LADIES' COLUMN

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 143, 17 June 1916, Page 11

LADIES' COLUMN

FASHION NOTES

A well-known fashion writer gives the following interesting notes : —The unrestricted wearing of blouse and skirt for outdoor wear in early spring, without a coat, is coming into force somewhat on the lines adopted ten years ago. Such a blouse will be found a practical necessity. In every sense of the word it is moro elaborate than the blouse in everyday use. It must match the skirt in colour. The most dressy have a small basque, but just as many terminate with a folded belt. So far faille and suchlike substantial silks work up into the most successful "costume blouses," as they are called. The idea that they match the skirt is yet another device to suggest the one-piece effect. Abroad such blouses have received much favour, especially in grey, black, dark blue, and cream. The use of ehot taffeta for many recalls the blouse of years ago, and its revival has the brand of economy stamped upon it, for the reason that its reinvention has come about to wear out skirts that may have collected in the wardrobe for want of some form of bodice to wear them out.

There is a feeling that the coming spring and summer may be " overMoused." How such a notion ever originated it is difficult to say. No wardrobe can bo over-bloused to-day. The blouse in its different styles is the most dependable article of dress ever designed. It can be worn morning, noon, and night. It is brimming over with dressy and becoming effects, or it may be of the very simplest. To a-dd to its many valuable qualities is that of appropriateness. Without it we would be all lost, and, judging from the time designers spend on it, it is the shortest way to fashion in a road with never-ending turnings.

Frocks for quite young people have no waists, a loose belt descending many inches below the normal waist-line. Such frocks are made in tweed, cloth, and various soft woollen fabrics, and often have a horizontal band in white down the front, with buttons for fastening. The belt is white also, and some have sailor collars of the same white fabric, ending in front in a large black satin bow without ends. Some of the little frocks of plain material, made on the same lines, show a i little striped petticoat below. Young girls wear mostly plain skirts, bodices with narrow, all-round basques, rather full white revel's, and a lace frill falling over a flounce of chiffon. The sleeves, are all after the coat form, and close-fitting, sometimes with buttons outside the arm, sometimes set in a band. A favourite fashion for making such dresses is with a piece forming a front breadth from neck to hem, buttoning on either side, eight inches on the hem, and tapering as little as necessary at the neck.

The jumper is one of the most convenient things one can have. It is a, garment perfectly distinct from a skirt, cut in one, with an all-round basque, and all through tlie winter and early spring, especially in draughty houses, it has'proved an untold blessing, made of chiffon velvet, and worn ..with any skirt., Of course, it is necessary to bo careful/ and to bear the shades and styles of your skirts in' view when choosing your juniper. These mostly have a belt at •the waist, narrow, with gold thread embroidery by way of ornamentation. The rolling collar of chiffon is a stylish ad-, junct, which recalls a period in dress when women made it an art. The jumper is immensely useful for evening demi-toilet wear, and in black and dark colours it accompanies tailor-made cloth gowns. Of course, young and pretty women can indulge in marked contrasts between Jumpers and skirts, and with some skill and forethought can conceive I many varieties in a- few garments, with changing combinations of colour.