SHOP GIRLS REVOLT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20602, 28 June 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

SHOP GIRLS REVOLT.

BRIGHTER DRESSES WANTED.

MOVEMENT AGAINST BLACK.

Shop girls in Glasgow are beginning to look at the dress problem from a new angle. Not the dresses they sell, but the dresses they themselves 'wear have come under the critical eye of officials in the drapery trade. A writer in the Drapers' Record has been asking why firms still dress their assistants in dowdy black when so much money and time is spent on tho colour harmonies of their stores.

" The jarring note in tho modern shop," was tho writer's verdict on tho traditional dress, and when a newspaper reporter made somo inquiries in Glasgow stores she found a great many " interested parties" who. agreed.

Tho manager of ono West End shop declared that ho had banished the black garb a year or so ago, when his store was redecorated, and chosen a tasteful but cheerful colour, which suited most types of beauty. " Wo still believe, of course, that the assistants should dress alike in frocks," tho manager said, " that aro as smart as they are suitable. But, although black is quite a good choice, it must be expensive to look smart. The old idea that it did not show dirt or signs of wear was exploded long ago. We found that black frocks very soon lost their ' blackness' and stained easily. Deep green, blue, purple, or any of the clearer brown tones is much more economical and pleasing."'

A girl who wears black was quite emphatic in her preference for a brighter uniform, but, she said, she realised that tho actual.choice of colour would be difficult. "In some of the smaller smart dress shops," she said, " the assistants have beautifully-cut frocks in somo tone to harmonise with tho salons, but with a small number of assistants it is not difficult to strike one colour that will become most of them.

"In a very big store, however, half tho girls would bo unhappy and freakish in green, or blue, or red. Black may not suit everybody, but I employers look upon it as safe. All the same, a glance round Glasgow's dross stores proves that black is certainly going out of favour, perhaps temporarily. There are mixed opinions among the assistants and among tho customers, who must bo considered, too, most of them are looking forward to a brighter shop-girl movement.