IN THE WORLD OF DRESS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 1, 1 July 1922, Page 16

IN THE WORLD OF DRESS

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF SKIRTS CAPERING SHOES. (Fiuw obb own oorsmmwduwj) LONDON, 12ih May. . All the fashion parades show a longer skirt, or there is the delusion of length impaVted by the floating panel draperies ■which, ahvays descend several inches below the hem of the underdress. Even so,, skirts are not long j in the majority of cases they cover a couple of inches more calf than they have of late done, and while some dressmakers advocate a dear space of 10 inches between hem and feet, others Bay that .7i . inches clear is quite enough. A little while ago, they were 12 inches clear. Tailormades are usually a becoming length and comfortable for walking, but smarter gowns seem often to end very near the, ankle. The longer skirt is often a draped skirt, the alternative being panels of uneven length and ..a variety of shapes; whatever drawbacks some of the panels may have,. none impede movement. :

At Longchampa the other day, the I Parisian racecourse frocks had skirts of every length, from those which crtopped just below the knee and revealed the ] dainty contours of the silk-clad calf, to those that swept and billowed just above to the pretty little shoe, and hid even the trim anfie. While knee-length skirts are very few, there were one or two examples in white mousseHne de lame from a Rue <k la Paix establishment. Some people doubt whether the Parisienne will wear the longer skirt to the extent expected. One expert opinion is that it "makes a woman look short, stout, old, and frumpy, and if she is to wear it, the line of the presentday frock will have to be entirely altered, as it was in the old days when the waist was defined and the skirts flared out gracefully. The long skirt could j not possibly go with the chemise frock." A member of one of the manufactur- j ing houses in London says short skirts are finding a ready sale, especially when knife-kilted; whereas, there is a lack of demand for long skirts for walking. It is the experience, so far, of "Cintra" (Mrs. John Fortescue) that women who study good style as well as fashion will not wear a noticeably short skirt. She expects the majority of gowns for the races to be of the soft draped style, with the eKect of a skirt to the ankles. Short skirts were designed by Parisiennes for Frenchwomen who are generally of dainty sizes. The same style is totally unsuitable for the, general type of Englishwoman. Artists have been giving their views on the. long drawn-out controversy, and while > Sir W. Orpeu says., "What we want is a fashion which shows the best and ! not the worst of a woman. Women should dress according to their age, their figure, and. their height," Mt E. ' Dulac has decided that the short skirt is the only fit garment for a new type of Englishwoman—the type is dark in the colour of her hair and skin, small and slight, with dark eyes, • definitely exotic, one might say Oriental. "These women have limbs well modelled. There are better legs aboiit. They \ can, and do, wear the short skirt with ease and elegance. I see, thanks to the short skirt and the new woman, a great improvement in English dress. On the whole, women are very nicely dressed,: right down to their stockings and shoes. ] Never did I see so many well-dressed women, no matter what their calling, in London as at the present day. The typist, the shopgirl, the lady's maid, are all very neat, and charming. True,: the short skirt is not very kind to some women; but the long skirt is even less kind. The long dress can only be worn by the tall and stately. For the. short and 'petite type it.. becomes at once clumsy'and dowdy. I am'all for theshort skirt."

Miss ■ Anna Airy, one of the best of modern women painters, thinks the-not-; too-short skirt is very sensible, and hopes we shall never go back to the style which made a woman lift her skirt every time she stepped off the kerb. Some women are perfect "fools about their dress, she says. "One generally gets used to any style, but I have never been able to reconcile my.' sense of humour with, the sight of a woman with' no ankles to speak of, showing her leg to the knee and wrapped' up to the neck in fur. The very short skirt is artistically stupid. It cuts; the leg at the thick part of the calf. Now, the pretty part is just below the calf, and that is where the short skirt should cut the leg. The short skirt should not be more than 7 inches- from the ground." . • . ; Mr. L.. Baumer comes to the practical solution that between the two extremes of skirt are many lengths, and it is for the individual woman to decide which suits'her best. And let her do;so, believing that her own opinion on the subject is probably worth as much as that of all the London and Paris dressmakers put together, "...■'''

Men who Kke to look at pretty feet and ankles are apprehensive lest, with the longer skirt, women will become careless about their shoes and hose. There is no disputing the fact that Eng-. lish women have never been so beautifully shod as they .are to-day. In the .dull, old days of dragging skirts, they, seemed to think their feet did not show, and that any covering was good enough; they certainly did not spend money on dainty stockings either. - FOOT MUTILATION, But surely women are not going to be bo foolish as to make themselves martyrs to the excessively narrow" shoe?. It is stated in a London paper that fashionable women have decided, in order to .keep abreast of the newest vogue in shoes, that they must dispense with the little toe of each foot. A number of operations have taken place in London nursing homes, and others are likely if the slender shoe retains its present popularity. Two women had their little toes removed in the same nursing home .in the West End last week. The convalescents, when, they have their bandages removed,, send for the narrowest pair of shoes to be found in the smart shoe shops, and discover to their intense delight that they can accommodate four toes in a shoe which would have been much too narrow for a complete set. The small toe of the average woman i is described as being simply ono large, corn that no chiropodist could completely cnre.'. A new slogan may soon be adopted for the benefit of corn sufferers. " If you cannot cure the corn, have your toe off." The operation is painless, arid no after-effects are noticeable in the gait of the walker. Some of the narrow shoes which are sending women to the surgeon are an inch and a-half less in width than those ordinarily worn by the average Englishwoman. An orthopaedic surgeon does not think it justifiable to have the little toe amputated merely to follow fashion, though he sees no reason why women should not have narrow shoes; so long as the narrow part be made so that it does not begin until the toe-line has been passed. "A perfect shoo ought to have its inner border more or less straight, and with ample room'to leave all the toes at ease." Triiby, the dv Maurier heroine, who • .had _nwfeci.. feet, jyove such shots,

" There, are many women who have per- j feet feet, bat they are gradually being spoiled by their shoes. The perfect human foot is one in which all the toes should be in lino, perfectly straight with the inner border of the foot, and have a well-developed arch. It should be capable of being raided 'at the ankle, and making a right-angle towards the knee. The little toe is degeneraSng owing to tight-fitting shoes, and babies born hundreds of years hence will not have little toes at all. The rest of tho toes on tiie human foot will be joined together in web form, but that will not hinder movements while wearing shoes," FOOT MODES AN© MOODS. The shoe that goes with everything is a good one, of patent leather, in Mack. Ths choc that goes with most colours, and is suitable for all occasions, is the one of bronze glace. All shapes abound, and the variety thus available is really sufficient for all requirements. But people so often want coloured! sho«s that just tons with their dresses, and dress colourings are supposed to give expression to one's moodls. Therefore the j query is put : "Do you feel in a Puri- ! ten mood 1?" If so, you may read what j an authority hae to say : "Then thero is a neat grey, with; ite little ruched buckles of silk and two- | button, strap in which, when buttoned), mother-of-pearl plays a part. - This shoe ie_ of the mode, since it is in keeping with the present vogue for grey. Black and white glace leathers are mixed, in some of the advanced shoe models; and a great deal of dyed glace leather is being made up into coloured shoes to wear with summer toilettes. Coloured! suede and black patent leather is another modish, shoe notion for, fashion's lighter moods. Plain, black patent leather shoes are worn with light-coloured silk stockings. These shoes are cut in Jester shape, and aa-e extremely smart. Other black patent. leather models have a novelty finish in contrasting colours, a beading of white anamel, or coloured cloth, or suede, showing under a dJasign, in perforated leather. "For the mood frivolous there are the daintiest slippers in silver and gold' brocacte, Tbie latest have „a tongue raised, over, the daubed instep, the point accented byi tiny brilliants. ■ A fan of tulle raising from an ornamental1 buckle sometimes takes the place of the silken tongue. Dance dippers in pastel-colour-, ed sflka and satins have buckles of pearls or other semi-preckmß jewels. '. "Then there, is the sports mood—to tihe English, girl perhaps ihe most important of all. Brogues are mad* in brown and grey, crocodile or in . ordinary \'tan j leathers with a fringed 'apron' in a sharply contrasting colour. This type of shoe ie also warns—with slightly higher heels—with the town tailor-made. For smart garden wear there is the Jester model in white kid, suedie, or canvaa." People with thick and clumsy ankles —and there are1 crowds of these unsigiht--ly exteenutiee visible in' London streets —are advised to resort to exercise and massage, and all kinds of useful bints are giv-en, sucfe as walking round :andi round the ..room on the tip of, the toes, stretching the arms out straight on either side, and! trying to keep as much, as possible on the extreme tips of the toes; walking round the room six to twelve times in this way, and taking a shorts rest now and again.