Casual, classic summer clothes

Press, 30 August 1986, Page 16

Casual, classic summer clothes

By

JANETTA MACKAY

Long, lean lines in navy and black crisped up decidedly comfortable clothes in one of Christchurch’s early summer fashion parades this week. The Clothes Horse stocks New Zealand designer labels and now has a cosmopolitan looking venue in which to show them in its new Hereford Street shop. Garments of understated ease in linen, cotton, and rayon worked as versatile separates. Loose blouses doubled as jackets. T-shirts hung fluidly beneath unconstructed, long linen blazers. the looks were casual but classic. Waistlines were easy —■ elasticised or drawstring — or optionally defined with wide, stretch belts. The influence of the

actress, Katharine Hepburn, whose defined dress sense was once considered mannish, was evident in Marilyn Sainty’s nayy and white spotted pyjama suit, and in floaty over-shirts in the “rice” whites — shades just offwhite.

Other 1950 s influences were seen in another garment by the Auckland designer. A sharp, black, rayon dress, secretarially styled, was updated with inverted kick pleats which flounced as the model walked. The H-line featured in sundresses by the Christ-church-based designer, Rosaria Hall. Her black dress, a bold, bare statement, had an H-front and

cross-over back straps with bone buttons. In white, her long tennis dress would not have been amiss worn centre court at Wimbledon by the stylish ladies singles winner of the 19205, Suzanne Lenglen. Tennis-inspired dressing was a strong theme in crisp linen tops with cotton collars, and dropped waists. Cropped trousers, worn with simple T-shirts, worked well with sandshoes. Strongest colours were navy and white, and stand-alone black, showing again the links between the looks picked by top designers and massmarket manufp;> irers. It is the fabrics which set apart the more expen-

sive garb. Most were natural, except for rayon which showed to best advantage in the drape of knife-pleated bias-cut skirts. Linens varied the dominant colour story. They came in neutral shades but a stand-out here was Maggie Bryson’s suit in a raspberry check shot with lavender. A delight was Rosaria Hall’s silk blouse with an inverted pleat front which featured a semi-concealed vertical row of diamante, revealed as the wearer moved. Robert Gormack, of Christchurch, who has secured Sydney outlets, offered leather. The cleverest piece was a black skirt — its flat pleats fanned out at the hemline to show an under-side of white cut-out leather.