NEW MODES LOVELIEST SINCE EMPIRE PERIOD

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7169, 17 March 1930, Page 11

NEW MODES LOVELIEST SINCE EMPIRE PERIOD

Down-to-Ground Dresses Win Out (By Travis Banton, Creator of Fashions at the Paramount Hollywood Studios).

The fashions of this season, with the moulded and natural waistline and the return of feminine softness to the mode, are tho most picturesque and flattering feminine styles since those of the Empire period. Short skirts outstayod their welcome and women are more than ready for the longer hem lines. Many prominent women objected to the new mode at first, In fact, some time ago, when I approached the ladies about the change in styles, they were most vehement in their denouncement of the idea. However, loveliness always wins out, and there is no question but what the 1930 mode is the loveliest since the days of the Empress Josephine. The tendency toward the Grecian silhouette is a great boon to feminine grace and beauty and no well-dressed woman daros overlook this return of statuesque costuming. Hollywood stars, to a woman, have adopted the down-to-the-ground movement, and wherever one goes these days, the now modo adorns all. Evening frocks sweep the floor at the back with four inches or so of material and, when dancing, the long hem is gracefully held in the loft hand, just as it was many years ago. These changing styles have made inroads in many directions. The return of the long skirt has wrought changes in tho modes of millinery, shoes, jewellery, makeup, lingerie, coiffures, handbags, and the like. Eats are evolving brims, and gradually these brims, although now turned off the forehead, are growing wider and will soon drop down to shade tho eyes. Shoes have been greatly effected by our new fashions. The pump, so long out of vogue, has come back as the result of the long skirt. The' former strap models are not nearly as flattering to the foot and ankle when the hem-line is lengthy. Jewellery, too, has been effected. With the new mode, jewellery is more elaborate, but less bizarre and unusual than before. Subtle ejects are desired with jewels this season. Colours are also changing. They are softer and often mixed, rather than crude and strong.. Clear light colours predominate, with frequently two shades of the same used instead of a definite contrast.

Hair fashions, of course, remain a matter of individual taste, but the slick boyish bob is distinctly of the past. Bobbed hair is still quite fashionable, but loose, natural. waves and softer lines are now desired» If the hair is long, it must be pinned down so that it does not blur the lines of the head. As a safe rule for the woman who wishes to be in fashion, I might say “ sleek coiffures, but not slick ones."

Undergarments may be less tailored now than before. They may be trimmed with lace and pleats, but care must be exercised that this is not overdone.

Make-up may be natural or suntaste, but eyes must now receive their taste ,but eyes must now receive their full quota of attention. Eye-shadow has become most important to the new mode and a necessary addition to the make-up kit. Mascara must be given as important a position in your makeup as lipstick, and should be used as frankly. Now that we have covered all the virtues of the new mode and some of the slight changes it has made in other linos, we come to tho many pitfalls it has created for the unwary. The coat problem presents one of the greatest yawning snares for fashionable footsteps this season. The coat that accompanies the long skirt demands careful and studied treatment. The wraps of the past years, worn with the short skirt, cannot be used for tho lengthy hom-line. Thus, two new coat lengths have been evolved. In designing Fay Wray’s wardrobe for “Behind the Make-up,” a Paramount all-talking dramatic play, in which she is featured with Hal Skelly and William Powell, this requirement was uppermost in my mind. In “Behind the Make-up,” Miss Wray wears a theatre ensemble of black velvet. The long skirt is gracefully moulded find falls nearly to the ankle. An unadorned blouse of pink satin is cut to fall in interesting folds. In keeping with the new coat lengths, the jacket is just finger-tip in length and is lined in pink, the same shade as the blouso.

Tho sport coat, too, must be either a finger-tip length jacket or a long coat that almost meets the hem-line of the frock beneath it. The fashionable evening wrap for the extremely long and irregular skirts smartly terminated just at the knees, reverting to the three-quarter length coat of many seasons past. The two evening wraps Miss Wray wears in “Behind the Make-up” are of this fashionable length. One, in parsimon velvet, is a coat of charmingly intircate drapes and scarves. The other is of ermine and white fox, which she wears over a frock of gold lame. The three-quarter wrap when it is related to or harmonises completely with the costume beneath it, becomes the outstanding follow-up of the long skirt mode. It must always be remembered that there are two coat lengths for the new mode. The coat may run the gaunt of elaborateness, but it must be finger-tip or threequarter in length. Furthermore, it must relate to the frock beneath it to be effective.

Regarding the chic material for the new modo coats and capes, I might suggest that, for tho sports coat, tweeds, Leda cloth or any,of tho famous Rodier materials in brilliant mixtures will be smart. Fur trimmings

are correct on this typo of coat in natural lynx, galyak, nutria and beaver.

The three-quarter afternoon wrap can be fashioned in broadcloth, velveteen or Leda cloth, and trimmed with Persian lamb, caracul, red, blue or cross fox and galyak. The evening wrap may be a short coat, a capo with a long train, or a three-quarter. It may be made in lamb, velveteen or satin. Clever fur accents are to be found in mink, sable, ermine and fox.

Just as in the past, women may follow their individual tastes in the designing of frocks and the selection of material, provided, of course, they follow the dictates of the mode. The new fashion is here to stay, for a while at least, and once again feminine curves and charms will come to the fore. The beauty of the ages has re : turned in the face of opposition from women throughout tho entiro world.