IN FASHION'S REALM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3339, 13 March 1918, Page 51

IN FASHION'S REALM.

WEEKLY UP-TO-DATE DRESS NOTES.

By Maequehite.

The autumn-winter complement of the spring-summer blouse and skirt is as one pole to another—the coat-frock To whoever designed it in the first instance let us contribute a penny each and erect a statue. London advises that the serge coatfrock is all the rage. The trimming is in the embroidery thereon. Where one has one's dress made it is possible to cooperate by doing this oneself. It is not necessary to embroider the material itself. And if there is the least uncertainty it is safer not' to. The craze is for motifs worked wholesale or retail, backed with canvas, and sewn on afterwards. The design is a matter of choice. While some prefer the simple, others want the ornate. In the first rank is the animal of the Noah's Ark variety—the one it is sometimes necessary to label " This is a cat," or ''This is an elephant," or "This is a rabbit," as the case may be. Then birds are used, "and, finally insects. Touching the last, it is ei~ very ancient selection. The dressmakers of the First Empire (French, of course), made very much of bees. This, of course, was through such being the Imperial"" motif on mantles of state. No one ever saw a choice engraving of Napoleon or Josephine in their Imperial robes without also seeing the bees—golden bees, so please you, wings stretched as though as busy as ever. The coat-frock may be so adorned with every advantage, the selection wools in a contrastive shade, though not an over-conspicuous one. Alter animals, birds, insects, there are trees, essentially of the Noah's Ark variety —an elongated pyramid over a stick. The frock coat is invariably with an open neck—round, square, or "V." The high, close collar, as belonging to the dress, is utterly of the past. Some of us used to say that it was necessary to hide a scraggy neck. London advises tha* there are none left. What was thought to hide it, and did, was also the cause. The free neck having been so long the vogue, the scraggiest has reasserted its relationship to the swan, and there you have it. The coat-frock is the universal choice with the extra coat. This is a garment in a class by itself. The donned coat should be a thing of beauty and a joy for at least a eeason. Once more London does the advising—velvet as often as possible. But whether this or not, it is x always trimmed, and the trimming is fur. • It appears that not to display a certain amount of fur is to be in rebellion against the chief of fashion's dictates. Fur embellishes the collar or makes it, trims the pockets, makes the cuffs, sometimes instead edges the coat, and frequently forms the " flounce." It is desirable that it should be of 'the shade of the material. While not arbitrary as regards the decree, this is a ruling note for effect, A coat of two colours might often just as well be one of a dozen—Joseph's, to wit. Incidentally, what is the distance we would not go to to see that famous coat if only it were found in a box in Palestine somewhere and put on exhibition! The coats are of reasonable, graceful length, and of sensible freedom and line—the tailored evidence, the skill of the accomplished cutter. Few can make a perfect tailored coat, and the simpler the more difficult. / • At the same time that-fur may be employed on the coat to the extent indicated, there will always be some who will use what is so rich as sparingly as possible. As a matter of fact, it is often the case that the tailored coat \is only spoilt by any ornate addition. Braid is the great stand by with such, and how exquisite the effect when the braiding is just right and worked by a master hand. Again, a coat may owe half its attractiveness to its seaming, panels, straps, and the like. In this connection we return to a mention of pockets. The prevailing idea has been to hang them—that is to say, whatever 'the extra design, it has come down, sometimes from the bolt, sometimes from the bodice front. But this may be reversed. Some of the new pockets are worked upwards—that is to say, there are pleats that go down to the hem of the coat, more or less suggestive of the military: The well-cut coat is a wonderful beau'tifier. .Few who are not improved in one, and some always present a quibe fascinating appearance. I have for this week's set- of pictures selected the tunic. I am emphasising it in four styles. The present one is a very leading note. The dress is of two materials,

and the decorative one velvet or velveteen. I shall suppose that it makes the lower half of the bodice with a scalloped line. The tunic consist© of a series of free panels. I have indicated them, for the lower part in solid form for the contrast. These panols may be free, frorn the waist down or from a distance. It is. unnecessary to discuss how they are kept in position. Buttons and buttonholes make a very pleasing decoration —as though the panels might bo buttoned if desired. I observe a very important note from London. It appears that with so many women workers at hard tasks the corset has had_ to be revolutionised down to the very minimum. The munition workers complained that they could not do their work properly "boned" to the extent that prevailed, even though this was a great modification on what had existed. In a word, they could not bend with any degree of comfort, and sometimes only at tho cost of the " bones.'l The new corset for those who wish it is lower and less low —that is to say, it does not go so far up ■«nor come so far down. It resolves itself into this—a mero support for tho garments, —tho rest being left 'to the accessory that canie in when first this article was cut below the bust line. Whatever tho corset, it must not pinch. Tight lacing is a memory, and as dead as Elizabeth's ruff. It will never be restored this sido of Judgment Day. meaning that it will never be at all. "The fgure is left to take

care of itself, and so to display itself in its natural beauty. A writer rails, at the in dress as imposed by. the shoes. The shoemaker sooms to have taken tho lead. The grand secret why the shoemaker has got such a lead lies in tho length of the skirt. Shorten it, and tho shoemaker wins; lengthen it, and ho loses; carry it to tho ground, as once, and ho files his schedule. . But he knows that the dressmaker daren't lengthen jt—the r~aterial is not there for the pur"pose. "What is one's poison is another's meat, even' in dress.

Thi3 is a tunic that should appeal to you ■ —a'real crusader's. It savours of the coatfrock, and would, if it were not a tunic, be one. , It is cut on very choice lines, and has much to recommend it. The neck, "sleeve," etc., are decidedly taking. Braid-

ing is the embellishment —a cord applied as shown, to outline the collar, to add something to the girdle, and to trim the hem. There is something very pleasing about the design, but it needs, no description where everything is so clear. My eye caught this, and as I think it of service I pass it on: —"Some 18 months or two years ago it was a pleasure to see the enthusiasm of the "women and girls on train, tram,or ferry in knitting socks—at least 70 per cent, of them were so engaged* but now, alas! it is an exceptioiv'to see anyone knitting. May-I ask why is this? If some of our men are war weary, but still carrying on, surely there is no reason for our women to be sock-weary. The poor fellows want socks just as badly as ever they did; then it's up to the women to supply them. A soldier would value socks far more if made by relation or friend than the best that could bo purchased for him." The daring blending of colours that distinguished so much in summer is not going to be altogether abandoned. On the contrary an effort will be made to distinguish the_ coming winter from its predecessors by giving it all the colour possible. In this connection Oriental-looking Paisley silks and satins will play some part from now on, contrasted with black or dark-coloured velvet. Again Oriental-looking silks in shades of red," orange, and faint blue may be used in connection with dark grey cloth, as in a rough variety of this, where the silk takes**"the form of- pattes, or slots, laid on at intervals round the waist, and through which a leather belt is passed that draws the coat in slightly at the front. They will also embellish the cuffs and revers, and the skirt. An oversea advice speaks of the brightest possible colours for indoor dresses, with contrasts such mauve and pink, emerald green, and antique blue, poppy, scarlet, and rose. The handsomest of all indoor dresses will bo fashioned of artistically-hued velveteen, with jumper blouse in a paler contrasting shade. And the authority for this' speaks'of "the mixture of pansy, violet and pale blue, grey and pink," and so forth, her mind being on velveteen and crepe do chine skirt and blouse respectively—such dresses as may do for outdoors by the addition of a coat with, say, a chinchilla collar. In this you get a costume on very pretty lines, the tunic being sufficiently indicated in the ruled-off section, to which must be added/ enough to complete the skirt. It is

a case of using braicj»for the trimming, and this of a narrow kina, with buttons to turn it into groups, two and two. That "opening" in the neck is our final inheritance from the Russian blouse that was so much the vogue some time ago. The shapes in belts aro fairly legion. This applies to the belt of self, sometimes largely simulated, and even wholly so, and the ada\d in contrast. A pretty one of the

former order has a corsage effect in that it ,s very deep at the s'des, drawing in the coat, and yet conforming to the line; and then comes in curving form to a mero strap width at tho ends, one being passed through tho other in centre, and both buttoned on the belt itself. The selection is a great improvement to a coat of medium length, with box-pleated i effect and the same for the skirt. The belt, with the bookmarker ends is ever a safe choice, and in every case the ends will be embroidered with a motif. The double bolt has for its final expression the crossed effect in front, so that it forms an extended "X" as viewed fxom the front. Suggestions of the belt are frequently in the way the body is fashioned, as in one with a brace-like pleat that provides a deep V front, the bottom of this being carried ai'ound, and the front of tho dress, neck to hem, pleated with this to break it. When it comes to sashes—Well, it is as before, such being generous with bow ends and streamers, according to the circumstances. The skirt is ever important. We know where we are from now on till right through winter. There will be no return to the hobble for all the concessions to economy. While barrels and peg tops may still be" worn, it will be the skirt on etraightish lines that will prevail. But no skirt will ever be very long, and yet not as short as we permitted ourselves in summer. - . - . The draped tunic completes the set _of four, as illustrated. It is of the cascading variety, and though not quite original, is

a pleasing alternative. Braid may emphasiso it —a couple of - lines, or, if desired, more, but- always narrow. These draped tunics that cascade as shown are always becoming.