SOME DESIGNERS IGNORE MINI-SKIRT TREND

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31153, 1 September 1966, Page 10

SOME DESIGNERS IGNORE MINI-SKIRT TREND

Difficult though it may be for women not interested in wearing mini-skirts to realise, there are still designers, in Paris, who are happy to ignore this trend. Instead they continue to design clothes which are elegant and wearable.

The photographs on this page, which were supplied by the French Embassy in Wellington, show a selection in which the keynote is simplicity. The designers have adapted the youthfulness of today’s fashion to produce styles which can be worn successfully by almost any woman.

The hemlines rest just on the knee-cap, and skirts are full enough for the wearer to be able to sit comfortably without worrying if she is showing too much thigh and petticoat. Unfortunately, from garments seen in fashion parades in Christchurch recently, it does not seem likely that these fashions will be available. Buyers are still determined to keep a sharp dividing line between the under 25s and

those over 25. Frocks with belts, cap sleeves and boxpleats from the waist have been off the fashion scene overseas for years. Yet some shops are again displaying them for summer wear. Buyers have yet to realise i that women today are not ■ looking their age and it is • common to see women look- > ing youthful and attractive at ; 65. I But when they go shopping for garments women are • faced with a restrictive range. ■ There are plenty of gay ex- , citing clothes for the young ; and plenty of dull old- ■ fashioned things for them. An alternative chosen by I many women is to make their i own clothes or find a dressI maker who will.