PARIS IN THE LOOKING GLASS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 119, 23 May 1925, Page 15

PARIS IN THE LOOKING GLASS

FASHIONS AND FANCIES

(Written for "The Post" by "Germaine.") PARIS, 25th March. Le sport goes on all the' year. Tennis in covered courts is played vigorous- | ly- Golf at Le Boulie, St. Cloud, Fontainebleau, 'Chantilly, and St. Germain is attracting Frenchwomen more than ever, and it is difficult and expensive to | join any of the clubs in the places named. Many more women are driving their own cars, though it is no easier to do so in Paris than it was a year ago. The Motor Show has tempted so many to buy_, and really, with the skirts so tight, it means either a motor-car or a revival of the sedan chair to get about at all. _ No one can walk in a skirt which is as narrow as a trouser length. To be honest, the very narrow-looking skirts are slit, or they have hidden pleats. A very short skirt can't be very tight. Therefore, must it be plissce, or with inset pleated; panels, or, as I have just observed, with side slits, revealing, of course, a pretty petticoat in some dark colour underneath. ' Girls look very well in them, and they encourage neat feet. Short, fur-trimmed coats are comfortable looking, and the straw beret is a happy change from the eternal cloche. The love of every shade in brown, from

pale beige to deep copper, is as keen as ever. A flash of gold, green, red, yellow, or blue may light a neutral shade from dullness, but tho groundwork of all good Paris clothes is quiet, as usual. Soft woollens, velvets, and silk are used. Nothing is hard. Moire, even, is soft, though it does not loot so always. It is at its best in very light colours, or in black. One sees it everywhere, but it is shadowed with a boiirgeoise mentality—or is it merely middle-aged! "WHAT MATTERS MOST IN CLOTHES. Many people go to Nice to see the new fashions that are to be. During the Southern season just passed one has been able to get a- few hints llere and there of what not only are to bo the'spring, but the summer and even the late j summer modes. _ There are those who say, "Why waste time and money watchling exactly the wrong shoes ruin theeffect of exactly the right hat and watching a lot of women who might have on something smart?" Why? I will tell you. The few women who do have a well-chosen wardrobe, who think through to an "ensemble," and they are well worth all the trouble, expense, and wear on the eyesight. They tell the story of the coming season. Let the dowdies fill the landscapes; the few 'smart" ones fill the mind's eye to satisfaction. During the Southern season these -women, few in number, great m_ importance, wore costumes that inspired these predictions on the spring modes. ;■- In general, it will be a "mannish" season—tailored dresses, suits, untrimmed hats, close and small, smooth materials, plain shoes, close-cropped heads, scarves_ worn stock .fashion. Even the feminine" woman, who does not care for the Btnctly tailored costume will conform m a measure. But the tailored costume will lead, despite the best efforts of a furious campaign to kill it. Colour there will be in plenty. We shall sett black and white, white and black, all shades of brown, pink, peach, apricot, salmon, soft, powder blue, and much pale sulphur yellow. Some (how a°i, T nbe it?) new French pea-green. All the purple shades are fashionable, from parma to pansy and from cyclamen to bishop's purple. In clothes, though, what matters most is not so much what is worn, but the manner in which they are worn.

THE BURNING QUESTION. Slimness is imperative if one is to wear clothes well. The burning question is how to achieve the necessary slender lines without getting haggard in the face. ■In extreme youth it is easy enough. In maturity it is „o f c. Diet is the first tiling, exercise the next, and, over all, that frame of mind which is neither spartan nor soporific. It is all a question of right proportions. To look mco and feel nice one must aim at good balance- of mind and body. Worry is no good_. The day of a secret-sorrow-hero-me is over, and the masculine type is done. To bo truthfully modern a girl has to be intelligently feminine. ' But revenons a nos moutons, that is i to Bay, to the lilbouettt e f &{• <&y

which is, and will remain—at all events for the present—absolutely straight. The last of the picture gowns seem to have made their appearance and departed.

. STYLE DETAILS. Another thing that is interesting in the mode concerns the circular movement. The circular flounces or clever plaits are often used for flounces across the lower part of the skirt. The skirt length is shorter than ever, and there are very few belts to be seen. An exception must be made in the very wide, brilliantlycoloured, belts, of suedo which can only b~e worn, however, by the very slender.

The new cloaks and coats are gathered round the figure in such a way as to give them the right line. They are drawn up in front, and left to dip behind. No cloak falls right of itself, and, since there are no fastenings to speak of. the hands have to do the work. How they arc-also to carry an umbrella, a bag, a dog, and to open doors, if there is no one at hand to do these things, no one explains. But, in any case, when the mannequins wear the cloaks as they are designed to bo worn, they look very well. Much ' picture embroidery is used. Large, startling motifs appear on frocks of delicate tissues. And how do you like the idea of having about fourteen elephants,-both large and small, parading around your skirt? It sounds rather startling, I admit, but, actually they are so unobtrusively fashioned of black satin applique .on black crepe marocain, that the unusual nature of the design would hardly be realised,-if it were not for the white embroidered eyes, with which these black elephants have been thoughtfully provided in order to make sure that attention will be duly, and always, drawn to their presence—and your originality.

THE DETACHABLE TUNIC. "A novel, and really very practical, feature is a. detachable tunic which when draped closely round the hips and fastened low down in front, with a carved buckle, gives something of "Oriental contours to the skirt, while at any desired moment, it can be removed and worn as a cape, the gown beine then revealed as of the straight "tubeshape order, for whose slim sake women are giving up so many sweet things