SOME NEW NOTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 19

SOME NEW NOTIONS

"THE RAGGLE TAGGLE GIPSY-O"

The gipsy in you is the sense to which fashion makes its latest appeal, bringing, as it does, a whole new gamut of Romany trends to precipitate more colour into your life. Especially after dusk dods the lure of the tzigane hold its strongest sway. It is then that you will see skirts copied from those of the AndalUsian gipsies of Old Spain that Russell Flint, the artist, dramatises so well in many of his sparkling water : colour paintings.

Rhumba frills entirely covering a skirt or just massed in a few searing colours around a hem are lively and gay, especially •. when worn with a bodice that conforms to the original inspiration with an authentic jangle of jewels at throat an wrists. Fans, gigantic and bizarre, or de mure and diminutive, but further the Romany trends as does the use of Spanish combs in the hair or twists of floral fabric worn turban fashion around the head. Long, fringed shawls and lacy mantilla hoods are also in the right mood of merriment that these revived modes suggest. Wide cummerbunds or sashes look well as the dividing line between severe little evening sweaters and swirling coloured skirts. Flowered or striped gauzes and taffetas look lovely in ful! gathered skirts to be topped by tne chic handknitted jumper bodice of angora and tinsel or else a frilly blouse of starched lawn. Fine lacy jumpers of knitted silk in dark colours are to be almost as popular for evening wear as are the fluffy angora "toppers." and worn over pastel tinted slip-bodices, have a very new look that spells more of sophisticated sleekness than ingenuous cosiness. Among the French designers it is Chanel who promotes the Gipsy trends most heartily, for she is herself, a .woman of dynamic personality, wno suits the dashing and daring in her own dress. She loves unusual gilded jewellery and masses of it worn all at once in unconventional ways. She likes dresses cut with fitted brassierefitting tops and skirts of extraordinary voluminousness. She favours lacings' on such costumes instead of buttons or zipper-fasteners. She advises loosely opiffed curls tied with Romany ribbons rather than an elaborate hair-set. She finds a designer's | satisfaction in the mixture of Oriental and Occidental which fashions of gipsy j origin provide.

In day wear, too, tlie same lighthearted influence is at work. When summer comes the gipsy elements of colour and design will be established with an exciting array of beach wear and play-suits, costumes for town and country, millinery accessories, and the rest.

Fandango sandals, just strips and strappings of gaudy leather with thick brass studded soles are cribbed from the traditionally gay garb of the gipsy to go from now on to the most urban rendezvous on fashionably-clad feminine feet.

Clothes that capture something of the charm that was olden-time Spain are also making an appearance by way of evening headdresses of roses to be worn "a la Carmen" over the ear, grandee ruffles and toreador sequins.

Evening bags, just satin reticules shaped like tambourines are suspended from satin or velvet ribbons and finished with large bows at either side.

Old fashioned openwork stockings are other revivals that look most fetching with the daintily lifted Senorita hemlines or the sleek split skirt. In black with lace fronts or with coloured insets decorated and embroidered to the kneea, this form of hosiery is a certain eye-catcher. Boleros of felt for wearing from

morning till night as bed jackets, sun tops, or evening accoutrements are nonsensically gay little affairs often-

times adorned with glittering coin borders or bright spangles and embroidery.

Another lovely old Spanish style could be adapted to present wear by incorporating the effect of a lacy mantilla to the yoke of a svelte dark dinner gown.

Very Spanish effects can be gained by combining flamboyant colours in one costume. Don't forget that before all the present bloodshed in modern Spain, the Spaniards were noted for their marvellous flair for colour. Nevertheless many senoritas dressed in stark unadorned black and this, too, can look very dramatic when worn by a woman of poise and distinction. M.R.