A FIRM FOUNDATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 March 1942, Page 8

A FIRM FOUNDATION

BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING It doesn’t make any difference what you’re building, you’ve got to make a good start. Otherwise the whole structure will crumble. A house, a boat, a career, a wardrobe, each needs a firm foundation into which you put good materials, good workmanship, serious thought and wise selection. You begin with four fundamentals when you plan your wardrobe. The clothes we wear can be roughly divided into four groups —sports and easy wear, tailored things, more formal afternoon and evening wear. So tne basis of the wardrobe must be the Tour different kinds of foundations over which these clothes are worn.

The first is a step-in or wrap-on and seperate brassiere for all things I tailored. Your wisest choice, if you; are slim, is voile or lastex faille or; batiste; if medium to heavy, skintex; and really heavy, the front lacing or I inner-belt type of foundation, with preference given to the controlette if heavy bosomed. The second is a garment permitting freer movement for sports and free-and-easy leisure — boneless knitted lastex for the slim; skintex, elastic net or plastic fabric for mediums; skintex-and-fabric for heavies. The third and fourth are all-in-ones in which elastic net, plastic satin or faillee, and skintex are used with non-stretch panels, according to the figure-type. From these descriptions there may not seem to be a vast difference between the three basic foundations, but it is the different way in which the fabrics are combined, and the presence or absence of boning, stitching, reinforcing, and the cut and shaping ' which makes the difference in the degree of sculpturing and control obtained. An evening foundation, for instance, has a higher, more accentuated bustline, comes down further on the thighs, sculptures waist and diaphragm more closely, and concentrates on that fluid line from shoulder to hip. A daytime controlette allows more freedom of movement about both waist and thighs, the fabric and construction are firmer; the bosom modelling less statuesque . . subtle differences which, like all the other subtleties in dress, make the difference between being dressed with distinction and just being dressed.