THERE WAS A TIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20976, 12 September 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

THERE WAS A TIME.

AMAZING INGENUITY. A RIOT OF COLOUR. [special to n.z. herald.—copyright.] LONDON, July 17. Holiday clothes are engaging the attention of the lucky ones who are packing up for the beach or country holiday, and how attractive these new outfits are. There was a time when one " wore up " one's old summer frocks during the holidays, but not now. English seaside resorts are becoming as gay as Lido, and a golfing holiday calls for perfect clothes and equally attractive evening frocks.

Beach pyjamas are growing in popularity, and if made of suitable materials, they can be quite the most useful garments in a holiday wardrobe. The amazing ingenuity with which trousers are disguised as skirts possibly accounts for their growing success, and for your climate and ours those made of soft, fine jersey cloth are the most practical for holiday wear.

This material does not crease with lounging, or cling if it accidentally gets wet, and will shake out and look fresh after many hard days at the beach. In red jersey cloth, very fine and lightweight, with full trousers set into a fitted hipband, a tuck-in white sleeveless blouse and a white jersey coat, worn with a tiny American sailor hat, or widebrimmed straw, and you are attractively dressed for the biggest half of the day. Another recommendation to this jersey cloth is that it is safer if a cool breeze springs up, and there are many attractive ways of varying the colour scheme. A white skirt with smart little coatee or jacket is another attractive uniform. The coatee is sometimes black, dark Llue, dark red, or chestnut brown, and a scarf is added with a white ground and spots to match the coat or dark ground and white spots. I have also seen some pretty little twopiece suits that consist of dresses of shil-ling-spot shantung, and short coat of the same colour as the spot. One I liked particularly was a beige and red spotted dress with short red coat, and a widebrimmed, coarse straw hat, that had a folded band of spotted and plain red material stretched tightly round the crown.

Colours are running riot over the holiday clothes this year, and red and white plaid trimmings added to a suit of brown linen sounds distinctly " loud," but really looked very smart. There seems a tendency among the latest models to favour three-colour combinations rather than two, and another outfit had a pink shantung bolero with a dress of blue and yellow striped material. Candy stripes are used for some youthful holiday suits that consist of pink and white striped " shorts " in cotton material worn with double-breasted, short-sleeved jackets in plain pink faced with the striped material. I hope you have remembered the tip I gave you some time ago about handknitted jumpers. Quite the smartest girls have several of these little sleeveless jumpers with beret caps to match, to wear with white or other plain coloured skirts. A white skirt, with a red hand-knitted jumper and cap, a little red cloth, flannel or shantung coat, is exceedingly smart for golf, tennis or the beach. This idea is capable of many variations, using two or three colours mixed judiciously. If you 'have a long light coat for wearing over summer frocks, it should be lined—if lined at all —with black or navy blue. The great thing is to achieve a striking colour combination with summer clothes this season, and the easiest and most effective way to do this is to introduce black into one's ensemble. I particularly admired a crepe de chine dress in pale yellow, with a griggly little indefinite black-thread pattern. The short sleeves were shaped like little capes and the yellow and beige striped canvas belt had black, shiny, leather ends and buckles. Two flowers of stiffened crepe de chine with black leather leaves were placed at the V-neck opening. The loosely-woven woollen jacket was yellow with a black thread and unlined, but the collar, cuffs and patch pockets were lined with shiny, black leather. Every few weeks sees some variation of the irresistible beret, and the latest and most-universally worn edition is very little more than a crochet d'oyley. Made of white straw, art silk, wool, chenille or cotton, it is knitted or crocheted with the familiar stitches that have gone into many d'oyleys. The range of shapes varying from a pill-box crown to pull on the head, a flattish, round shape, a turban with a roll edge, and a shallow shape no deeper than a wide saucer. They pack in one's handbag and come out looking quite fresh, in cotton and art silk they have been known to wash successfully, and they arc to be seen on every type of head at such an excessivelyrakish angle that surely hair or hat pins must, secure them. Of course, they are too popular to last, for they are cheap in the shops, and any woman who can use her crochet hook can make one in a couple of hours. In the meantime, they look cool and casual, but chic, and must only be worn with short, simple dresses or tailored suits. Usually, they are quite untrimmed, but sometimes a white camellia, or a jewelled clip, or a small cluster of black and white flowers will be added to those worn in the afternoon.