PARIS IN THE LOOKINGGLASS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 51, 28 August 1926, Page 17

PARIS IN THE LOOKINGGLASS

FASHIONS AND FANCIES.

(Written for "Tho Post" by "Germaine.")

PARIS, 30th June.

TMb is the season when planning for holidays is a favourite amusement. You may 'know quite well that you will probably go to some nearby place, and do the things you have done many times before, but there is joy to be got out of reading booklets and imagining the "perfect holiday." One advantage about a dream holiday is that everything goes well. No trains are too crowded. Battalions of porters yearn to attend to your luggage. The weather is always doing its best to live up to gorgeous posters of seaside places and famous resorts, and tlie water is as blue as if it had been dyed. Another thing about the perfect holiday is that you always collect the right people. In real life, there are people who have all the virtues, and are very kind to their mothers, but bore you to tears. Others show a passionate anxiety to read you bits out of tho morning xwpers, and only a good bringing up prevents your snatching it from their hands.

But I need not go on. We have all known the people we did not desire to grapple to our souls on a holiday at close quarters, though we can bear them with fortitude for short periods at long intervals. The dream holiday provides you with delightful creatures of both sexes, who are cheeivful without being exasperatingly bright when you want to

sulk, and who recommend the doctrine of equal rights to the extent of allowing you to shine at times, instead of keeping the conversation entirely in their own hands. SPORTS CLOTHES. Of course, sports clothes hold the centre of interest just now, sports clothes of all types, for seaside wear. Afternoon, printed chiffons, lingerie, and lace gowns, undoubtedly hold the attention, for the afternoon tea ho/. One also sees simple white, one-piece dresses of distinctive cut and line—the sailor type of costume, for instance, the collar bound with some bright coloured material, or the one-piece white dress, which has a turn-down Peter Pan collar, and is plainly belted at the waist. And they are completed by a fancy coat or sweater, which is generally worn, even though one sits in the sun. SPORTY- COSTUMES EVEEYWHEEE. Now that Fashion says '^ sport in almost any type of costume," it is of interest to note that a great many of the lighter coats which are being prepared for Deauville, aro sporty in type. Many of them are saliently plaided, with such contrasting colours as yellow, black and white, with the inevitable white fur collar. Many of the coats which are worn aro black and white —a black ground, with white plaids or stripes,' or a background with a white wool stitchery.

Black and white will be very smart "this season at the .seaside. A coat and skirt suit of brush wool in white can bo worn with a great deal of comfort, not only physical sense, but in the sense of being properly dressed. Black and white is very smart. A white either pleated or plain silk skirt, with a silk blouse and a jaunty worsted coat of black, with a turn-down white collar, is more than appropriate and suitable. THBEE-IN-ONB. A most popular model, entirely new and very delightful, and which lends itself to varied interpretations, is what is called "La Trinite." The three gowns in one, or the one gown in three, is what this model really is. It is devoid of fastenings or buttons. It wraps around the figuro and is tied, producing a long slender silhouette of black, of grey, or of coral. I saw three of these gowns in preparation for Deauyille, and they are cut like open coats, reminiscent of Japanese kimonos, all three alike of crepe EomaLn, in different colours, worn together, and covering each other completely. The different colours are only revealed through motion, and by tho different tics made into bows —the gown's only trimming. These "Trinito" frocks are also carried out in mousselino-de-soie, and in organdi with flounced skirt effects. LIKE A THOUSAND BUTTERFLIES. Miladi, at this time of the year, welcomes a sartorial gaiety, and indulges a penchant for brightness. This particular summer has a glory all its own, due, in part, to a general preference to vivid hues in outwear, but more especially to the scarves that have come to gladden our hearts. They flash out against the sombre blacks and greys of our simple frocks, liko a moving garden of roses, tulips, or a thousand butterflies. So a stroll along the fashionable boulevards reveals scarcely a well-dressed woman who is not wear-

ing a scarf with her modish tailleur, a gorgeous and generous piece of silk, knotted at her throat like a cravat, or thrown across the shoulders, the ends fringed, hand-painted or embroidered. Just as a scarf may match one's personality, so it may bo worn in many different ways to best become the walk or the bearing of the wearer. MILLINERY—A VERY ABSORBING QUESTION. Whether Paris milliners have discovered a new shape to take the place of the "cloche" is at present a very absorbing question. If not, there is every likelihood of a style being developed and uniform as the top-hat or' derby for men. This year's "cloche" is, however, made to look different from last year's, just a difference in the crown, a subtle detail of line. It is less decorative, and the simpler the design the more perfect the workmanship is, and also the smarter this results.

Some of the new hats are taking surprising turns these days. Little gold birds, little red birds, little blue birds, come to perch on their tiny, very tiny brims. A smart model is bf black straw, with gold piping round its tiny brim, and a small gold sparrow-head perked just over one eye.

The hat, with a matching scurf, is, of course, still very fashionable. A white straw "cloche" seen in the Eve de la Paix had a yellow water lily trailing from one side, and the accompanying wide, yellow scarf had :i border of white, hand-painted lilies. "Batik" scarf-and-hat sets have Batiked leather under-the-arm bags to match. Hats of ribbed silk are much seen, and one in black ribbed silk topped a black satin afternoon gown, simple in line, accompanied with a hood-like cape, cubistie in atmosphere and design, but harmonious in colour-jade green, coral,' and black. The distinction of such a getup is quite surprising.