Accessories that conjure up summer

Press, 27 November 1982, Page 10

Accessories that conjure up summer

ill vogue

Paula Ryan

Of all the factors that go into making a look, the one that’s changed most this season is accessories. Not only do thfey add the little polished extras, they actually create the look. Accessories are on a bigger scale now. Stronger shapes and textures along with more ornamentation add up to gusty looks with dimensional personality. Costume jewellery is bold, dramatic, and geometric. The biggest, news is the shapes of earrings and bracelets. Bracelets are wide; sculptural, geometric shapes, carved and often moulded — from multi-coloured, handpainted wooden bracelets to icy metallic shapes. Earrings have taken on a new boldness, from oversized hoops to flat or geometric shaped discs in bright primary colours, or shades derived from semi-precious stones. Earrings for day wear are in the main simple and ear hugging, with long drop or exotic varieties for afterdark wearability. Long drop earrings no longer create that “over-

cluttered" look of other seasons. This season’s bigger earrings are meant to be solo statements, working best with simply cut clothes. They look quite over-dressed now with ruffles or chokers. Necklaces will be a stronger statement with next winter, and it's all black on black. Those featuring for summer are clean, simple shapes, often combining the contrast of matt and shiny textures.

At waist level this season’s spotlight is - the hip-wrap, low-slung in woven linen or leather. Another unique, exciting way of cinching in the waist is by widely wrapping long exotic scarves at hip level and adding a bold geometric piece of sculputred metal or wood into the knot. Shoes have taken on a new proportion and balance. They are now this decades’ most rapid ringers of change. Generally they are softer, with low and shaplier heels with more detail and decoration. This season shoes come in brilliant colours, primary shades with shine, or subtle toned down, neutrals with warm or icy cold burnished finishes. Skirt length determines heel height from flat pumps semi-wedge Louis or champagne heels, to high, fine stilettos. For resort wear this summer, the . biggest news is the “beautiful” sandal. It is bare, delicate, and exuberant with colour, and often finished with picturesque detail or trimming. Look out for greens, whites, and cobalt blues arid reds. The basic rule — with shorter skirts, the more open a sandal, the better the look of your legs. - Other seasonal differences in footwear are the nonmetallic or pearlised finishes. Often several shades are mixed together for a richer effect. Ankle-lacing on high evening sandals is popular for creating exotic evening looks. Bags come also on a bigger scale, with a new softness and colour from awning stripes for the nauticals to burnished neutrals.

Many bags carry texture or come in gleaming patents, cottons, or collages of Snakeskin and leather — scored, woven, and studded. The best all-purpose working bag is the soft roomy “tote” bag and holder-of-all. Nothing in bag wear is flat or dull, and next winter looks to be even bolder with satchel-like bags, and simple,

square, pocket-book shapes. There’s nothing mother-of-the-bride about hats now. Bowlers, boaters, fedoras, and other versions of a man’s hat have given the millinery industry another lease of life. Wearing a hat today is meant to give polish, whether it be a hat deliberately purchased too big to provide eyebrow covering, or adorning a simple beret with

metal ornaments for an imaginative approach. These summer, well-pro-portioned looks are created with careful and deliberate proportioning of hair in relation to hat, hat in relation to earrings, earrings in relation to neck and wrist jewellery, jewellery in relation to shoe texture and so on ... adding up to high-impact accessorising.