FASHION TOPICS.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVIII, Issue 70, 3 September 1937, Page 3

FASHION TOPICS.

THE BROADER FIGURE.

You know the rules for the hard-to-fit, broader figure? Never to choose the obvious thing, that is, a dress with a jabot fullness or the long V plastron, for that at once makes the onlooker register you as "the broad woman." Never have your clothes made tight, for that increases your size. Never have tight armholes, for that at once calls attention to breadth. Don't wear an oversmall hat nor an over-large collar, and never choose a fabric with a sheen in it. If you want a touch of sheen, have it (as, for instance, applique satin flowers on a dull romaine dress) at the neck. Don't put contrasting colours round" the waist or at the hip or chest. Just use colour near the face so that the eye is concentrated on you—your face and eyes —rather than on your figure (as, for instance, a carnation red velvet scarf worn at the throat of a blue dress of soft woollen material).

Hard necklines should be avoided. A long, formal V neck can be intolerably hard, but soften the line with colour or velvet, pique, or a gentle fabric, and the effect is altogether different. Never allow yourself an over-rich look. Nothing so increases size and a, look of mature age as metal fabrics and trimmings, satins, sheeny velvets and over-large furs. Simplicity is the thing that reduces years, and incidentally, your figure.

Lastly, add to the rules that you must never leave the true line of fashion. If you think that there are certain lines for a big woman to follow, whether fashion dictates them at that period or not, is to write "Mrs Bulky" all over your wardrobe. Get into the habit of thinking in good lines and fabrics, even when picking your corsets and lingerie, avoiding shiny satins and taking the quietly dull fabrics, the right colours and the slimming lines. In other words, be well-dressed, not only from head to toe, but from skin to coat.