SUMMER FASHIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17651, 11 December 1920, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUMMER FASHIONS.

There is quite a sharp fight going on between (he rival merits of cloak and coat styles for summer wraps, says a correspondent. 'And both certainly have much to be said for them. The cloak is so very easily slipped on and off, but it. must be borne well in mind that this type of neglige garment requires wearing. If just Aung on anyhow it loses all elegance and charm, whereas when drawn together, and held in graceful folds, or with an end filing over one shoulder, or some other distinctive adjustment, it may become a thing of great beauty. he deep flounce or cape collar is a big feature both with cloaks and coats. One type of coat to be seen has a fitted body part, on to which the skirt is set with pleats either side. A mo-del after this style was in brick-red duvetyn, the revers, big. crumpled collar, and sheath cuffs being of grev duvetyn, while another representative coat vias in a soft white woollen material, an all-in-one .ft'air, cut- so full as to fall in graceful godets at the hem. This was collared, cuffed, and buttoned with black satin, a black satin .Napoleon hat. black slaves, shoes and stockings finishing the magpie scheme. Popular Materials. Cross-bar muslins are very popular in Paris, and so are draught-board foulards. A Paris novelty takes the form of plaid organdie muslingenuine Highland plaids with the seams or flounces piped with taffeta in the colour of one o-f the cross stripes and plain white organdie collar and cuffs. A famous dressmaker in the Rue de la Paix recently created a race frock of this order, and it was much admired. A favourite material is a coarse silk canvas-cloth, which is supple as crepe, and is manufactured in the most subtle shades— green, faded blue, jade green, and every imaginable tone oi beige. On the more expensive brocades the patterns seem to have been splashed in by an amateur artist with . a long-handled brush in his hand: crude colours thrown together without any apparent reason. Taffeta becomes more and more popular, whether shot or plain. This can be easily understood when we realise that nearly all the new afternoon frocks stick out at the sidesif not all round; and taffeta is in itself a stiff material. Foulard is one. of the favourite materials of the summer seaflowered or, spotted ;_ and we find obvious irregularity in the printed patterns—a splash of bright colour there, -another splash of quite a different colour here, while some of the best designs are Chinese cr Japanese. Many of the new summer models are designed Jon curious lines; the skirts are wide at 'the hem and also at the . waist, ■ but underneath there .is a tight slip which is almost as narrow at, the hem, as the hobble-skirts of old; Sometimes the x tight slip, shows several inches below the full skirt; ~ sometimes it hardly-shows at all unless ' the skirt is made of transparent material'latter a favourite idea. .Many of these tight slips give a .trouse'r effect, so cunningly are they shaped 'in, just'above the ankles.