Investment clothes for the mid-1970s

Press, 24 August 1976, Page 12

Investment clothes for the mid-1970s

By

LEONE STEWART

In spite of, or perhaps because of, the economic times, women are buying investment clothes. On Saturday evening the women who went to Ham Homestead to view Tonee Travel’s springsummer collection saw clothes designed to hold their value.

Fashion is very wearable just now, and shows every sign of remaining so in spite of St Laurent’s latest efforts to have us all looking like displaced Russian gypsies. Saturday’s showing, a benefit for Zonta, exemplified the gentle evolution of styling. Lines are still relaxed, with just a hint of narrowing in skirt lines. Lengths have settled about two to three inches below the knee, with mid-calf hems popular for after-five.

Separates are still the most influential idiom, with trousers mixed or matched for easy living. But in this collection there were more dresses than in past seasons, and some classic summer suits.

Coloui is bright, white, or pastel. Fluid, silky knits are the fabric of this decade,

shown in plain and geometric patterns in the parade. Ultra suede — a great American success story — made a limited appearance here last year, but with this showing it should become established. It appeared in several- super-smart styles from Ciao: a pale cream overdress with tie sash; a tailored suit with belted jacket and much pocket detail, in the most luscious, soft apricot shade. One of the characteristics of the fabric is that it “takes” the softest or clearest of shades so well.

Only when you feel the fabric can you really understand what all the fuss is about. It looks so very like suede, it feels right to the touch, but it is featherweight. It washes easily, and is said to dry in an hour. American name designers use it in garments that carry a higher price tag than the real thing. Two styles perhaps demonstrated best what makes Ultra-suede the fabric of the 1970 s—versatility. You can have it made into almost anything, wear it anywhere, any time, any season, in any colour.

Cream Ultra-suede came fashioned into a contemporary classic; the shirt-style, mid-calf coat that could also

double as a dress, worn over cream, straight-leg pants. Similar styling in another lovely coat-dress, this time with its own skirt, and in a very dainty Oriental floral — bright pinks, yellow, and blue on sharp white. The ultimate luxury of fragilelooking clothes that are wearable and easy-care. It was comforting to see our notoriously fickle Canterbury climate being taken into account among the floaty, summery dresses and separates. A fine in-between season coat from Giavonozzi of Florence came in white, jersey knit —a simple wrapover, belt style. El Jay of Auckland produced a 1976 favourite overseas — the unlined coat — in a navy model with elbow-length sleeves, slipped on over a trim, youthful two-piece of paisley-pat-tern skirt and blouson top. Among the separates suits — several pieces with a more precise, put-together look than in past seasons — a Frank Usher number was my favourite. This is a London house gaining an increasing reputation for both creativity and craftsmanship. Its contributions to the parade dominated the collection, from simple day dresses to glamorous evening wear. The separates suit of powder blue knit, flecked with white, had all the ease of seventies dressing. The ribbed cardigan jacket had this season’s dropped shoulder line, the little top fitted neatly above a gored, bias skirt — all swirl but no bulk.

The fluid, Italian day dresses in soft knits that seem to get finer each year were as attractive as ever, with their every fine detail in place. The belts — narrow leather with gold chain — were a talking point, as always. But our own El Jay came out with a perfect mid-’7os dress for the chic woman: a soft short-sleeved, shirt dress in bright green, trilobel knit, the shoulders quilted, the bodice softly bloused, and the slender skirt gently gathered. EVENING WEAR Much of the parade was taken up with showing evening wear, and very tempting it was too. The one indispensible item seems to be a fringed shawl, matching mostly, but sometimes a contrast.

While the long gown was still very much in evidence, the mid-calf-length dinner dress is gaining acceptance again after more than a decade. One of the prettiest came from the talented young designer, Jane Bezzar, an Ashburton girl now based in Wellington, whose double layers of pale apricot chiffon showered with blooms, was edged with red satin ribbon. For elegant dining out or going to the theatre, Frank Usher had the answer in what would once have been called an under-stated dress — a moving skirt, tiny bodice with narrow straps, mid-night-blue chiffon covering bare shoulders and arms. But Frank Usher really showed his mastery of the mid-seventies fashion idiom with a long dress and jacket which seemed to say it all: a loose, cardigan jacket in dazzling white, satin stripe, worn casually over a perfectly simple dress, its many gores cut from a square neckline to fall swirling to the floor — an outfit that could be worn with ease to the most formal event or to the friendliest, at-home dinner.