IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICAN LIFE

Evening Star, Issue 22963, 21 May 1938, Page 26

IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICAN LIFE

Writing on April 20 from Chicago, Mrs Hugh Speight gives some interesting sidelights on life in America and observations on American women’s smart frocking. “ Everyone tells me the fall is the loveliest season, but except for a few beautiful golden trees in the Yosemite Valley I missed all that. The only rain I had while travelling to Philadelphia was in Los Angeles, where it continued for four days. That rather spoilt my chances of sightseeing, but fortunately I am returning to Southern California with my husband, so we. will be able to go places together. We intend to go to Banff and Lake Louise and on to San Francisco for the Rotary Conference. After that we hope to visit Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon, finally finishing up in Hollywood. Then our plans are to sail by the Matsoma for Honolulu, spend five days in that veritable paradise, and then join the good old Mariposa for the last lap of our trip to Auckland. For two months when I first arrived I did not see a green thing, and when the first green buds appeared in the spring I felt as if I wanted to eat them from sheer joy. Miami, of course, was really very warm, and so was Havana, in Cuba, and I felt the heat badly, but that was probably my own fault, because I had not got used to the idea of wearing as little clothing as the regular visitor. The coldest days I experienced were in New York, when the wind off the snow rushed down every street and round all the corners and blew down from the angles of the skyscrapers. Even if I had wanted to, I could not have moved a muscle of my face to smile at anyone. In Philadelphia we had one or two days of snow, but it does not melt as happens so often at home; it freezes as it rests where it falls, and the whole countryside is a dream of fantastic pictures. The mermaids of a certain large fountain which we passed each time wo drove to town were clothed in their winter garment of glittering frozen snow with icicles forming their long strands of hair. It made a very lovely picture. But those days are past and the spring is bursting forth in all the parks and gardens^—my second spring this year, as Chicago is a few weeks behind Philadelphia, which is 800 mile nearer the Equator. American Fashions. But it was dresses I promised to write about, wasn’t it. Well, when I landed in San Francisco everyone was in solid black. If it had been England I would

have imagined someone of the Royal household had died. In the week I spent in the city of the Golden Gate I didn’t see more than two women in coloured street clothes, and pot more than six bright hats. It made little difference at the hotels, for dinner or the night clubs for dancing, nearly everyone wears her afternoon frocks or plain tailored costumes. The reason for this is that the distances are so great between office or town and home that people do not have time to go out and change. For myself I found it very convenient to stay in my costume, hut very strange to dance in it and still wearing a hat. Usually there is a party or two with everyone in full dress, hut that is because they are celebrating some special event. They are the exception, not the rule. New York, of course, is different. In the big night clubs you do see more evening dresses, hut you are perfectly in order to appear in a costume, and it is the same at the theatres. However, it is always a thrill to see a party of exquisitely groomed and gowned women come in with their escorts also dressed accordingly—tails, black topcoats, white kid gloves, and always a top hat or opera hat, and the gardenia or carnation in buttonhole as a finishing note. Just_ as Chicago and wind team up in my mind so do Jewish women and New York. They are very, very beautiful with the most expensive furs, jewels, dresses, hats, _ and accessories, always perfectly coiffured and manicured. They are more plump than the American women, but their curves are usually well controlled. It is almost impossible to pick the shop or office girl from the society deb. Both spend a great amount of their time and money in the beauty salons. The deb.’s clothes are the real thing, but the office girl can buy an exact copy in material and cut at a cheaper store. The finish is not there, but the effect is the same. This goes for all she wears—hats, gloves, bags, shoes, hose, and costume, jewellery, and flowers. American Stores. I can hear you asking what is my impression of the stores. Well, they are beyond my description. Just look in “ Vogue,” “ Harper’s Bazaar,” "iHouse Beautiful,” or any of the American magazines and you see what I see in the stores. Their books are actual photographs from the store windows or their inside displays. It continues to amaze me the amount of money that is spent in setting up and decorating the model homes they have in all the big stores. In Macy’s, in New York, they have at least six on display all the time. Then there is always the “ Bride’s House ” at the Savoy, Plaza, or Sloane’s, on Fifth Avenue, to mention only those which are completely fitted out with everything for a bride, even to the garden chairs and table set 4 lor a summer meal out on the terrace.

Now that spring is here the stores are showing their fine woollen, dresses and sports clothes all in the soft pastel shades. The sheer open hose is being displayed, and the low-cut sandals are appearing. Women on Easter Sunday came forth in their navy blue and white creations, which at this time of the year take the place of winter’s black, and they wore their spring hats,, most of which are covered with flowers, or at least have a bunch somewhere about, and, of course, the inevitable veil. Soon it will get so hot that hats, gloves, and hose will be discarded, and the parks will be filled with gaily coloured shorts and the beaches display snappy bathing suits and beach wear. I have not even mentioned theatres or plays, and I have seen plenty! _ Or the wonderful buildings and memorials. Nor have I touched on the people’s attitude to Mr Roosevelt and politics—but maybe that is as well: it would take a cleverer person than I to discuss such things.