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Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30681, 22 February 1965, Page 2

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Fashion In

Linens

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright, PARIS

Parisiennes are almost as fashion-conscious in their household furnishing as in their own clothes. Changing styles in sheets, for example, are reflected in the big “white sales” which take place each January. “White sales” offer the year’s bargains in all types of soft furnishing, especially bed linen and table cloths.

This year, the emphasis is on white again. Printed and coloured sheets are less in demand. according to the French Cotton Board and leading department stores. In the mid-1950’5, rainbowcoloured sheets, snack bars and the cha-cha-cha arrived simultaneously in Paris from the United States. Coloured sheets immediately became a ‘•status symbol” in the average household, even though they cost more than white sheets of comparable quality, and laundries charged more to wash the fragile pastel shades separately. Frou-frou Styles Just as French dress fashions frequently show retrospective influence, current trends in household linens tend to revive the romantic frou-frou styles of the Second Empire. White embroidery and appliques, white lace and ribbon edgings trim white sheets today. The newest effects feature semi-detached flowers in bands of guipure lace or eyelet embroidery, evoking the decor of boudoirs in the reign of Napoleon 111. Stylists insist that these trimmings worked in relief are not necessarily a prelude to machine ironing. Elizabeth Taylor recently ordered a big supply of new hand-woven linen sheets from Porthault, the well-known linen firm in Paris. Miss Taylor chose white, heavily encrusted with bands of embroidered white flowers. Famous Clients

Known as the “Christian Dior of linens,” Porthault supplies the Elysee Palace as well as Mrs de Gaulle’s private home at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises. Other wellknown clients include the Duchess of Windsor, the Duchess of Kent, Barbara Hutton, and Aristotle Onassis. In 1962, Mrs John Kennedy ordered a 40-foot long table cloth from Porthault for use at official functions in the White House. It took eight months to do the hand embroidery on this white organdy cloth.

But the bridal white look of the 1965 bedroom is not carried through into the dining room, kitchen or bathroom. In striking contrast are the brilliant floral colours and fanciful prints of towels and tablecloths.

One of the leading department stores reports that 95 per cent of its bathroom accessories sales are in colour. Matching sets of towels, bath wrap, and bath mats are available in no less than 26 different shades, while 70 per cent of table linen sold is coloured. Moua Lisa Towels Printed tea towels can now provide art lovers with a veritable picture gallery. Any housewife, who feels so inclined, can turn her kitchen into a museum, with linen tea towels which reproduce the paintings of both old and modern masters.

The best-selling line of tea towels at another department store feature a photographic reproduction of the Mona Lisa. Parisians can now also have “La Joconde” in their kitchens for the modest sum of seven francs (about 10/-).