SOME SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 21, 25 January 1940, Page 20

SOME SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Slinky lines and glittering trimmings mark the new season's models as the most distinctive fashions to have appeared in years. They remind one of Gay Nineties' styles and yet they are essentially modern for they are directly inspired from the black-out conditions now existing all over Europe. The habit for "covering up" every chink of

|light, for draping black sateen at every window,: for almost extinguishing every sign of an effulgent gleam, has spread to fashions and women are wearing

BLACK-OUT FASHIONS FOR AFTER DARK

clothes that cover them up in slithery, vampish blackness. Its cover up from top to toe! Hats hide almost all /your hair; muffs hide your hands in cosy warmth; high bootees conceal your ankles; and massive jewellery conceals your throat from view. The gowns and costumes are seductively enveloping, sleek as a rapier with the emphasis laid on, tiny hourglass waists, high rounded bosoms, and long slinky skirts. At night there are lovely gowns, none the less formal because they have high necklines and long sleeves instead of bared shoulders and sleeveless decolletes. Evening gowns that do have short sleeves are worn with long, snug gloves to fill the gap. Even at night muffs are to be carried and in some cases they are attached to the dress, hanging from the waist like a sporran, or else sewn flat to the frock like a huge pocket. SLIT SKIRTS. Straight skirts are slit, sometimes to the knee in front or at the sides to j allow for movement in dancing. Bandings of jet or sequins glitter wickedly in trimmings that accentuate the seductive line of the hips or a bustle effect. Jet or sequins entirely cover some lapels oh dinner suits; they edge revers and line hoods wfrh sparkling glamour; they highlight the siren outline of the most provocative and intriguing gowns. * Daytime fashions lack none of the glamour of the "cover up" evening j modes. Fur replaces shining trimmings at throat and on almost every conceivable part of the costume. Fur is used for bustles, for hats and for muffs. It even appears on shoes that] are built up to come high round the j ankle. ' ' ALL THAT IS VISIBLE. Your face and your legs will be all J that will not be literally, blacked out! Your hat will have a snood or a very heavy, coarse mesh veil to wrap around your hair. It may be made of felt but it is far more likely to be of velvet, satin, or moire. Day dresses are also slender of silhouette, in the main, with tiered, flounced, and bustled effects in the majority. . Jackets on costumes are;; peplumed and moulded into tiny waists, and this is a rule that holds good even for short fur jackets. "Fitted' is the word! All told, there's a lot of romance in the new fashions and they certainly are an inspiration to women to look their best. A sign of the times I —that is what these fashions are, for they combine the utmost in smartness with practical, comfortable, and utili-: tarian lines and materials. —M.R. j