PARIS IN THE MIRROR

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 146, 17 December 1927, Page 16

PARIS IN THE MIRROR

FASHIONS AND FANCIES

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

PAEIS, 19th October,

The Salon de I'Automobile is open. Apparently this is what is needed to bring in the fine weather! The salon opens, rains cease.th, sun shineth through the clouds! This is a curious fact, and Parisians cannot help but notice it. The salon and fine weather are always linked together. On tho day of the "Vernissage," as a matter of fact, a daffodil globe shone mildly in a mother-o'-pearl sky above the semi-denuded trees that line the-Champs.Elysees. It

This greeny-brown satin frock is made with a tunic, having a draped sash* creating pointed hem-line. Long sleeves, a square decolletage, and a three-tiered jade necklace complete an interesting ensemble.

was the sun! And here one would almost like to stop and write: "To be continued in our next." This, however, would be but idle boasting. Nevertheless, for one ray of sunshine we are truly content.

There was an awful crowd oh the first day, of course. The usual officials were personally conducted round the show. As for the women, they were more numerous than the men. It is truly astonishing how a woman will always put on her best toilette for the Motor Show. I suppose that those who own a car already wish to live up to it, while those who don't, try to look as' if they ! did. Besides, how can one expect the proper dosage of familiar deference from the sleek young man who belongs to the stand that exhibits the object of one's heart's desire, unless one looks as if one really can afford to scatter tho billets de mille? I wonder if these sleek youths ever get tired of bowing smart, penniless little ladies in and out of their super-saloon type of car and feel like murder when she lisps that, after all, she thinks she'll stick to her "Old Bolls" for just one more season! A CHANGE IN THE ATMOSPHERE * OF OUR NEW FROCKS. | For the first time for many seasons there is a change in the very atmosphere of our new frocks. Nothing ambiguous about them. And just as no one could becomingly play the tomboy in a Spanish mantilla, so, in a tucked evening tulle frock, we of the twentieth century will automatically have to stop understudying the more virile predecessors of the queer, effeminatelooking youths who are going about now masquering as "real he-men." All this has happened before, in the different stages of history. The ancient Egyptian flapper went through almost the same fashion-phases of the girl of to-day. She cut her hair, she wore her clothes short, tight, and straight, and she hung herself with beads (not synthetic pearls, for gold was a commonplace in those days). ■ MASCULINE MODES. Masculine modes are dying. This year's fashion models have given the first indication that woman is rounding her curves . . .in accordance with the best theories of Mr. Einstein, for whom there are no such things as straight lines. She will not give up driving her own. motor-car, however many ruffles she may wear round her skirt and her wrist, any more than Antiope gave up hunting and riding after she married Theseus. We will get tired of playing the "boy" in our fashions, are tired of it now. , ■ SEPARATE COLLARS. One of the most amusing accessories of the year ard the little separate collars, which are not attached to the frock they finish. A favourite-form is tho "Cavalier" collar,.which has the I authentic cavalier form, not unlike the "Buster Brown" collars of other years, but made of lace or organdi, and ties about the throat, with a simple ribbon instead of inserting itself into tho neck of the frock. The hiatus between neckline and the ribbon that knots the coliar into place high about the throat dhows through the thin material; this is very smart. "Incroyable" stocks are also applied in the same inconsequential way, being knotted about the bare throat;* they often leave the sides and back of the shoulders bare, while the stock descends in front of the frock, and is fastened there in a formal way, either with a scarf-pin or one of those jewelled studded bar-pins that are so very useful in modern dressing. THE WATCH FOE. A logical accompaniment of tho tailor-suit is the watch fob, which is returning to favour with a rush. Since the dropping of the waistline there has been no suitable place to tuck a watch with its attached fob and seal; but with the present tendency to define the normal -ivaistlino by the belt'—and actual belts being \Vorn with tailored blouses —the wrist watch is giving way here and there to the "before-the-war " type, and slips comfortably inside a belt of silk or canvas or leather, or into one of the little pockets of a jacket or waistcoat, or is even." attached with bar pins. The fobs are snappy, short little things, tho best looking ones being of / black ribbon, preferably moire, with medallion, locket, or seal of rhinestones, onyx, jade, quartz, tourmaline, aquamarine, metal nuggets, tortoiseshcll, mosaics, or any of the new ideas in semi-precious ajid imitation ■ jewels.' Those who are fortunate enough to possess'fine old seals find them fright-

fully chic when introduced in the present style. j FASHION HINTS. I Some of the new winter hats are made of the softest felt, and are given long scarves of silk ninon to wind round the throat and flutter behind. The new material for hats is tissuvelours. This is as light as a feather and as pliable as satin. Suede belts in two colours trim everyday hats. Sports hats are made of felt that looks like tweed. Feathers are to be seen in millinery. These are placed under the brim and sweep the cheek.

The buttonhole has taken on a new lease of life. The latest for.thin frocks or evening dresses is made of petals of crepe de chine, loosely attached to each other to form a begonia. These are given velvet leaves, and all flutter as the wearer moves.

Cobweb evening dresses, with transparent hems, are just masses of billowy tulle.