatment which leavfci only a hint of curl and levels the surface of the fabric. Fine wool satins and georgettes art used for dresses and dressmaker style suits. As in other countries, bri:*ht colours are almost non-gxistent in the Italian autumn-winter There is a good deal of black and neutral tones. Where colour is introduced, it is greatly subdued.