Of Course You These New Short Skirts

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

Of Course You These New Short Skirts

rFHE new short skirt stylo' started in America. Not surprising, because American women can usually count on their well-shaped, .greyhound legs as one of their best points. But English women find these just-over-the-knee-length skirts pretty trying. Some of you are probably saying to yourselves: "But I can't wear these short skirts." In fact, a lot of women are jibbing at the idea of wearing their skirts 17in. off the ground. But thero are ways of'making short skirts look longer arid more becoming. First. —Concentrate on getting all the lines of your suits and frocks vertical; panels, pleats, trimmings must run downward; this will make your frock look longer than it actually is. Second.—Go in for petticoats, bound hems, anything which will add an extra inch or so without appearing to do so. Third. —Wear dark-toned stockings, matching your frock if possible. Fourth. —Wear heels as high as you can comfortably take them. These will lift you and your skirt well off the ground without showing any more of ' your legs. Here are two spring outfits —a suit and a frock —to illustrate the point:— Left.—Print frock in tie .silk with a small grey and white design. A white frilly petticoat shows an inch below the> hem of the skirt, and. i.s matched by another frill which curves down each side of the bodice, and round the edge of ciach short sleeve. Neck of tho dress is filled in with-a. plain white shirt front,: caught at. the neck by two buttons, and again at the waist. The skirt of the'frock is niade in six panels

(giving a longer look) and flares to a -wide hem. .Rijgfyt.-f—Navy blue suit in wool twill. Here again the lines are all long and curved 011 the short jacket, which is tight-waisted and dips a couple of inches at the back. Inside is a pale blue waistcoat slip, and inside that a dark blue blouse. Jacket has a small blue .velvet collar at the back. , The skirt is .short and full, yes, but the fulness comes from clumps of impressed pleats which are stitched down to the lnps, and spring out from there, not the waist (a much easier lino to wear).