PARIS HAS SPOKEN!

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 6 (Supplement)

PARIS HAS SPOKEN!

THE BEST-DRESSED WOMEN TRIBUTE TO DUCHESS OF KENT According to Paris, the best-dressed woman in Europe has been declared to be Lady Mendl, the American wife of Sir Charles Mendl, Press Attache to the British Embassy in Paris. The decision is final, for it was made by a ballot of the leading Erench dressmakers, who justly regard themselves as the supreme court of fashion. From their pronouncement there is no appeal. Before her marriage Lady Mendl was stated by the New York American to have spent between £2OOO and £3OOO on clothes each year, and was quoted as saying: "I do not think the distinction 'best-dressed woman' belongs to me. I think it belongs to Mrs. Reginald Fellows (French wife of an Englishman), of Paris and London." Paris admires her modesty, but insists that it- knows what it is talking about. Lady Mendl, it points out,

Men itill have . . . fixed ideas [ about providing for their women- j kind . . . because it gives them a \ sense of superiority which they've • enjoyed since the Stone Age.— [ Christine Ertling, in " Design With j a View." • wears only what suits her and matches herself to her clothes. Her flair for dressing to the best advantage, remark the experts, is allied to a strong personality, charm, and a good figure. Compared with these qualifications, such considerations as beauty, youth, and wealth are of secondary importance. Of the 20 selected this year, 10 are Americans and only one is English-born —Diana Wynvard. The others include the actresses, Constance Bennett, Ina Claire and Kay Francis; several American society women, notably Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt and Baroness Eugene de Rothschild; several well-known French women, a Russian, a South American and an Argentine beauty. For obvious reasons the supreme court has not presumed to assess the fashionable qualifications of the Royal ladies of Europe, though it has been unable to resist expressing the opinion that the Duchess of Kent is one of the most chic. The Duchess dresses smartly and in perfect taste, as all London knows, but her greatest assets, after all, are her natural beauty and charm. No photograph could ever do justice to her perfect colouring and the magic lustre of her eyes. Only the brush of a great painter could accomplish that miracle.