SUMMERY HATS, SILK SUITS AT RICCARTON RACES

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30593, 9 November 1964, Page 2

SUMMERY HATS, SILK SUITS AT RICCARTON RACES

Little hats massed with flowers, wide-brimmed diaphonous hats and big cartwheels in straw brought summer in with a flourish at the first day of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s New Zealand Cup meeting at Riccarton on Saturday. They were the prettiest and most feminine hats for many a season, and teamed tastefully with trim silk or linen suits. With so many styles from which to choose this will surely be the season that sees the end of the hatless vogue.

Lacey crinoline straw, organza and nylon net made up many attractive shady-brimmed hats for formal wear. These were rivalled in popularity by jaunty sombreros and bretons in coarse to the finest of balibuntals, turbans and pillboxes often in swathed fabric to match a suit or frock.

One of the most eye-catch-! ing hats on the course was al coffee-brown crinoline straw; with a huge brim patterned in a beige cobweb design and a tall beige balibuntal strawcrown. Another hat with a dash was a bright yellow lacey crinoline halo caught up in the front with a spray of matching flowers. It was worn with a matching dress under a black silk cape-coat. A black lace hat swept up with a cerise rose was teamed with a black silk ensemble and cerise-toned necklace. Circle Hat A coffee and beige circle hat made entirely of looped

nylon net was worn elegantly with a trim beige silk suit. Sapphire net and aqua satin bow'-loops made up a becoming toque worn with a sapphire silk suit. A watermelon-pink linen suit was worn with a matching wide sou-wester straw hat with a trail of matching chiffon at the back. A resedagreen silk suit was teamed with a fine straw hat in a driftwood tone, lined in reseda and driftwood spots on the wide, upswept brim. A tangerine silk suit was set off by a huge black silk artist’s beret. This is said to be the seaison of the “linen look” but it took second place to raw ‘silk and silk blends at Riccarton on Saturday. Linen came to the fore, however, for shift frocks on young girls. One wore a candy-pink shift over a frilly white blouse and a soft fabric pink hat with a wide pleated brim, for the “Tom Jones” look. Vibrant Colours Colours this season are more vibrant than ever, with strong turquoise blues, vivid greens, hectic pinks, orange and bright golds and aqua leading the way. The softer tones of muted olive green, strawberry pink, pastel pinks and blues, pale aqua and black came as a relief when watching the crowd move round the stands and lawns in the strong sunlight. Suits, some with short capes instead of jackets, and

full-length silk coats over matching frocks made up the overall theme of dressing, always right in the prevailing easterly breeze of Christchurch in November. Though slim heels are not as high as they were, the new stack-heeled shoes with rounded toes weie few and seen mainly on older women. Last summer’s copper-toned stockings have been set aside for paler blonde shades. Mrs Gilbert Grigg, wife of the chairman of the club’s committee, wore an olive and brown-toned patterned silk jacket dress with a beige straw hat edged in brown and banded in an olive green and brown leaf trim. Mrs D. W. J. Gould, wife of the honorary treasurer, chose a muted olive lightweight wool suit with a toque of olive, gold and off-white French roses. Mrs P. D. Hall, wife of the chairman of the judicial stewards, wore a widebrimmed hat of black organza roses with her bright aqua silk coat over a black frock. Visitors Among the visitors were: Mrs T. C. Lowry, Mr and Mrs H. W. Blackmore (Hawke’s Bay); Mr and Mrs George Grace, Mr and Mrs G. R. Grace (Wanganui); Mr and Mrs A. B. Southey, Mr and Mrs P. J. Borthwick (Masterton); Mr and Mrs R. A. Whyte, Mr and Mrs A. E. Preston (Wellington); Mr and Mrs J. C. Irving (Blenheim); Mr and Mrs T. K. S. Sidey, Mr and Mrs D. M. Reid, and Dr. and Mrs T. Jenkins (Dunedin).