The Way of a Plaid with a Plain!

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23767, 21 September 1940, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Way of a Plaid with a Plain!

TF you are wondering just how to pep lip your wardrobe so that it will see you well on into the summer, then take heed of this information! New Yorkers say, "Get into a dress with some plaid on it! Look gay and shining and fresh again with bright little flickers of plaid in crisp taffeta as collars and cuffs on your dress, as winged peplums on your suit, or as a wide cummerbund joining your skirt and shirt-blouse. Try_ lining the hood of your coat with plaid and put epaulettes on it of plaid also." . Spankingly successful, too, would be an all-plaid silk dress. Smart New York is plaid-mad, with plenty of new ideas that show the influence of Gaelic gaiety. Talking of Highland high-jinks, how about making your own handbag in tartan taffeta. Shape it like a Glengarry bonnet and along the top run a zip "fastener. You'll find it a mighty handy little accessory for keeping your change and your cosmetic clan in order during days in town. Spirited as the skirl of the bagpipes and the swing of the kilts is the tartan evening dress. Queen Alexandra as Princess of Wales brightened Balmoral Castle in a tartan taffeta gown that inspired our modern designers in their present efforts for the original. So here

are evening fashions that have gone quite fey with tartans. I like the one ■with the wasp-waisted look and the huge bustle bow, all of tartan. Even more up-to-date is the frock of plaid patterned organza with a skirt yards around the hem and long sleeves distended and puffed to their utmost. But however you have it, remember that the contrast of check and plain fabric is a delightfully debonair touch for reviving old frocks and inspiring new ones. And if you want to go still further with the plaid-mad scheme, why not make your soft furnishings of it, too? Cover chairs with plaid gingham, run up curtains of the same and, for your J bedspread and if ajt organdie all stiff -mrnmamJr and starchy. r