PARIS IN THE LOOKINGGLASS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 126, 24 November 1923, Page 15

PARIS IN THE LOOKINGGLASS

FACTS-AND FANCIES. '

(Written for "The Post" by , "Germaine.") • ■ • PARIS, 26th September.

Social activities are picking up rapidly in Paris, arid there is the greatest change' to be noted in the last few days, in the number of dinner or luncheon parties in the restaurants, in which the Britisher is' playing a conspicuous part. The hotels are packed with English visitors, who. are passing a few days in the capital before' returning home, and those who expect to settle here for the winter are rapidly returning.

The restaurants are filled to overflowing, the midnight dancings are opening their doors for the winter, and with the announcement from the various big hotels grouped- around the Champs Elysees and elsewhere' that the dinner dances are to begin again, the autumn season is declared officially opened from this week.

What a spending time of the year this is! And the spending is caused by such uninteresting things—winter overcoats, coals, and the electric bills getting longer and longer as the days get shorter and shorter! Somehow, there are always new curtains and carpets to be bought when October dawns- Dear old faded chintzes will do for the spring and summer, but autumn calls imperatively for new velvets or duvetyns.- Eiderdowns, too, have to be recovered (recovered imevery sense of the word).; In the kitchen all sorts of pots and pans must be renewed, Heavens knows why, unless it is that, cook, during one's absence, has managed to burn the bottoms off everything.'' ■ * : THE FASHIONS. As for the fashions, the one absorbing subject is the shortening of skirts again. Women are tired of long skirts, and dressmakers, in order to please them, are cutting off inches with an alarming rapidity. .": The waistline has shown to have crept up four or five inches, and in the newest models is now distinctly above the line I of the hips. The colour card for the autumn is interesting; twin greens— olive and almond—will be the favourites, .with an autumnal shade of brown as second favourite. . Every dress has sleeves, but no dress has the same sort of sleeves. Most' of them are long, and many of them are fantastic. The line taken by some of these sleeves is rather odd, shortening up slightly on the right Bide of the arm. Silk cord may form a finish, or a very narrow fringe of. silk or jet. A novelty is the short sleeve a.' pouf, of early Victorian" period . There is - also the Elizabethan sleeve,- the .Chinese sleeve, and hosts of others. In all cases the line is strictly observed. DRESSES FOR MORNING WEAR! The two-piece tailored suit for morning .wear this season has its cape to match. The 3-piece costume, which means, either a-frock;and coat or a coat' and skirt with a tunic-blouse to match has become a fixture. ■ The idea persists of a complete and matching costume. When a woman has chosen her morning suit she has only begun. She must_ match it with every little thing which goes with it. If her costume is

of navy-blue trimmed with red or black or grey, she must have hats, bags, gloves, and footwear to go with them.

MILLINERY.

There is an unwritten law in the book of fashion which says that a hat should not be bought until every other detail « »UA °° *kl™ -^ " te ba worn with is obeyed, there would be fewer misfits in millinery The only vwd' road to success is throughtful frank, and merciless study of oJMsoft at the most truthful of all mediums, the mirror. It is beforo this autocrat that the most bscoming lines and colours may be learned as well as the styles that will most advantageous y express the personality In colour in line, ro texture, the hat "must go with the coatume. U must also go with the facs it crowns One thing now is that' flowers are used more freely than before, but the French milliner' never makes the mistake of overburdening a hat. A single' rose in their skilful handa does the work of an expensive garland, and it is more satis-" tying. They sometimes use lace for these flower-trimmed bonnets The broad brim of the picture hat allows another becoming fantasy, the coloured facing. For brunettes, a facing of red throws very kindly shadows. A new shade cf red used for this purpose has » s old cast that hints of sunset lights. This lovely Japanese red has appeared also in a number oi toques for street wear.- The old-world "Zulu" hat has come uit.Q its ow» w»iu. fiomettiuw

pictures are painted thereon, not flowers. Japanese and Chinese scenes are ereat favourites. Buddha heads are represented. NOS PETITS PIEDS.

The French woman has the reputation of being perfectly shod, and her small, pretty feet always call for admiration. I\o one seems to wear anything bigger than size four and most of the sizes appear to be about two and a half Tha favourite footwear of the moment is the strap slipper of Alice-in-Wonderland, with the addition of a high Cuban heel. Above this, or the Oxford with a big bow which rivals it, the Frenchwoman wears a thin silk stocking, the sheerer the better, sometimes matching, but often contrasting with the shoe. One might think that even he Parifiienne would catch her death of cold in this damp chilly Paris autumn but sho has a clever scheme to battle influenza. Under her thin silk stocking -gho wears another of flegh-colour Shetland wool, fine as gauze. Silk stockings are frightfully expensive, and of poor quality at that. It is not unusual at a dance to see many little "Jacob's ladders y running up women's silken ankles before the evening is half over. Perhaps it was an economical soul who introduced the questionable fashion of wearing no stockings at all with evening dress. At any rate, this fashion is far from being as sensational as it sounds, and is too usual here to excite undue attention.