Dinner Dresses and Suits Lend Dash to the Modern Wardrode

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 133, 29 February 1936, Page 19

Dinner Dresses and Suits Lend Dash to the Modern Wardrode

(Bt

Barbara.)

lu the true Florentine tradition is the black crepe dinner dress shown in my sketch. Like the Renaissance artist of old, the designer has moulded and draped its lovely lines into something that is timeless in its beauty. He seems to sculpt the very figure. The dropped shoulder-line and long tight sleeves are the essence of elegance. The wearer, who is unquestionably a woman of discrimination, places a brightly coloured spray of feather flowers on the very top of her head. Coins round the high neckline and a chain and coin belt round the waist give distinction to the other frock sketched. Of copper-brown crepe itith coins of gold, it has long sleeves fitted at the wrist and a slim skirt cut on the cross. At the back a looped panel •

of the material hangs to the length of the hem. In the overseas collections great interest is displayed in loose back drapery. Floating winged panels which hang from the shoulders to the ground decorate the back of Lelong’s plumcoloured chiffon evening frock. Another dinner frock of dull red-satin has a full back bodice with folds concentrated towards the centre and a loose folded panel of the material hanging to the ground at the back. This frock, which is long sleeved, has a sash belt of gold lame fastened by ajewel encrusted buckle in the centre back. Another long sleeved Florentine dinner frock is made of patterned lame and is laced up one side with silver cord. The neckline is low and rounded and J

has a flattened ruche of the material which gives it importance. ■ Besides these dinner dresses the new collections show many dinner suits. Most of these are as yet too advanced for wear in the Antipodes, but several of them are available for adaptation to our seasons. Nearly ail of them have short bolero jackets and long tightish skirts which show fullness at the back below the knees. One enchanting model is made of sheer black linen and a very tailored and straightforward, with W’ide revers faced with the same multi-coloured striped linen that makes the skirt. This suit should provide inspiration for many others. Bronze linen with a corn yellow blouse or moss-green linen worn with rose pink are colour combinations which

arc both striking and original. These dinner suits are amongst the first to display the new short-in-the-front, long-at-the-baek movement. A black crepe suit with an Eton jacket and a white waistcoat has a straight cut skirt which flares away at the hemline fi'om a V-shaped opening which reaches well above the ankle. Another model in dove-grey has a skirt which buttons with twelve covered buttons over the “tummy” and is» flared in front where it is a good nine inches shorter than at the back. An almost military jacket, also button-trimmed, and with coils of scarlet braid round the collar and pocket flaps is worn over a scarlet silk blouse. The dotted swiss Spanish style frocks

of which I have written in an earlier article, are now hailed as the forerunners to a Spanish trend. But uow it is the Spanish Caballero, and not his romantic senorita, who lends dash to the modern woman’s wardrobe. Dinner suits with bolero jackets and wide mannish shoulders have skirts which are jerked up in front, drapery like the one described in the preceding paragraph. A deep red silk suit has everything from a braided bolero jacket and a skirt with braid running down a side-centre seam to a still deeper red cummerbund which swathes the high waistline. A pleated white silk shirt, with narrow turn-down collar, is finished by a red toreador tie. For the woman who looks her most elegant in black, a dinner suit of black silk moire, with straight-cut skirt, and jacket which is severely nipped in at the waist and worn over a white ribbed silk halter vest, is the very essence of sophisticated simplicity.

Dinner dresses and dinner suits are, of course, as a rule interchangeable, but the former are particularly suited to the hostess, whilst the latter are excellent for dining out. Restaurant dinners in particular call for a dinner suit. Some smart Parisian women order several of the same style in different colour contrasts. The hats and head ornaments, which are designed to go with these garments, are particularly delectable. That’ becoming fashion of pulling the hair to the top of the head and then letting it loose in fluffy curls has again become important, and many designers make their hats especially to compliment it. . ' In an earlier article I have described the Juliet caps, chenille snoods and flower clusters which decorate so many heads, and seem so essentially right with the rather “arty” fashions of the moment With the dinner suits I have been describing a more severe, yet equally fetching, type of headgear is necessary. One-sided hats, which are peaked high in front and are worn with chenille dotted veils, fit well into the Spanish scene. The Edwardian dinner suits and hair dressing styles can also support a frivolous. type of hat which may have anything from the latest produce of the vegetable garden to a shimmering butterfly perched on its crown, while the brim is a practically negligible quantity. These hats are as a rule worn well forward revealing the piled curls on the back of the head and lending enchantment to the chin line. The effect to aini for is the swan necked beauty of Lily Langtry.