Paris in the Mirror

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 47, 23 August 1930, Page 19

Paris in the Mirror

Written for "The Post" by Germaint.

PABIS, 25th June. There was a time when the Grand j Prix and the Grand Prix ball at the Opera closed not only the great week ] of the Paris season but also the season itself. It was impossible for anybody with am' pretentious to fashion, to be seen in Paris later than midday of the Monday—the day-after the race. Parents who had children at school had

to fetch them by stealth a fortnight later, and it was literal fact, not a literary invention or a music-hall joke, that if circumstances, financial or fam-

ily, kept one in' town, one lurked behind drawn blinds and never went out till after dark, while some faithful retainer fed one secretly,, as though one were a wounded Allied soldier in occupied .territory! . ■ Nowadays the season lasts well into the end Of July—not'with •■mucli conviction, perhaps, but quite definitely.- It is a pleasa,nt little time of small, cave- ] fully-selected dinner 'parties. Some of the Embassies give garden parties, and the Inter-Allied Club sees many distinguished names on its visiting books, for dinner in the garden thjere is an ideal form of entertainment. • Early July is, in fact, a happy breathing-space between the fearful rush of Paris and the even worse strenuosities of the fashion-1 able resorts where people go to "rest." THE 1930 STYLES. The 1930 styles are really based on the natural figure, although they admit of curves. The waistline is placed where the hips curve into the torso, but it is never, pulled" inside a belt smaller than its natural circumference. The lines of the figure are all indicated but never constricted. -Skirts fall to the turn of the calf or the ankle, giving a graceful, long-limbed effect, and allowing you to sit down comfortably and even cross your legs without being afraid that your knees are making faces at someone under the table. Hats, even when they are large, and frame, rather than hide, a pretty face, nevertheless sit down on th/e head and stick there of their own accord. And the soft tri-' cot turbans and tweed bonnets that are now so fashionable outline the curve of the head while caressing it so lightly that you really feel you've nothing on your mind except your hair. Shoes are either pumps that espouse and continue the natural shape of your feet, or Greek sandal-slippers that, expose them pretty much as they are. Of course to wear the latter you must bo Trilby—minus only the voice.

"But,"you will exclaim, "what about the women that have mislaid their waists, and whose lines all curve out instead of in?" Let them turn from th.eir lamentations and look for the most becoming division of their proportions. There's nothing hard and fast about this season's styles. The exaggerations that were necessary to put the big feminine change across have fallen away. The golden mean travelled a long way before it came to mean that sartorial moderation which is to-day the sign of distinguished dressing. HOPE TOR ALL OF US. There's hope for all of us, though, as a few style statistics will prove to the less-than-Venus, 1930 takes it for granted that women are pretty, alluring beings, full of It. Garconnes it refuses to consider. They have had their day, and for the moment are distinctly out of the picture. And what about les autres—what can anybody do for them1? Let them know that any woman who is not positively deformed by fat can find a becoming, fashionable solution of her figure problem. She may place her waistline just sub, or sub-normal, if she varies her skirt-length accordingly, so that it appears to be in the right place. The hand is, indeed, quicker than the eye. TWO DISTINCT DAYTIME MODES. The old-style team of sports suit and evening ensemble, which jogged along comfortably together for bo many postwar years, has been split up by that vampire the formal afternoon ensemble, with the consequence that we have now two distinct daytime. modes,, a naive seeming one, for informal, and a grandly sophisticated one for formal wear, with sports clothes faded out of the town picture and sent back to the country where they belong, though they may look in at the tennis club or swimming pool on their way through town. The dressmakers have even abolished the terms of "active" and "spectator" sports, replacing them more correctly with clothes for town and clothes for country wear. This is very significant of the renewed formality of our social customs. The elaborate home receptionß, the garden parties, the smart dinners, the great private balls which made the pre-war Paris season one glittering round, are being revived. FASHION HINTS. Crepe de chine shoes are embroidered in gold for evening wear. The pastel tones in their palest tints are featured. The idea, of course, is to have the shoes match the gown. Various artificial flowers look exactly like the real thing, and feel like it, although they are literally made of wood-pulp. Each one is scented in its natural perfume. Children's leather motor-coats are being shown in rose and raspberry tones. These are three-quarter length, and they have very wide belts. Sleeveless white crepe de chine frocks are shown for small girls. They are trimmed in bright colours, coral being a favourite shade. Dresses have been designed to look like flowers. The jumper suit will be unknown on State occasions. No longer will perfume be worn to match a dress. Dresses will be worn to match a perfume. Dressing up to our. perfumes is a new game that we shall play this autumn, and our favourite scent will become everybody's secret. Sleeves aro very important this season. They are long and floating, are short or elbow-length, or they-are conspicuous by their absence. The new clothes take some wearing, but when you've mastered them the charming result is well worth the effort expended in looking at yourself.

Picturesque fashions are again in style. There are more than hints of 1830 in the costumes of 1930.