Accessories Go With Fluid Dress Lines

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29398, 28 December 1960, Page 2

Accessories Go With Fluid Dress Lines

PARIS.

Faris silhouette trends have influenced the style and shape of new accessories. Handbags a..J shoes, designed with harmonious rounded lines, are in tune with the fluid dress lines.

The latest handbags are supple, over-sized models, with curved contours and rounded corners replacing stark angular shapes. The prettiest new footwear supports the idea that it is smart to be comfortc’-le. Oval toes / take priority over the pinched and pointed arrowhead court shoes of recent seasons. Low heels are now in highest fashion, enabling women to rediscover the long lost pleasure of walking with a graceful glide. Ferest, a leading Paris handbag specialist, insists that his clients relate the shape of their handbags to the particular style of a dress. “The handbag completes the picture of a woman dressed with good taste,” he says, explaining that a dress with a marked waistline and wide skirt calls for a handbag with modified horseshoe shape, reiterating the line of width at the bottom. Oh the other hand, horizontally curved or cradle-shaped bags are needed to strike the contrast to tall, unbroken sheath silhouettes. Rounded Lines “Whatever the basic shape a handbag may have this season, the new trend is towards rounded lines, outmoding the envelope and square boxy styles recently in favour. Pierre Cardin features a special collection of large bags in subtle pouch and satchel shapes. Some models measure almost three feet in length,'inspired by beach or knitting bags, with folds of fabric gathered on to circular handles. Increasing prices of raw leather hides are responsible for one new fashion idea in Paris: the fabric handbag. Today, street bags are appearing in a variety of unusual fabrics ranging from tweeds and chenille to tapestry, woollens, faille, velvet and informal brocades.

One of the smartest effects is the handbag made of the same fabric as the dress. Unmounted frames in bone or metal are available in most department stores, and amateur dressmakers have found it relatively simple to make a bag from a small amount of extra fabric for one particular costume.

Another closely-related trend is the fur handbag. Pierre Balmain assorts large, roomy purses of monkey fur or spotted ocelot to match fur hats. Notwithstanding rising leather costs and the current fad for fur or fabrics, to own a fine crocodile handbag is the dream of most women. Alas, the cost is prohibitive for anyone who has. to dress on a budget. Pierre Cardin’s opulent black crocodile tote bag.

for example, is priced at nearly £2OO.

The answer to the problem is to be found, as usual nowadays, in plastics. “Plastic crocodile” is so skillfully treated this winter that only a leather expert can tell the difference between “man-made skins” and the authentic animal skin.

Many smartly-dressed Frenchwomen who would never consider wearing imitation jewellery or fake furs, are carrying new plastic crocodile bags, purchased for between £5-£l3, according to size, and featuring the fine workmanship, genuine box leather linings, and quality trimmings usually associated with far more costly handbags. * Nowadays the guessing game of “true or false” applies to handbags as well as hair colouring. Show business and shoe business may seem unrelated, but leading Paris footwear designers have brought the timely comeback Of the sensible shoe with all the fanfare of a new theatrical production. Low Heels Footwear suddenly re-emerges for the first time in more than five years, as something comfortable to walk in, rather than a physically-painful but mandatory fashion style. Designers have raised the curtain on a new shoe look which is pretty as well as practical, without the fiaintest suggestion of a Girl Guide’s sturdy “ground gripper” style. Nor is there any relation to the stubby square-toed shoe with thick heel or semi-wedge which marked the 1940’5.

Shoe lines remain long, slender, and very Patrician. News is in the low heels, instead of needle thin spikers which are retained only for the most formal occasions. The simultaneous return of the gracefully rounded toe likewise spells comfort —and fewer visits to the chiropodist or Chinese pedicure salon.

Roger Vivier, designer for the Dior-Delman shoe salons in Paris, launches two new heel styles for daywear. There is the Louis XV heel, worked in spindle effects, but the season's innovation is the “Far West” heel, featuring a modified copy of the underslung heel on a cowboy boot. Joseph Casale, a specialist in beautiful made-to-measure shoes, revives the Cuban heel measuring no more than an inch and a half designed with a slight bevel and made in stacked leathers, resembling highly polished wood.

Evening shoes made of formal like satin or lame, have long been a classic feature in Paris, couture collections. This winter the fabric shoe for daytime wear, matched to handbags, is top news. Roger Vivier makes a fetish of “baby heel” walking shoes made of grey flannel, small patterned checks, or tiny, brightly coloured plaids. Heels are featured in black or solid toned leathers.

A variety of gay young styles are available in the Dior ready-to-wear shoe salons, often matched to handbags. Fabric shoes in a client’s own material can be made to order in a few days to match any particular ensemble.