London Fashion Notes

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 111, 13 May 1933, Page 19

London Fashion Notes

Specially Written for "The Post."

LONDON, March 17. There is a species of, "military madness" abroad.this season. The astonishment caused by the sudden and almost complete disappearance of the tenacious beret i 3 succeeded by bewildered amazement at the variety of its successors. These range from a "fez" (the name explains the shape), complete with stem on the summit, to a hat with a crown not much lower than a "topper," but which fortunately the wearer is expected to suppress and wear at a becoming angle. Caps made entirely of flowers, caps like pill-boxes, and caps so shallow that they lie flat along the head, lend variety to the small hat. Sailor hats with flat crowns, "boaters" with high, straight crowns and narrow brims, "Dolly Varden" and "pancake" shapes are made with fine straw, felt, every variety of silk and cotton and woollen material. Tor later in the season we are shown hats with crowns like saucers and brims like cart . wheels, when one is thankful for the bandeaux. Some of these hats are like Chinese coolie hats with the brims pushed halfway up the crown. Mannequins at

advance dross showings manage to balance them on their heads in the. seclusion of the salons, but what, happens when one meets a breezet One of London's cleverest milliners supplied the answer to all these experimental modes when s.he besought members of the Press to" cease holding knitting competitions for caps and scarves! Representatives of the trade had begged her to use her influence in banishing the little knitted cap from smart circles for, as sh<? explained, the effects of this fashion had injured so many other industries. Well, these caps have become so general, that, of course, they are no longer smart. But the "average- girl" who has learned to knit her jumpers, caps, and scarves, and so make an economical ensemble, will take quite a lot of persuading to leave them off. However, some of the new . models are extremely1 attractive., I liked, the revised floral toques.. One ; mad& entirely of parma violets had three points, and was set jauntily over one-eye. Another of white gardenias,' with their own glossy leaves, was' worn with a fine black veil that had one large white spot embroidered near the edge. One low-crowned straw had a-minute borfne'ty1 brim, underneath which was a quilting of ribbon .round-the, face. ~ .Several smart hats had fine lace veils tied round the brims with short perky bows at the- back—the veils only hang.a few inches over the .face. ... With these were shown scraps of the same lace to fasten round the throat with bows in front, forming a becoming finish to a dress which is cut

high in the neck, but nas no collar. ' A small grey felt "topper" with squashed down crown had a cluster of red flowers on one side, while a very flat hat had a folded black straw brim that tied in a bow at the> back and a crown of flowers made of lacquered feathers in delicate colourings. Some of the smart young people who are not afraid of startling fashions will wear the new high-crowned toques this spring, and already I have soon those pointed toques alternately called a "dunce's hat" or a "circus hat," on several well-groomed heads. The "fez" will probably become a craze. It will be copied so cheaply that everyone will be able to afford more than one to suit several costumes. But whatever the size or shape of the hat of today and tomorrow, they all take a forward tilt. We thought heads were uncovered enough last year, when the whole of one side was exposed. Yet advance models show that the back of the head is revealed as well this season, but the side-way tilt remains. A few very "early birds" in the millinm-y world tried to change the angle to a forward tilt, straight over

| the eyes, but already this seems to I be discarded. Variations of the sideway angle can be made to suit most faces, and the effect is certainly more youthful. Well, these off-the-back hats are welcome news for the hairdressers, and gone -are all our economy resolutions of fewer hair wavings and trimmings. For the woman with untidy curls or an untrimmed bob can no longer tuck it in the- crowxi of her hat and get away with it. There1 is one type of hat that seems to'be inspired by the "tin helmet" of war-time memories. This has a slightly droopy brim and a crown crushed in various ways,' but tapering to a point. Still another queer style already seen at point-to-point meetings is the peaked cap, with crushed crown and wide peak—often made of the same, tweed as the ensemble. I must sketch you a few of the new ideas, but you will have already gathered that there are sufficient styles to suit every face and fancy. Incidentally, choose your veil carefully because they have definitely become fashionable, and they can so easily take years off a woman's age and add pounds to the value of her hat. As a millinery expert explained to roe: "We want to lead women back to ideas of beauty, and although early models may be exaggerated to press a point and lead the eye to a new line, no woman should look ridiculous to satisfy her search for something cute and curious." RUTH SIBLEY.