Be the Bold Exception -Says Niki of Paris

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23275, 18 February 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

Be the Bold Exception -Says Niki of Paris

AT any fashionable daytime gathering, the garden-party type of dress is acknowledged to he the exception rather than the rule. Yet there are many who still hanker for the elegance of long skirts when garden-party times come round, and are wise enough to risk being in the minority for so doing. In the magnificent grounds of an old mansion of the Faubourg St. Germain, I sketched these costumes at a charity garden fete. Both were the creations of Paris dress designers, and were worn by women renowned for their chic. The low waistline of the draped dress is supple and struck me as being particularly suitable for the dignified matron, owing to the ease with which

the hip-line sash might be adjusted to fit the figure. It was of white crepe with flowered print applied as a shoulder yoke and in the form of another wide band working up from the honi-lino. Vivid splashes of green, blue, violet, and pink, in butterfly pattern endowed the frock with a colourful personality. The shady black straw hat had big butterfly bows of emerald moire ribbon both under and over the brim.

The youthful organdie gown reverts to the Louis XIV. inspiration bo evident throughout the fashion world just now. Made in pink, it was shirred all over the bodice to a fitted hip-line and worn with jet black accessories and a pretty pink parasol. The bloused shirt-waist silhouette of this model is common to many of the newest autumn and winter streetlength day-dresses showing here at the moment in wools, plaids and tweed. But while summer lasts, forget the prophetic whisper of the things to come when the leaves fall, and make the most of yourself while you may in chiffons, organdies, crisp taffeta, or clinging crepe, at wedding parties and garden fetes.