London Fashion Notes Specially Written for "The Post."

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 67, 20 March 1937, Page 19

London Fashion Notes Specially Written for "The Post."

LONDON, January 8. London shops are in the throes of winter sales, and while they are full of charming things at bargain prices there is nothing exciting or new to be seen. So I shall turn back the pages of my notebook for impressions to guide you for your coming season. We are in a transition period in regard to millinery, but the variety is immense. High, topless hats and conelike small caps. wi!h voluminous veils,

share .popularity..with, square flat shoes of velvet and felt,-or-Chinese crowns with bandeaux of ribbon twists. The sports and semi-sports styles in wool, fabric, ' and felt include the "curate's" hat in black felt with a round turn-up brim, while the "parson's" hat, with square crown and 0 more definite brim is cut up at the back and trimmed with petersham. High-crowned hats with rolling brims and buckled bands that suggest Ronald Colman in "The Tale of Two Cities" have a very smart appearance with town tailored clothes. OFF-THE-BROW HATS. There is a tendency to place all the latest models well on the back of: the

head to expose the brow. This is particularly noticeable in the caps will) halo brims, and the "mammy" caps that fit the head and are trimmed in the front with perky bows. Many of the new bonnets show a Dutch influence with interesting coloured decoration of coarse embroidery in wools and silks. For town wear much satin is used for these bonnets. Black is the popular favourite, and for early spring in a thick, heavy weave satin, can bridge the seasons and be worn all through the winter if one wishes to economise. I have sketched one such hat, slightly clerical in outline, in black satin, with a bow of grosgrain ribbon across the front and an eye veil. A second model shows the oft'-the-brow shape, but in a squared line— equally fashionable—with a tuft of two coloured ostrich tips softening the outline. Small hats with rolling brims all round and pointed crowns are also placed well back on the head so that the brim throws back and frames the face all round. There is a new tricorne in silk, with an acute tilt on one side and a cluster of ostrich tips, or small birds, on the other. A flight of white birds across a dark hat has been another smart feature, while two small birds with tails up, perched on the top of a draped crown give the necessary height for this season. Bows, too, we have had in all sorts and sizes. Some large and soft, draped across the front of a small shape; others with crushed loops and high perky ends. Other shapes turn off the face with a turreted edge.or cartridge pleating. Both these styles are particularly effective, in black satin. Although some styles still retain a somewhat exotic air, generally speaking they are becoming easier to wear, and certainly never was headgear more varied and interesting. BEAUTIFUL SHOES. The attention given to shoes and feet is one of the less observed but most important features of modern fashions, which the cult of physical fitness has increased. Both health and deportment call for comfort and foot freedom, and women appreciate the fact that while a slender foot will always be a thing of beauty it is useless to crush their own plump sizes into elegant but too small shoes, the effect of which is marred by a strained expression on the face and a feeling of weariness in mind and body. Shoes, like hats, have gone much higher this season, but not in the heels. The fronts extend right over the instep, and these are called "high-fronted stepins." You can go higher still and have the new boots which fasten round the ankle and are called "hi-boys." These are made in calf and suede. Sometimes they lace and tie just below the ankle; other styles fasten with a zipper and a bow at the top. Colour comes into the sports shoo, and so one sees a brown suede "play shoe," with a one-inch heel, cut like a mocassin, with a couple of orange tabs slotted through' the front. Afternoon shoes favour colour with all shades of current fashions in rust and wine, deep green,and deep blues. There is a new high-fronted court model, very pJain, which comes over the instep like a scolloped tongue. The best afternoon shoes have no decoration other than lines of stitching. For evening the sandal shape is in more dressy form: These shoes have high heels and expose less of the foot. Choice and richly-coloured materials are used for some of the sandals, including Chinese embroideries. Deep crimson and Royal blue fabrics are introduced into gold kid shoes —these quite in the spirit of the Coronation. Second favourite to sandals are evening shoes, with 1J to 2in straps across the instep. Incidentally, these wide straps are seen on day shoes as a compromise between the old court shoe and the low-cut Oxfords. Shoes and bag to match continue to figure in all good fashions.'" New bags all have top handles of varying lengths, and Schiaparelli—a pioneer of fashion —has shown town bags in calf and antelope with handles long enough to be slung over the shoulder. . E. RUTH SIBLEY.