SPEAKING OF STYLE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 13 April 1939, Page 2

SPEAKING OF STYLE

(By Eleanor Gunn)

BLACK VELVET WITH GOLD IS ALL THE RAGE New York. —Imagine 14,000 dresses all exactly alike. Sounds like a uniform. It’s bad enough to meet yourself once or twice but when you are one of 14,000 Believe it or not, one manufacturer has sold that many models of one dress. No, I’m not going to describe it, but I will say it’s usually black velvet with gold. A new fad of trimming monotone dresses with print is starting. Nothing new about that, you say? Right you are, but it’s the way it’s done. This time it’s for corselet belts. The trend to fancy belts in corselet shape is leading to the use of prints for them. These prints are used on plain frocks and are expected to be carried forward for the spring seas #i. They are not only talked about m New York, but have the sponsorship of Paris houses. Lucille Paray, for example, is using printed crepes and plaid crepe for corselet belts of navy sheer dresses which were shown in the midseason collection. Methods of contrasting colours in dresses and costumes are notable. Several important couturiers continue with bi-colour ideas, showing colour contrast between front and back of a dress, as well as between bodice and skirt. The contrast of colour between bodice and skirt is used for evening as well as day-time. A new variation of the back-and-front contrast is seen in the combination of plain and print, the print being used for the back of the frock. Multi-colour combinations are featured in Lelong’s mid-season collection.