MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 March 1933, Page 9

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST

LONDON’S SPRING HATS

(By Hon. Mrs C. \V. Forester)

There is piquancy, not. to say rakishness, that gives a. new thrill to spring millinery after so many seasons of comparative uniformity of

styles. Watteau, pork-pie, saucer and toreador styles are all presented in a novel manner by the milliners. When one sees these modern revivals of former modes emerging from carefully guarded cupboard or box one feels it would be easier (in some ways) to wear these models as portrayed in the eighteenth century pictures than in their latest adaptations’ Some of the best hats look almost impossible off the head, but there steps forward a charming mannequin with the last word in coiffure who tilts these fascinating affairs to an angle of beauty and smartness, and one knows that the new arrivals will bo successes. One of the reasons such charms will live again is the becoming shadow they give over one or both eyes. This , makes all the difference to difficult revivals from the past. In bygone days such shapes were perched on masses of hair, and the head was apt to look over-enlarged and clumsy. To-day a ribbon, or a. coy curl or two, at the back will assist in tlie tilt forward, but the actual crown will follow the line of the owner’s profile.

TURBAN CAPS

Caps, on the other hand, especially for practical comfort, will fit and follow all the peculiarities of the head. For spring the cap is more of a turban than a beret. It can be of crinkly crepe or shirred satin, in shantung, straw or liseret.

To go South, shantung straw in white and pink or green and white is a favourite for the swathed turban, or it may be worn tilted and have a tiny brim or roll. Cerise shantung-straw, draped round the face and caught up at the side by a, bunch of purple velvet flowers, is good with an angora suit of purple and a cerise crepy-blouse. Purple-an'd-lilac will have their Lenten season, but the reigning colour favourites in the millinery world are black-and-peach. and black-and-tur-qnoise, also beige and blue. "Tilleul” is as smart as ever, but is worn with brown, not black. The banana-green-straw known as liseret looks exactly like a dull faille, and is hand-worked in tuckings and with apron-veil flying out in whimsical fashion. Another novelty is folded wings of split-liseret in brown. The same model in black and turquoise is likely to be a best seller. The new cap-like turban is the traveller’s favourite, and though tweed and wool are not new. they are still permissible and good for rough weather. A corrugated fabric in navy blue is cleverly plaited with a navy-and-white check or stripe. There are even certain classic lines that are now good and also assure of comfort. Such models are pleasant after the fly-away foolish plate and saucer shapes of absurdly small dimensions.

APRON VEILS. The new veil is helpful, oven if a little absurd, because the draped apron at one side, hanging out (and away) from the face, gives an added wiflth, which assists in giving a sense of proportion to a wider shoulder line. Curtain-like -draperies in. net, with lace borders are so lightly introduced on to the new millinery that their Victorian origin is not always ap-

parent. Coloured nets are very smart, as veils, but such a vogue is fraught, with danger; once the bizarre note is permitted the veil is doomed. The flowered vogue- has appeared following on the feathered cap. In grey, beige turquoise and violet blossoms, softened by velvet or the new pliable strands of straw, some of these caps are charming and springlike. A curious novelty, especially good for evening or travel caps are the “blistered” effects in cloth, crepes, and in tissues.

Satins, too, show this new crinkle effect. One may tire of them, but at this season of the year we welcome every novelty, though in a way this raised blistered look is but a continuation. of the crinkle-crepe ■■ ap-

pcared in all those- lovely blended colours of 1932. These materials, apart from a rich silky surface, have a certain amount of elasticity in their composition that is helpful in the success of cap styles. Fabrics at. the moment are more than usually interesting in

all brunches of dress, and the fact that the best and newest straws are indistinguishable from a- new dress fabric, assures of the sjn’ing millinery being very becoming, as well as ultrasmart.

DRESSMAKERS’ GUILE. Thc new Paris fashions (writes a correspondent) certainly represent a move to suppress all visible, elaborations. Evening gowns, unless used tor some very important occasion, have been replaced by unostentatious trucks > uitablo for wearing "anywhere.” The term “crisis . clothes ' will conceal rather than e.xelude the- costumiers art and ingenuity. 'I bo silhouette will be broadened out about the waist, and made distinctly on more feminine lines. Such complications will result that an apparently simple dress will lake neurIv twice as much material as the one of last season. The clothes builder rules Hie fashions and, after all, the simple style will not spoil our enjoyment. Nor perhaps will it. save our purses.

SILK STOCKINGS.

WOMAN'S LAST UCONOMY

"Although Air Neville Chamberlain luia said that, wc may not have reached the cm! of the economies which we ought, to make, there is one thing upon which women will never economise —silk s toc kings. ”

This was the opinion voiced by Lady Mount Temple when she was the guest of the Leicester Hosiery Manufacturers at a luncheon recently. During her visit Lady Mount Temple visited the factories of the Wolsey and Chilprufe companies. ‘Until 1025, 90 per cent of the women’s stockings worn in this country were imported, - ’ she said, “but today 90 per cent, of them are made in England.” Lady Mount Temple, referring to the ‘‘take it or leave it” attitude which is sometimes attributed to British manufacturers, said that they

. had only to listen to the reasoned criticism and advice of the public to enjoy its utmost support. At present there was a certain tendency to overdress our articles, with the result that they were expensive to produce and missed the chic and sense of line which was inherent in so many foreign manufactures. “Why should we not have in this country a- Committee of Tasto?” she asked. “It could be composed of men and women who, sensing the demands of the public, could direct the trade buyers in their choice.” Mr Ernest. 'Walker, chairman and managing director. Wolsey Ltd., said that the two most, prosperous cities of Europe had been stated to be Leicester and Lille. It was probably true that there was less unemployment in Leicester than, in any other town of its size in the country. Tlie reason for its comparative prosperity was, as regards the hosiery trade, the almost unbelievable expansion of machinery used in the industry since the war. There was no standardisation of plant, and, as no one ever knew what, could not be accomplished by a

hosiery machine. all manufacturers were permanently keyed up to get the most out of their apparatus.

MEDIEVAL GOWNS. An expression of his ideas about the startling new line which has been launched for the new season by himself is given by Monsieur Jean Patou, the famous Drench fashion expert, in the translation of a. Parisian letter which appears in a. leading fashion journal. “Tlie long dress-line of several yea is back was originated by myself, and 1 know from personal recollections how excited you all were when I lit.st showed you the collection ol long, floating dresses,” ?,l. Patou says. "But within 'tho first half-hour the assembly was comtuered, the new fashion accepted, and. the battle won. “A fashion revolution should always ai i i» o at the right moment when ladies of fashion, whose taste is beyond reproach., are looking forward for new .styles, and the creators ot fashion, having exhausted ail. the possibilities of Hi'.' styles of tin? day, are onlv turning out exaggerated details,” the letter coniimies. "My present collection. for this winter, containing sports frocks and afternoon ami evening gowns, has been inspired by the Middle Ages.”

The revolutionary idea of M. Patou is the placing of the belt on top of the hips on sports frocks, while on frocks for general day wear the belts are placed a I'Ltlc underneath the natural waist-line. Still, we should not fear the return of the not very prepossessing fashion of long waistlines. worn several years ago. Other new and important, features are wide slum Ideas and sophisticated sleeves se-l on the snoukiers or upper arms, giving a wide-sliouldered effect. Collars eii: into iurret-shaped scollop-; me other points of interest. t|h <-\cnin;’. dresses designed by M. Patou, arc, though long, not tn ’- iii.'.. They arc fashioned -on modest, slim lines, less wide than those of the pa.-1. season, and are. cut. in diagonal sections or have- pleats in front to give lhe m'cess.ary wideness. The entire effect, of I lie dress is given by a diagonal drapery in pocket effect on the right hip.