MY LADY’S DRESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23014, 17 October 1936, Page 26

MY LADY’S DRESS

A LETTER FROM SYDNEY Dear Phillida—There is a recipe which will put your wardrobe a stride ahead of spring, a step ahead of summer, and for a sum so light that your purse won’t miss it. The ingredients—last year’s dress and a sharp eye for necklines . The method—dismantle the frock of all trimmings: inspect the silhouette for faults, eliminating them when possible (long sleeves can _be hoisted to short, padded ones, skirts can be made briefer, etc.); consider the dye-pot; and now select from the bewilderingly tempting array of bibs, bows, jabots, collars, waistcoats, ana what-have-yous that bedeck the neckwear counter of any up-to-date store the bit of frippery that will most aptly rejuvenate your frock. Of course, this frock need not necessarily be an old one. A dark dress \Vith lingerie touches is one of the

highlights of the season. Your choice of neckwear is a wide one. Very often you will posses two, three, or four different changes to wear with the one frock. You may, for instance, have a plain navy frock made with straight pleated skirt, high neckline, and short Gibson-girl sleeves. Your first choicea small pique bow. narrow, stifflj starched, and stitched; place just below the chin Your second-.-the exciting bib-and-collar combination illustrated in the top corner of my sketch. Below a collar of organdie, which has boxpleated organdie ruffles around it, is a bib—the centre tucked horizontally and edged with a baby ruffle. Then a halfcircle of fancy organdie (this time with a woven spot) edged again with a box pleated ruffle, a nonchalant bow at the throat. Or you may choose the arum lily motif sketched below—two large arum lilies complete with yellow pistils are placed end to end under the chin and finished by long, pin-tucked leaves and baby lilies, the whole of fine white pique. Then there are flowers aplenty which disarmingly frame the face in unexpectedly juvenile fashion. Most attractive of these

are the organza jonquils or water-lilies, both white with gay yellow centres. Also sketched at the bottom of the page is an enchanting pique wreath of morning glory vine—flowers in front and leaves curling round to the back; a collar and jabot of fancy floral organdie. all pure white and edged with plain; and a waistcoat blouse of plain white organdie which fastens down the front with five white bowls. Most fascinating of the bibs are those that boast rows of tiny buttons or black velvet bows down their middles and ruffled round the edges. These last are fun and quite easy to make if you have the patience. If you haven’t and want something different from the ready-mades on display, yet can’t afford the models, then concoct something from the yards and yards of frillings—organdie, organza pique, and marietta—that are on sale at the fancy goods counter. Curl these round ■ your neck Margot-wise, turn them down in Italian page-boy fashion, loop them up and down your front evolving a cravat as faultless as those worn by the dandies of the sixteenhundreds. Again you can add the pro-

sessional touch to a bib or jabot of your own manufacture by edging it with a oleated ruffle. Enchanting are the ruffled pin-spot muslins, white with coloured spots and the embroidered flower buttons which can be bought at the same counter Then there are embroidered muslin bows made in Madeira and tiny fluttering jabots of the same material. Chalk-white lace is an eminently successful material to use on your afternoon frock. It is perhaps best with black or navy One of this season’s models boasts a white lace ruff collar finished with a baby black velvet bow in renaissance style and with white lace cuffs appliqued on the sleeves and appliqued with lace pockets. Often the simplest materials are the most effective. Pique is the perennial standby which never loses its virgin freshness. The ways of using it are endless, but there is one golden rule which applies to all white materials — and that is to keep them white.