Unpopular Fashion Of Petticoats Over

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 161, 11 July 1939, Page 11

Unpopular Fashion Of Petticoats Over

Petticoats that show below frocks, tho big fashion of 1939, have gone out without ever coming in. And the reason, writes a Daily Express reporter, is that women are eithei laziei than their mothers were, or have less time to spare.

When the Paris dress shows were on February it seemed a safe bet that all through spring and summer women's dresses would show a line of frilled lace, or the edge of ribbon-threaded petticoats, as they did in tho 'nineties.

Ono wholesale house I know stocked a hundred miles of frilling, and sold it all. And now it is rolled up, rather grubby, forgotten, in thousands of chests of drawers.

The buyer of a large Loudon store said: “This is what happened. A woman fancied the fashion, wore it once, and got it grubby in London’s dust. She had to unpick the frilling, wash it, bluo it, iron it on tho right side, iron it on tho wrong side over a cloth, and then sew it on again. She wore it once more and then got bored with tho thought of doing all the washing and ironing again. And that was the end of it.”

Norman Hartnel, the dressmaker, said: “L never thought the fashion would catch on. Besides all the washing and ironing, which modern women haven't timo to be bothered with, the fashion can so easily look untidy and Slip-shod.” Motley, tho designer, said: “Wo are designing frocks with coloured petticoats —plaid taffeta, and so on—which are tho same length as the frock. They show only when a woman sits down.”