Accent On Long Skirts This Year

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31677, 13 May 1968, Page 3

Accent On Long Skirts This Year

(By EDITH TEAGUE, fashion editor of "FLAIR".) LONDON. This is the year when every woman will be watching fabric trends. British fashion manufacturers are just starting to show their autumn and winter, 1968, collections and the accent is on the acceptance of longer skirt lengths.

The maxi-skirt is bound to make a great impact on all outdoor wear—capes, coats and suits. The demi-maxi (also being tagged rather confusedly the mini-maxi) is the look for evening wear, skirts and rather primly-tailored tucked dresses, this year’s version of what was top' fashion a century ago. So we swing back once more ti a lavish use of material. Chunky tweeds, often in three or four vibrant colour tones, herringbone and Donegals are for coats. Smooth, fine wools for dresses blossom in a splash of stylised flower prints. There is new emphasis on velveteens and needlecords for casual clothes, jersey is established for round-the-clock wear while sleek satins are the favourites for evening wear, with embroidery or border patterns to enrich them. Autumn leaf gold, the camel shades and the rich burnt orange colours are always autumn favouHtes and these seasonal shades will be

vying for popularity with intense dark reds, plum, mulberry, and the blue-red of bilberry. In The News Bernat Klein, of Galashiels, Scotland, is a man who continually makes fashion news with exciting new fabrics. Coming for autumn is the Klein-Terlenka collection.

These are polyester jersey materials—light-weight, softhandling jerseys which Bernat Klein has fashioned into sophisticated prints and rich plain colours for day dresses, at-home wear and evening gowns.

Favourite winter-warm fabric Viyella makes an autumn debut with fresh designs and colours. Last year's stripes have given way to stylised flower prints to give an almost stencilled appearance, and small windowpane checks. Plum is a dominant colour along with orange, sometimes mixed with teal blue or brown. One of the most exciting “marriages" of wool and manmade fibres is in acrilan and lambswool. Manufacturers are producing it in the rich colours of plum and burnt orange and always-in-favour camel. Outdoor Wear Fabrics for outdooor wear include boldly patterned herringbone in suit-weight wools, and Donegal tweeds which can be colour-matched and weight-matched to plain weaves, while plaids blend such Intense colours as deep blue, purple and emerald in tweeds with raised surface interest.

Dogtooth and windowpane checks, plus wickerwork patterns, are the autumn design promotion from one company which has colours veering to-

wards dark-tone backgrounds highlighted by brighter shades, and the introduction of bronzy greens and rich browns named whisky and tobacco.

Exciting coat-weight wools feature stripes in varying widths and wonderful colours. One of the important developments in striped wools features stripes in brown, camel and black plus brilliant blue.

ginger, dramatic red or forest green to add a striking contrast. Another fabric firm culled motif ideas for velveteens and needlecords from a century ago—flowers in neat Victorian bouquets and trails. There are more stylised flowers in their printed Courtelle and cotton twill weaves, fabrics for both day dresses and blouses.