HOBBLE SKIRT DISTRESS.

Mataura Ensign, 2 November 1911, Page 5

HOBBLE SKIRT DISTRESS.

e Government action to bring pressure to bear on the great French dressmakers who prescribe the fashions of tight skirts is demanded by the Chamber of Commerce of Parare, a silk and cotton manufacturing town in the Rhone Department. The chamber points out that a modern dress only requires about 5 to 7 yards of material, as compared with the 12 to 14 yards necessary two years ago, and adds that petticoats, after having been similarly reduced in volume, are now no longer worn. Thus the sale of, thousands of yards of material has been' prevented. The situation in the trade is declared to be critical, for unemployment, following a period of over-production, is general. The Chamber expresses the hope that Government intervention will lead the great dressmakers to direct their activity towards evolving new models which, while becoming, will need more material.