MY LADY'S DRESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23685, 17 December 1938, Page 30

MY LADY'S DRESS

A LETTER FROM LONDON Dear Phillida, —Feminine elegance reaches new heights in the - new clothes. It is an elegance that leaves its mark on every type of. garment, yet destroys the individuality of none. This is because it changes as the day progresses, and because, though a luxury product, it is yet born of practical minds and is therefore never out of place. By this I mean that morning finds us wearing tailored clothes—eminently simple and serviceable, yet possessed of a certain softness and charm hitherto lacking from such garments. Afternoon clothes are more frankly feminine, and therefore, as I said last week, more trimmed, yet never so much ao as to obliterate the essential silhouette or to obtrude unnecessarily on the curving line of rounded bust, neat diaphram, and swelling hip. Evening clothes are elegance itself—yet only when it is right and proper that they should be so. Definitely divided are the ball gowns and dresses for grand occasions from the simpler yet equally important dinner and theatre frocks. To return to the morning clothes—here materials tell perhaps an even clearer story than line. Softness is their all-important quality. Not only do they feel soft, they look soft as

well. So our jumpers and our cardigans are of finest cashmere, Shetland and Angora, our suits are made from the softest and kindest tweeds and woollens, and our morning frocks are fashioned from woven angora jersey of every description in all sorts oi fancy weaves, and fine, fine woollens that weigh nothing at all and look a little like gossamer. There is tremendous choice open when deciding on a style for any of these materials. If conservatism is your cult then the classic line must be yours. Your shoulders will be slightly squared, your waistline neat and your skirt just slightly flared Your waistline, of course, can vary in length—that is to say, it may mould the body from ribs to hips, where it breaks to show your conciousness of the new line, or it may be quite narrow. If, on the other hand you are an individualist to the core, then concentrate on something draped and dirndl-like, with fullness across your bustline, still the essential narrowness of waist 'and this time almost certainly of diaphram too), and fullness again from either the waist or hipline to a hem 15 or 16 inches from the floor. Your skirt fullness may be brought about by means of gathers skilful flaring or sunray pleating that narrows to nothing at the waist. Your trimming can be anything thai you feel best suits your own personality. Borrow a locket or chatelaine

from grandmamma's trinket box or buy the newest, most daring metal necklaces, diamante clips, or brightcoloured beads. Flowers will be all important in your spring and summer story. Both real and artificial, you will wear them in your hair, on your hat, pinned to either or both lapels, and caught across your corsage. Afternoon dresses and their accompanying trimmings were the subject of my article last week, so this week I propose to dwell a little longer on the evening mode. To commence, draw a definite line between your dinner and dancing dresses. The former will be slender, informal, and elegant in detail, like the tucked and pleated chartreuse crepe in my sketch. Exceptions, of course, are house and hostess gowns, which can be as picturesque and draped as the wearer chooses. Formal gowns will express their exhuberance of intention in a different sort of elegance. Theirs is the charm of earlier, more leisurely days. Almost no whimsy is too whimsical to be sported on a grand occasion, if femininity and romance are its fosterparents. Thus we have coquettish fans, chous of ribbon and of lace, bows, frills, feathers, and furbelows. Earrings depend almost to our shoulders or nestle cunningly on the lobe of a shell-like ear. Hair ornaments are fantastic. Gloves are miracles of daintiness, and mittens are in!

Yet even with all this wealth of Edwardian, Alexandrian, Victorian coquettishness, it is still a crime to overdo the whimsy. Take, for instance, the enchanting lace crinoline in my sketch. Here is a perfect example of crystalline elegance—as romantic as ever a dress could be, yet not one whit fussy or overdone, its delicate, dropped shoulder-line emulates the Victorian flschu without any slavish copying. The finely boned, neat-waisted bodice lays emphasis on slender youth, yet does not give an undue pinched-in effect, and its gently spreading skirt flares effectively to a wide but no* over-wide hemline. Chous of the material at intervals on skirt and bodice, and repeated again on the matching fan, are the only concessions to decorativeness, and they are as bright and charming as it is Dossible for them to be. Lace is, perhaps, the most important of all the evening materials. Every designer shows a lace crinoline, and each one is the success of its respective collection. Rose pink lace made the highlight of the Hartnell show, its skirt being bunched and gathered at iudicious intervals. White lace plays lead, too, in Chanel's collection. So if you want a ball dress now that will be your grand frock for spring, summer, autumn, f and winter, buy London, October 3.