OUR FASHIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19412, 21 August 1926, Page 6 (Supplement)

OUR FASHIONS.

IMPORTANT ITEMS. A London fashion correspondent writes: —Two dress items, I notice, sire very active and important again after a long rest—collars and sleeves. The collar can be of almost any kind as long as you have one. Little washable ones of white or beige lawn, edged with narrow lace of hand-stitching, are seen 011 many new frocks and look very fresh and attractive. They should have cuffs to match. Some of the collars are fastened with pleated jabots, and tiny jabots bane from the accompanying cuffs. Sailor collars are worn again, finished with a silk or ribbon bow. Cut the newest line of all is one which, personally, I find rather ugly—a shirt-front, one, about the size of the stiff part of a man's dress shirt, filled in with pleating. With this either a little turn-down collar is worn or a small unpleated scarf of the vest material, tied at one side of the throat. You will notice this low-cut vestee outline on ever so many of the new frocks. The most surprising jabot I've seen was a lace one which was tied high up on to the throat with a ribbon bow at the back of the neck. It fell straight down the front in quite an ordinary way, but what made it look so unexpected was that the frock underneath had quite a

low neck, and no collar at all! The effect was rather like a grown-up baby's lace bib, but somehow it was very pretty and amusing. As for the nriw sleeves, they are all alike in one thing—they behave 1 very quietly down to the elbow. But after that, there's no holding them at all. On some evening frocks they even begin there, with an interval of bare arm between elbow and shoulder. Singularly Ugly, of course, but " so new, Moddam." It is a little like the Georgian, effect of plain upper sleeves ending in voluminous frills from' elbow to wrist, but being more freakish, it is not nearly so charging. Day-time sleeves can really do whatever the.y like, from the elbow onward They can be long and tight, or long and wide at the cuff, or very full and caught into a little round band. Those on afternoon or informal evening frocks are very elaborate affairs; on sports and morning frocks they are, of course, : quite plain and tailored-looking. In furs moleskin is seen a great deal, particularly when it is dyed to match a cloth. No simple unpretentious mole would know its own skin if it met it at a dress show nowadays—it might be red, green or any startling shade. When it is left its natural colour it is often combined with other furs—generally grey fox, but I've just seen a moleskin stole with ermine tails. While fox is reappearing, one or two white fox stoles have been worn on light early summer frocks and suits, and it often makes the high round collar to an evening cloak or ermine or white rabbit.