Glamour After Dark

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 5 (Supplement)

Glamour After Dark

Gowns To Wear In The Evening Are Graceful And Gay

THIS is the time of the year when the dining and dancing season is looming ahead and we begin to think of new frocks for the evening. The lovely materials and graceful styles are making this a delightful task, and whether you are tall or short, dark or fair, you should have no difficulty in deciding on a style that suits you.

JpASIIION parades overseas are showing every imaginable mood in evening gowns. There is the tube or cylinder line, witli its split skirt, f.or sophistication, the thistledown lightness of bouffant net for youth, gleaming pleated satins accented by vivid chiffon scarves and hankies, and the sparkle of tinsel trimming for those who like it. The new season of swing time is just ahead. Let us dress for it. A Paris designer refreshes an idea for lace gowns by introducing one of bottle green with a loose box-pleated skirt hanging beneath a fitted corsage of matching green matt crepe, while another ground-length gown of black lace with a full skirt hangs from a hip yoke fitting of petunia-coloured taffeta. This yoke contrasts next a mid-blue corselet fitting swathed to the bust in brassiere fashion by black lace. These corsages are sometimes formed by wide ribbon, and in one instance dark royal blue moire appears with great effect above a wide black net skirt. Wide skirts-of this type sway over sheathlike foundations in colour to match corsage.

Corselet corsages also make excellent backgrounds for jaunty boleros, one of which is of red duvetyne and the other of black net. The former looks attractive worn with a red broche spotted black jersey gown girt by a red and green jewelled belt. The latter has narrow goffered black velvet ribbon spacing lines at intervals round the form and a deeper velvet ribbon base. It brings unusual charm to a svelte black velvet gown with low back oblong decollete and Vandyck pointed front. Vandyck point fronts give fresh interest to evening corsages, as they show a series of four to five points rising on the squared cut principle leading to shoulder straps which show off in Christmas roses on one gown of bottle green lace. Startling, news from Lanvin’s fashion house tells of a return to 1928 fashions with belts worn uncompromisingly at hip-level. Lanvin’s evening dresses mark the low waistline by lampshade frills set at hip-level, the crest of the frill edged with wide ribbon finishing with an enormous bow on

the hip, or by wide encrusted velvet-rib-bon strap work from natural waist to hip-level threaded through with heavy gold cords tying with tasselled ends at the side. The news, from Schiaparelli’s showing, on the other hand, is a high corselet skirt for day wear with a soft-ly-draped waistline. No low-waisted effects are sponsored by this house.

Possibly the most welcome trend in evening fashions is the vogue for sleeves. Not so long ago the idea of an evening gown with sleeves would have seemed absurd. A gown was suitable for the evening only if it left large areas of arm uncovered, but latterly designers have rediscovered that sleeves can lend an importance to a formal evening gown.

Really pretty rounded arms are rare. Too often we see the upper arms of a fat woman bulging from the shoulder straps of a decollete evening gown, while the bony elbows of her thin sister are equally unattractive. Sleeves are a positive boon to such as these. Short puff sleeves are youthful and soft for the young wearer, who should beware of showing too much of gawky young arms which are almost as ugly as old ones.

A delightfully unsophisticated look may be given to a dress by clever sleeves, which not only soften the line of the arms, but also the neckline. These full short sleeves have proved immensely popular witli women of all ages as long as they are not too fat or too short, for then the sleeves are apt to look top heavy and increase the size of the wearer.

Organdie, organza, marquisette, stiffened lace, mousseline or any fine material with a certain amount of stiffness looks most attractive when made with full short sleeves If long transparent sleeves are added to a frock it immediately gains in chic. It is remarkable the difference in warmth between the sleeveless evening frpek and one which has even quite short sleeves. For colder nights to have a frock with jsleeves is a definite advantage and once one has experienced the comfort of such it is hard to force oneself to wear anything else.