LADIES' COLUMN LONDON FASHION NOTES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 74, 28 March 1914, Page 11

LADIES' COLUMN LONDON FASHION NOTES

AN IMPRESSION FROM PARIS (FROU OUn OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 13th February. There is nothing about the styles as seen in London at the moment that seem to strike any actual novelty. Bunchinees about the hips, narrowness about the feet, a hitching up of draperies, bodices consisting of little else than transparencies — and not too much of these — all these are features of the moment; but they have been the leading features of fashionable dress all the winter, and nothing looks to have any pretension to fit. In Paris the position appears to be about the same Mentioning some dresses in a very recent play, a correspondent says : "If we are to judge of these gowns, which are the first of the season, signed by the most important of the creators in | the Rue de la Paix, there will be very little change, if any, in the Parisian silhouette this spring. The draperies of the skirts are wide at the hips and narrow at the feet, just as they have been for some time. The bodices are trassparent in' lace or tulle, and there is a kind of corselet that passes beneath the arms, round the bust, in the same material as the skirt, for evening dress. Walking costumes are in a kind of corded cloth with a shimmer of velvet One, in dove grey, with a wide sash encircling the hips, tied at the back with a wide bow and ends_ beneath the 6hort jacket. This sash is in the brightest of tartan silk, and appears very novel with its ends ! falling upon the grey skirt. A small tartan hat completes the costume. Something of a sensation was made by a green and white silk tartan. The skirt wa? fully draped at the hips with a plain flat tabher in front, _ opening slightly at the feet as if the stitching had given away. But tho opening was soon discovered to hßve been intentional, for it disclosed shoes made of the same striped silk, finished with shiny black toecaps and heels. If we are to wear shoes of exactly the same material as our dresses, there will be work for the makers and bills for the wearers! The bunchy pannier, widening the figure considerably below the hips, is an everyday feature, and trimmings are added to it to contribute still more to its width. Very large roses are .set at intervals round the pannier of the evening dress, and their mission is the obvious one of widening the figure. Fnlis are put on with similar purport, and it is very usual for a deep box-pleated frill to stand erect all round the waist ; this has no pretention to imparting a slender silhouette. Filmy fabrics will be in much request, and these will be cleverly manoeuvred into draperies that are always unusuai and mostly artistic. Lengths of diaphanous materials seem to be literally swathed about the form, these draperies being caught up in tront or at the side to reveal more than a peep at tilkon hose and smart shoes, while at the back (in the case of an evening dress) a narrow swirling train appears. The word "seam" appears no longer ; there is no us«? for it ; nothing approaching a seam is ever obbervable. Materials are woven wide, and where joins have to be made .they are hidden away under draperies * Day bodices do have sleeves, sometimes thresquarters, sometimes coming well over the hand • but otherwise there is not much difference between the day bodice and the evening bodice, for both are "wispy" as possible, and the opening down the tront 16 still considerable. It is strange to see a skirt co tight round about the feet that an opening in front is indispensable if any sort of movement 1 is to be possible; surmounting this slit, and set •ji the space between the hip and the knee, come two quite voluminous flounces, standing out because ot the wiring round the edge; set on top of this a wide waistbelt, that makes the waist look twice its real size, then above this a floppy bodice of ninon over lace, open far down the front and partly filled in with a crossover front of ninon; rising from the back or tho neck a Medici collar of wired i? 6 ' fl °PPV sleeves that end at the elbows— all these are typical features of a fashionable dress; but the width between knees and hips does look ridiculous, and causes the figure to assume unattractive proportions, amounting at times to suggested deformity WELL ESTABLISHED. Nothing seems to be considered complete unless there is some sort of sash-belt or sash ends. Every kind of costume has its sash, and included in this category is the tailor-made. IH-fittdng bolero coatees have a swathing of ribbon or satin round the waist, filling up the gap between coatee and skirt, and the ribbon used 19 generally one covered with a daring pattern in brilliant colours. All ribbons are bold in design this season; if perchance the pattern is one merely of stripes, then lfc is bold on account of the brilliance of the stripes and the daring manner in which tones that ought to swear at one another are placed next each other Much of the ribbon is moire. It is going to be the fashion to put an upstanding quilling 1 of ribbon at the back of the coat n^rk' to represent a. small Medici collar, and this quilling must be a decided contrast to the oostume. In this capacity enipraJd green moire is a favourite, and two wide stole ends of the green appear again falling below the coat down the skirt » far au the knee 3 in a meaningless manner. The folded sash-belt often widens considerably in the back, its two pendant ends falling at the side-front and losing rhemsnlvps in tho bunched-up drapery r>f thft skirt. No fctudent of fashionable, I dress will be ho unwise as to leave alone the cult of the sash; at will be an indispensable adjunct, and makers of nbbon should be in their element, for the demand will be enormous. VERY NEW. Numerous possibilities are opened up by the _ appearance of silk braid woven in numerous widths, aad nearly always in J % plaid design. The braid is supple in quality, and striking in colour, >and fo» the tailor-made «ash and wish-ends nothing could be i* re suitable. Sashes of j plain silk braid nave been in all the win- ] tor, the ends passipg through a ring which kept the knot and ends in any position desired. The spring suit will have the silk-braid sash of tartan. Much of it is woven in real tartan plaids; much of it, too, is of such curious blend thst jt will cause caustic remarks if brought to the notice of a real Scotsman. But it in pretty, and that will bo sufficient reason for its use. It will be employed with good effect merely as a slight colour touch on many a costume dark or light — it is. surprising how well the merest touch of it looks on collar, revers, and cuffs. Ribbon, too, that i<> well suited to the requirements of the iailor-madt* is plain colour most of its width, but just along one edge thero is a border line that introduces small squares and hexagons of colour ; this ribbon comes in usefully for forming coat collars and revers wbera just a little something to relieve the onetone of the costume is desired. It alsc is nice for trimming blouses and simple dresses. THE "LAST WORD." This is tho description applied to a gorgeous sash that is part of a Paris costume. It has a big Futurist design in peacockgreen, red, and white on a background of black. It fastens in front with a large bunch of crimson roses, two looped pnds falling down one side of tho front This sash is the colour splash on a> skirt of black pa-tin charmeuße with liftet'-up drapery ; its coatee is a very short one of bolero pattern cut on kimono lines, amd edged *11 round with & satin frill set on with a thick cord. Thia frilled edge to the ehortwaisted coatee is a novelty, but can only be worn by slim people. The "hue figures" of the earth are catered for by the smart three-quarter length coats, which have scope to fall in graceful lines. Extraordinary in size of design and colourings aro fconie of the new satins.' which aro to bo cut up for sashes, or to be turned into fancy coats to be worn over plain satin *lcirt«. Another Parisian sash, a good deal worn at Nice, and promised to London in due course, is of soft silk, hancj-embroid-ered to a- generous degree with floss silks in varying odours, the sash ends being finished with ball fringes of porcelain beads, the colours oi the bezels repeating the colours in the embroidery. Multi-cof-oured suhes of this type and oi gitnj

other variations are to play an important role in the €pring and summer, adorning tailor-mades as often as dressy dresses. NEW BUTTONS. Buttons are too numerous to deal with all in one breath ; most are striking in size, rich in colouring, and of expensive materials. But inexpensive and very effective are buttons made of bone, dyed to every conceivable shade. They are made just like large beads, with a hole rightthrough from end to end, so they are easy to sew on, and there are no tiresome hanks to break off. In cherry colour, these buttons look for all the world like real cherries, in bright blue and bright green, and in light shades, too, they are decorative, and tho card-show of this variety in all its colourings looks just like the ball counters on wires with which children learn to count. As there is a demand for tartan mixtures, it need occasion no surprise when mention is made of the fact that the large bead buttons dyed to represent any kind of tartan are to be had, and they aro effective on costumes of plain dark Ehades. PROSPECT FOR CHECKS. The outlook should be bright for the makers of checked drees and costume materials to be made up in tho spring. Already there is a great deal of the white and black mixture to be seen, and the checks are not of the smallest size ; they are medium. The black and white effect is often broken by the addition of a colour touch at intervals, thus a green check displays itself to good effect at intervals on the black and white ; a touch of red is similarly introduced, also a hint of mauve. On any of these the plain billbuttons of coloured bone are effective. One of the check skirt models shown the other day had a decidedly masculine effect about the skirt, for thero were two patch pockets, placed one on either side of thß hip front. ALL WHITE. The white tailormade of charmeuEe or cloth, white suede shoes, white moire hat trimmed with pure white gardenias, and to complete the scheme, picturesque stoles of white fox. Such is the present "uniform of the fashion girl at Nice. White furs in the springtime are always well liked. There is still a fancy for dyed fure, and no colours are too bright or too unusual. Vivid cerise is the tone given to one set of fox which once had been white, and it is worn with the geranium-coloured evening wrap of velours-brocaded ninon. For coats of mustard yellow, light furs have been dyed to match, and when real fur is not available, lambs wool is being used as one alternative and swansdown *s j another. I