PARIS IN THE MIRROR

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1927, Page 16

PARIS IN THE MIRROR

FASHIONS AND FANCIES

(Written for "The Post'? by "Germaine.") ' PABIS, 29th December. The eternal question of what we are to wear has been decided for us by the Grandes Maisons in Paris, and at tho moment there is no, appealing against the decision. We are'to wear, first of all, the straight .frock—the straight, short or long jacket, tho straight, plain or pleated skirt, the straight tunic, the straight everything; the flare doesn't seem to apoeal to us any more. But the Paris couturiere always maintaining acertain equilibrium in her design. If . the skirt is plissee, the sleeve is tight; if the skirt is tight, the bodice is full. This nice balancing gives a feeling of proportioning that carries a sense of harmony. No bulk is permitted anywhere. It is considered clumsy. All unnecessary fullness is cut out—that is, the bulk is cut away.and tlie material seamed and darted,, laid in points, in one piece, each neatly dove-tailed mother. As example, a coat-dress with a slim bodice, and a plissee skirt is cut in one puieee, each neatly dovetailed into each other in long, slender darts that give the figure extreme slendenftss. Sometimes skirt and'waist are joined in squares in exactly the manner that the corners of a box dovetail. The Paris couturiere is the" Euclid of fashion. She is primarily a geometer, She thinks in geometric designs, in triangles, isquares, circles. Probably no one, but a geometie seamstress could put a geometric pattern together. That is yvhy ;3ome of these new models, for all. their i3eeming simplicity, are so difficult,to copy yell. Indeed, so exact a science is the cutting and putting together of a geometric design that a school has been established in Paris to train dressmakers how to make these models. Ana these students are taught not low to fit a sleeveor make a lining^ they are taueht seometry. . ■ „ ... THE SIMPLE GAMENT OF THE MODERN WOMAN. New patterns, purely cubist in origin are invading the fabric world. There are not' only the batik patterns, but the newer cubist designs, recalling the. cubes and preeisms of the Salon d'Au-;: tomne. There are odd effects of streaks of lightning, jagged saw-tooth designs, and all mariner of geometrical figures painted ,on or woven into the fabrics. These havo come very strongly tn the fore this past season. Not oaly? the realm of dress, but all the accessories reflect this new movement. We see scarves in party-coloured squares or triangles, purses and- shoes in woven-, leather designs give the effect of geo-' metrical patterns, fabrics cut on tho straight, even for lingeries; hats pieced together in a cubist patchwork, neutral colours, in graded tones that achieve the flat, faded effect desi;ed. Look, too at tlra sample garment that the modern woman slips on for her day of sports or evening dancing! Has there ever 'been anything like it? So short, so' ridiculously simple (with a sophisticated simplicity); so' free,, so careless, so youthful, so gay, and so animated? Never! It is. a new "period gown,''' one which has neved before peeped over the horizon of fashion. ' '■■ '

OF- SCARF COLLARS AND THINGS.

The scarf-collar is favoured by every houso in Paris, being attached to cloaks and jackets, and .to day and evening gowns, or qmployed separately. Black •lace makes a scarf on a black lace evening gown, tlie scarf being attached at >the shoulder with a rose; a black crepe scarf is flounced on the end, and attached to a black ertepe evening gown. A silver gauze scarf ends in a fringe of ostrich feathers. A pale rose crepe, Bomain scarf is fringed in silver and a silver gauze one, edged in a white bugle fringe. The scarf may be made in any fabric/ attached to almost any frock. Ostrich feather - trimming is used in. a conspicuously beautiful manner—great fluffy flounces of knotted flues? finishing the skirts of evening gowns, forming collars on evening coats, or collar and cuffs on afternoon cloaks or dripping from the hip of some slipsheath gown. . .

Each house also shows its ' own version of the tunic, which may be tube like, over a narrow underskirt of the same, or a contrasting colour. Tucked vertically at the hips with the pleats flying out below, like a ruffle over the narrow underskirt, attached at the shoulders to,, a shallow yoke, and falling out in one or more ruffie3 below the knee, or slit up the front, over the slender satin underslip. ' FASHION HINTS. _ A sensational dress for evening wear is made of shining silver leather, which has been worked and cut into pattern in the manner of tSe finest Point do Venise. A blouse of silv.er gauze, edged with silver satin, and with rough silver and gold, is smart. ; ' Tho new scarf is not so much an accessory as an integral part of the costume. It is worn to supply colour and line to costumes that are Simple in line and all of one colour. '

There is a new gown made by an aitist the material of which is the nearest approach in fabric to water. It is a wave striking the body; it is water poured over, the limbs. It flows, ripples, blows, clings. It fits supremely It is so perfectly cut that it could not get out of place, or out of shape, or do anything but flow over the body in perfect lines.

Not all bodies are perfect; not every woman can afford to have a «own fit too perfectly. .This., problem has been solved. Every woman has certain good points. At these points the gown should fit, at 1 less enviable 'sj-bts it must escape the body. If a woman has slender hips and -a large bust, the gown is loose above, snug at.the hips. If she has heavy hips but shoulders and arms that are well made, the gown fits at the shoulders, has tight sleeves to accentuate the, arms, but flow, from the hips. The gown must bo short if ankles are delicate, longer if they are thick Sleeves belled if wrists are thick, tightly cuffed if they are slender. Every defect must bo noted and covered Every good point displayed and accented. . ■ • ■.