FAREWELL TO SUMMER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20420, 23 November 1929, Page 8 (Supplement)

FAREWELL TO SUMMER.

MORNING COATS OF TWEED. ENORMOUS COLLARS. THE VELVET HAT. [SPECIAL TO N.Z. HERALD.—COPIRIGHT.] LONDON. October 11, 1929.. The world of fashion has welcomed the suggestion of autumn, which arrived with the first of this month. The continued summer was delightful for ordinary mortals, but most disconcerting for those who' had provided new clothes for a cooler season. The last.of the summer frocks have disappeared—or at least are hiding under a smart new coat. Tweed coats and skirts, tailored ensembles of saxony suitings or the new hopsack, and top coats in every kind of material are already being worn.

Variety is the keynote of the winter fashions. Whether it is in hats, suits, coats, or frocks, there are styles to suit all figures, and such a wealth of choice in materials that every taste and pocket is catered for.

Morning coats of tweed and cloth are usually cut on slim, straight lines, but even with these there are concealed pleats, fancy strappings, and decorative pockets to give an individual choice.

I have just seen a charming ensemble of Cumberland tweed in grey, with flecks of black and white. The skirt was beautifully cut with deep inverted pleats in tho front to give a hidden fulness.

A jumper of matching crepe do chine was strapped at the neck and wrists and waist with tweed to match the suit, forming a design at the base of tho V neck, and again on the side of the jumper by the belt.

The long top coat had a half belt into the back and tlio fulness from the shoulders was eased into this line. Iklow the waist belt were two inverted pleats that hung perfectly flat except when walking, and a fancy lino of strapping connected the belt with tlio pockets. A very new shawl rever collar of black Persian lamb and full-shaped culls, to match- gave the right touch to this ensemble, making it suitable alike for morning or afternoon wear.

Tho idea of strapping the jumper with tho same material as the suit is a very marked feature this season.

There is a good deal of elaboration about tho afternoon coats. Many aro cut with tiers of the material similar to one I have sketched, and there is a great deal of machine stitching, i ■ .All of the coats have enormous collars, usually with cuffs of equally imposing dimensions. Tho coat silhouette may be slim and straight, or slim to the hips and then flaring. An attractive street suit seen at a recent. dress show was made with a coachman's coat of deep porcelain blue, the double " Dick Turpin " collar piped and lined with white, and tho sleeves having double flounces piped to match. This type of cape collar was also on a purple velvet evening coal, the cape, being edged with pale grey chinchilla, making a delightful wrap to wear over a grey chiffon dress that had the new flat bugle bead trimming. Tho newest colours for coats and tailor-mades are bottle green, many shades of red, including a deep wine colour, and an attractive mulberry shade, all tones of brown—chocolate brown being the most pronounced—and, of course, much black. The hat to match the coat is almost a rule, and in many cases is made of a piece of tho same material, for fabric hats are very smart. With a tweed ensemble a hat of matching tweed-stitched all over with rows of fine machine stitching is quite the smartest wear, and a bag of the sanio tweed gives a 1930 look to one's get-up. With velvet coats a matching velvet hat is very new. Many of these fabric hats in velvet and broadcloth look shapeless in (he hand, but arc so cleverly fashioned that when pulled on to the head the soft brims can be pulled to suit any face at any angle that suits a passing whim.

Indeed, the new hats can be very charming when once we have pot accustomed to the " pushed-off-lhe-face" look which .seems to lie the only possible .angle of the very smart woman.

But it is a trying angle and the more I see of it the more I am convinced that it is only for the youthful fare. Many women I have seen would look younger and more attractive with a softer line. A perfectly plain high forehead is rarely becoming after the first bloom of youth has departed. Some of the best autumn toques have quaint side flaps, which look from a distance like sleek locks of hair.