COAT FASHIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23129, 30 August 1938, Page 5

COAT FASHIONS

NEW SPRING WEAR SLENDER WAIST EFFECT OILED SILK MACKINTOSHES BY BABBABA LONDON, August 11 First favourite for macintoshes and umbrellas at a recent race meeting was oiled silk in bright translucent shades, often spotted or printed in some gay animal or floral design. These had ample opportunity for displaying themselves by reason of tho many downpours during tho day. All-white mackintoshes and plaids and stripes, nearly always mado double-breasted, were as popular. Ono of the smartest women on the course was tho Australian film star Miss Margaret Vyner, just returned from New York, where she has been playing juvenile lead in Gilbert Miller's lat-jst stago production. Miss Vyner brought news of the brief bolero blouses which have so completely captivated tho smart women of America. She told mo also of little riblength handknitted sweaters which are being worn both for day and evening across tho Atlantic.

Now for tho coats in my sketch. I chose them as being particularly suited to the New Zealand spring. First is a seven-eighths boxy flannel in navy blue with a single button fastening and high wido double-seamed revcrs and pockets. This coat is excellent to wear with all kinds of sports clothes, including slacks, and yet looks equally good for town with a plain skirt or printed frock. Tho other coat in my sketch is a much heavier, more voluminous affair that is right for travelling and will go well over suits and frocks alike. Notice the serviceable bulky pockets and the inside button fastenings. The back is mado more interesting by tho addition of inverted box pleats which swing from a shoulder yoke and aro sewn down as far as tho hips. Soft coats, by tliat I mean the more feminine, dressmaker type, wero also a popular choice. As well as tho now usual edge-to-edge coats, I saw many more which had single-breasted button fastenings. Sometimes the coat was

fitted and buttoned to tho waist, from where it flared to a circular hem, allowing tho dress underneath to show in front, and sometimes the top was bio used and tho sleeves also wide and loose.

Always, however, these coats have a slender waistline, usually accentuated by a. contrasting belt. A model in navy mcsli wool had a neat turn-down collar, narrowly bound with "shocking" pink, a blouse bodieo buttoned with four groups of two-tone buttons, a full skirt and a din. fitted waistband. The shoulders were wide and the sleeves bloused into a narrow wrist.

Gores pressed into sunray pleats were a chic finishing touch to several coats. I saw a. changing model in black twill which had a bloused bodice back, _ a white patent bolt, and four gores giving fullness to the back of the Skirt — each pressed down the scam in a slender ridge. This typo of coat is equally good for the tall or short woman. The tall young girl can wear it with the belt, and the short ono can indulge a fancy for full skirts, usually denied her, by removing the belt and allowing those pressed seams to do their lengthening work.