EVENING FASHIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19292, 3 April 1926, Page 6 (Supplement)

EVENING FASHIONS.

The slim bodice, embroidered all over or trimmed in lines with bands of glittering embroidery, is the usual. Skirts for the most part are worn full and rather short. They are made with godets and with draperies, and two or.three materials r t f very light and transparent naturo used in them. These fuller skirts make women look much more graceful when they are dancing than did the tight skirts of last winter. Many backs are trimmed, and this, too, is an improvement on the quite straight, tight back.' Sashes are worn—bows in front, at the side, or at the back. There is something dainty about a sash. It makes one think of the days when girls really " came out." Everything flashes and glitters in the evening. Such jewels as never were, such gleaming embroideries, such glancing silver and gold brocades, laces and shimmering panne velvets. The brocades and velvets are particularly wonderful. Bracelets hang heavily on the forearm; ear-rings flop about the neck; pearls look as if they were weighing down the shoulders! Only heads, excepting always the ears, are left unadorned but for neatly arranged waves of shingled hair. Evening gowns literally glitter with magnificence. Early in the season the

popularity of bright trimmings, crystal and paste, was predicted, and this passion to shine is becoming a mania among the " First Night" set of Paris. Iridescent sequins in artificial light glow and sparkle like the fabulous jewels of Aladdin's cave. Flame reds are not only sewn with shaded heads, but are enriched with gold sequins, while silver ones give added glitter to the deep tones of midnight blue. A famous creator of the magnificent has evolved a notorious model, Satan expressed entirely in red sequins; and another, with a tunic of pink crepe-satin beaded all over in crystal, Jias a billowy skirt honeycombed into an almost natural waist-line. Designers are rejoicing at a new process of painting cobwebby fabrics with an embossed luminous paint, which resembles beadwork and is far less expensive. Some of it has the fairy glitter of hoar-frost, and it is rumoured* that this process is being applied to ornament our stockings. Last season black tulle and georgette were frequently worn over slips of pink or beige; to-day the order is reversed. Over a black, foundation, filmy whites and pastel tints are worn, and on some very smart afternoon gowns guipure and ochre lace is appliqued on to a black basis. Large velvet flowers give weight and importance to georgette and crepe de chine dance frocks. These flowers are nearly always the same shade as the frock, but the texture of the velvet gives the illusion of a deeper tone. Clear greens, hydrangea blue, mauves and all bright pastel shades are treated in this manner and are extremely youthful and becoming. For evening scarves the long floating varieties of chiffon or tulle will again be worn. The coloured nosegay will give the right finish to the shoulder. Ostrich feather fans will open and shut coquettishly. 1