SOME NEW NOTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 71, 21 September 1939, Page 16

SOME NEW NOTIONS

As a witty gossip writer recently said: "This is the open season for wed-

dings!"

On every hand one is hearing of couples who, on account of war, are hurrying up their wedding dates. Many brides choose the registry office in the place of a church ceremony. This means that traditional bridal attire of long white gown, veil, and orange blossom is not so much in evidence as the neat town tailleur, gay little straw hat, and floral corsage spray.

There have always been brides who preferred an informal costume to be married in because it was more useful after the actual ceremony than the

usual bridal gown, which for practical purposes after the wedding day is over has to be converted into an evening gown. But the bride who. did not dress the part was in the minority.

Now the order is reversed and it is the brides who do go in-for a formal wedding ceremony with all the trimmings who are the exception.

. However, when the country becomes more settled into the new ,regime in which everyone must accustom themselves to the part they must play in cementing the structure of our national defence, it is predictable that there will be more picturesque weddings.

Summertime finds bridal finery more lovely than in previous seasons! Foamy white dotted muslins, organdies, and marquisettes are made into crinoline skirted gowns with tiny bodices, puffed sleeves, and an essentially oldworld quality of heart-breaking prettiness.

Bridal headgear becomes a quaint

SUMMER WEDDING BELLES

reminder, of bygone times that were not any more peaceful than our own. Snoods of knotted velvet ribbon topped with flowers are typical of the mid-Victorian era about the time when the beauty of Lola Mentez was causing a stormy passage in our relations with Portugal. Elizabethan caps, pointed and garnished with pearls, bring to mind the dazzlingly lovely women who lived in the time of the Armada, while dainty little bonnets, just fluffs of tulle and flowers, are typical of those worn by English and colonial women at the time when Florence Nightingale was doing her great . work in the Crimea.

For brides who prefer a more sophisticated form of headdress there

are caps of feathers that are especially modern in conception. A dramatic hood is another alternative and a very new idea for the bride who has it attached to a simple slender white crepe frock, amply trained at the back in place of a veil.

The statuesque elegance of ivory satin is never out-dated and while filmy gauzes are very becoming on the young bride, there are those who prefer the sleek draped gown cut on Empire lines and classic simplicity.

Satin goes young, too, in the dirndl wedding dresses. Gowns of stiffened slipper satin are lovely with bodices sleeked down to the hipline and then a skirt bursting around in flower-like petals of fullness, i

Summer brides will adopt the Victorian fashion for low-necked gowns and short, very wide, puffed sleeves, thus discounting from the start any need for altering the gown to conform with evening gown styles afterwards.