Paris in the Mirror Written for "The Post" by Garnuins.

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 128, 1 June 1935, Page 19

Paris in the Mirror Written for "The Post" by Garnuins.

PARIS, April 10. ' .HATS INCREASINGLY FEMININE. You know, and I know, and our best friend will tell us that the right hat is as good as a face-lift any day. No one neud\tell one of the millinery-minded sex what satisfaction the smart, becoming chapeau gives her. \ For instance, the woman with a j heavy figure, a short neck, and a broad face does,no good for herself in going forth hatted in a closely-fitted turban or beret effect. It merely makes the face look rounder, ; and adds to the general effect of thickness. A brim for a full face reduces the face size. However, the trick of youth and becorhingness more often lies in the crown, width, or height. It is in the fit of the crown that you accomplish balance. It's the crown, and not the brim, that shapes the head and moulds the perfect head-contour. A thin face with broad cheek-bones and a small head size would require a crown built larger, perhaps to balance face, head, and body. When you buy a hat, you must not buy one from the shoulders up. Give a full-length view, and watch for the well-proportioned body ensemble, not colour ensemble so much. A too monotone colour scheme lacks the element of surprise which cleverly-dressed women portray. An example for instance with a dark ensemble is to have hat and gloves of some other contrasting colour note. A hat can be worn straight on the bead, but only by a woman with a long, full, throat "and fine features. TRIMMINGS FOR HATS. Feathers have proved so popular, and women have found them-so very becoming that all the Paris modistes are • using them profusely. Ostrich tips are among the most popular form of feather trimming. Another feather trimming is paradise.. This is used in very small quantities, usually in black. Cock feathers are seen in huge tufts placed right fore or aft of a small chapeau. Ospreys are worn by those happy women who have long purses, and mostly in the evening, where they top a splash of tulle or a wisp of velours. Other trimmings there are. Flowers and fruit, roses, in the'old tones, or white gardenias, red cloveri and for-get-me-nots of multiple natural colours. Fruit from our gardens and berries from our forests, and even small unexpected bunches of green pimentos. Ribbons are always indispensable in bold.egrets, on the front of the hat, proudly aiming their gros-grain points upwards. As for shapes, we have the directoire, in which the nape is hidden and well framed, the forehead free, with a brim well to the front The crown is flat. We see many tricornes trimmed in bandeaux of flowers. There are some Pamela or Shepherdess cloches, slightly turned down in front, the sides hardly turned up. Particularly I mention among the toques a handicraft on unravelled gros-grain, of light colour, completed by a small veil. COLOUR SCHEMES. Hundreds of women choose this season to appear in dead-dead black. Against these, and in glaring contrast, are the undiluted white dresses, those

in pale odd shades like sea-blue, mauvepink, and citron-yellow. Daring colours carried out in a striking fashion give a stage value to many gowns. Such attractive colours as ginger and mustard yellows range with' other lesseasily described tones of brown. Full skirts are definitely here. Women, must now say good-bye to; the straight boyish skirts they have worn during past seasons. And the passing of these gowns is, not to be regretted, when one has seen the grace and femininity which the , newest dresses, with their well-placed fullness, give. Day skirts are shortened and: widened somewhere below, or , they are straight in line, and a little longe» than they were. Pockets are everywhere. Dresses and coats are buttoned all down the back. Shoulders are made to appear narrow by the higher set of the sleeve, or by means of sleeves cut in one with a yoke of the frock. t Stripes and checks are used in just the right proportion with.plain fabrics, arid the usual novelty trimmings, buttons, fastenings, and belts are as good as ever. The waistline remains in most cases normal. It is- often, enhanced by a basque, or a jacket, with its tail slit into panels. Tunics: are kept long, and hence become practical wearing apparel,' even for the women of small stature. ' Huge safety pins hold the new capes at the throat, and, jackets are cut upon swagger lines.