HEM-LINES LOWER

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32054, 31 July 1969, Page 3

HEM-LINES LOWER

(NX. Press Assn.—Copyright) PARIS, July 30. The French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent dropped hems like bombs today. They fell to eight, 10, 12 and 14 inches from the ground in styles that were sometimes reminiscent of Dior’s new look of 1947, the Associated Press reports. The long look was most emphatic in Saint Laurent’s

tweed coats, cut like men’s topcoats. They drop to midcalf length. The skirts that shoot out from daytime tweed suits and battle jacket tops are even longer than mid-calf-eight to 10 inches from the ground. The long theme is carried out in printed wool -topcoats cut like men’s dressing gowns in paisley and Persian carpet designs. The drop is brought into the English governess look as well: a fingertip-length suit jacket worn over a kneelength skirt It goes with a Lacoste-type shirt that has a buttoned front tab. The same tab is found on

jumpsuits and pyjamas, many recalling astronauts’ fatigue suits. They come in muted neutral colours such as beige and grey, and also in black.

Another important trend for afternoon wear is the family album and “Little Women” look—mutton sleeves, waisted basque jackets, long, calflength, full skirts, and. ruffled neck-lines. There is also a Spanish influence in this category. Black cloth suits are given tabs and frogging on the front and worn with frilled shirts. Some of the suits have bolero jackets like those worn by matadors.