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IN FASHION'S REALM.

WEEKLY UP-TO-DATE DRESS NOTES

By Margttebith.

The other day a friend handed me a copy of an English paper. It was to show me how the "flu" was going. There was. an "overseas" section, and. this' was addressed, not to the public, but to the World's drapers. I read it through and through with interest. The sum and substance of everything is that it contained a warning, repeated over and over again, not to expect cheap goods from England. It was pointed put that the expected higher costs through wage increases and raised freights would materially affect prices before long, sending them up and up again. For such reason, complain we how we may, we can look forward to no abatement. Hence my advice: buy all you can now, etc. And as buying of this character is buying against time also; buy with an eye to future use. Furs are not to be confounded with fur. The furs one sees are wonderful; those one reads about more so. But the prices I Is it possible that the times are what the sour writer on economics tries to make out? Coats at 30 and 40 guineas, more at 15 to 20! It may be all right, but unless one has one's own motor car and a retinue of servants where is the use? Here is the description of one of the singularly blessed: " Her Coney seal coat was carried with a delightful swing, and the impression left was ja wrap de luxe, with the collar distinctive and nearly all enveloping. The lady wore a tall black velvet pierrot hat that afforded only the most casual peep at her shining bronze"—"bronze" is good—"tresses." I have my own idea; but I think that one reason why we have received such magnificent furs for wear here is because of the lessened number, if possible, purchasers elsewhere. It was so just after the war started. Never were finer examples of furs received than in the first winter following the declaration, when I at once formed the opinion that it was due to a restricted market elsewhere. You see the greatest buyers of furs were the Russians. The wives and daughters of the Russian' aristocracy used to flock down to Paris every season and spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on furs. Gone are the days when the Muscovite Countess could lay out two or three thousand guineas on a new set of sables—yes, gone, and lor ever. _ I return to that line—" the collar nearly all enveloping." The large, nay, immense, collar is_ quite a feature of far autumn and early wmter coats, and will become more so. And not only of great coats, but of coats of any description with a tendency towards the wrap. This, for instance, was

the collar of a coat of silk—a heavy one, true, but Btill that material and nothing less. Aufl the collar dictating the cuffs, there you have both, and as large as the artist has dared to make them. Unless perfectly cut, and then carefully worn, these exaggerated forms would soon get a sloppy effeot. You see anything out of tho ordinary is calculated to bacome a misfit with Indifferent uso. And I should

say that this collar represented the acme. One has to note -whatever is going, good, bad, or indifferent. Hats are of all kinds and qualities, but there being so little to admit of "camouflage " —bless the inventor of that word — it is just as well to aim for value. This observant writer speaks of some hats she saw in these terms: "There was a novel olose-fitting shape, eminently suitable for motoring—a hat covered with a silk motor scarf with the fringo of the one end so treated forming the only trimming, and the other end left to wind round tho neck. Then there was a particularly pretty hat in putty-coloured duvetyn, lined with pale blue, its sole adornment a half-open water lily of the same material and in the same colouring's. Duvetyn is really glorified felt, only lighter and softer in texture. Finally, several hats made of gold and silver brocade trimmed with beautiful hand-made flowers in various colours; but. while very handsome, not to be worn indiscriminately. They need living up—or dressing up^-to." And so on through half a column, but without making' one any wiser. Then the same on some of the frocks —notes by her in a day's walk: "The one that pleased me most was a slip-on of nigger brown silk stockinette, woven in a wide rib. It boasted looso hanging panels, lined with floral silk in charming colours. This lining showed through here and there most attractively, giving a shot effect. The frock hod the now high collar and a silk girdle with fringed ends. Then I noticed a costume in a oafe-au-lait shade of brown woollen stockinette made with a very long coat, a large collar with pointed ends, and finished at the waist with a buckle of transparent horn. A navy blue soft satin irock had a bodice and tunic of biscuit oolour, the tunio being looped on to the skirt below the knees instead of hsyiging loose. Again, there was a high, close-fitting collar, and the sleeves had the open bell-cuff. A geranium ninon dinner frock, prettily embroidered in saxe blue beads, showed originality of colouring, the very wide belt being similarly emibro/idered, wihile the skirt was softly pleated from the hips. _ One of the smartest frocks was distinctly American in style, being made of striped silk in vieux rose, dull blue, and reseda green. The skirt was closely pleated, and vieux rose silk was employed in trimming tho long (Crossover collar.*' This is another very pretty autumnwinter model, simple like the rest, but, nevertheless, efficient. The charm is' in the

bodice*, which lends itself -to an embroidered effect. And the hat adds to everything. Th-j design is an ideal oh© for silk of a heavy sort or velveteen, or, indeed, boui in combination. It has been wisely remarked that in choosing- one's now dress the guiding star to walk under, think under, and aot by is subtlety. Thus in choosinc? the übiquitous suit, pockets are suggested T—collar finishes are lapels apparent, but a dexterous twist, and lo I they ana transformed into becoming scarves swathing all throats. Trim and trig skirts, wide enough merely to walk comfortably, a waistcoat merely hinted at, and there you have them, these useful two piece Ftyles exemplified in good soft tonmgs more or pastel in effect. Designers seem to i.'ko a soft bright green, a modified tile red, deep navy with a lurking richness, and several acceptable shades of purple. The fabric gamut runs—serge, tricotin, corduroy, tweed, and a legion of pliable faced cloths. As we all know, a dress is sometimes made distinctive with the most trifling feature. A favourite little touch is to carry the bodice front on to the girdle in this style. It at, once unites bodice with skirt,

bakes away the least suggestion of 6quat > ness, and provides an excuse for a further ornament, which in this case; is. shown in the pendant tassel. They ar© dancing mad in London and

New York and I suppose, too, in Paris. And so on with it, as Byron says in relation to the ball beforo Waterloo, as from all accounts we are eoing to become dancing mad here. And why not, seeing that it is the reaction? The great war having kept us in tho background for over four years, banning the dance as though only suitable for heathens, tho great peace is going to give us the chance of our lives to dance every evil memory under foot and every pleasant dream into a reality. And dancing, of course, means clothes to dance in, any amount of them, pretty clothes, clothes to proclaim ioyousnessin every fold. Touching which the order will bo for the scantiest of draperies but only as regards what tho actual dress will convey in itself. In spite of a good deal of hand uplifting our danco dresses this winter will be quite as decorous as they were prior to the war. For which reason I only regrot that I did not take timo by the forelock and substitute a danomg frock for the usual full-figure walking dress. I simply did not think of it. and so must atone later. What may be said here is that the dance frock is preeminently the one you can make at home. It i 6, all things considered, ever tho easiest of dresses. The methods of draping a bodice are praotically endless, and this is one of tho most becoming of all. And I am all the more glad that I chose it, because of what I just said. It has distinct evening possibilities. Again, it is a lar?e collar,

but in. a new form—a collar that ia crossed, one_ side a-swathing the other, what you _ see, with an exceedingly pretty girdle carried over the hip. Again, the collar is turned in such a way as provides for a tassel, ever a pleasing addition at this time. By way of summary, day frocks, divine and demurely quiet, show tunics, bands of fringe, ninon coatlets apnliqued in shining fabrics, quaint braid motifs, queer buttons, and hand crochet wherever it can be fitted. The parade offers a wealth of specialties, the acoordeon-pleated skirt of navy serge, with a short Eton coat and a deep cummerbund sash, and frivolous batiste collar, being in high favour. Many dance frocks are heavily beaded—deep fringes and designs. In the mazes of the dance they scintillate in a bewildering and fascinating* manner: —the fascination of the frock going hand in hand with the danoe. " I'll study me head off to-morrow if ye'll, only let me dance me feet off a bit to-night," pleads "Peg o' My Heart" in Hartley Manners's famous book- of the loving, rebellious Irish girl.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19190416.2.181.6

Bibliographic details

Otago Witness, Issue 3396, 16 April 1919, Page 57

Word Count
1,661

IN FASHION'S REALM. Otago Witness, Issue 3396, 16 April 1919, Page 57

IN FASHION'S REALM. Otago Witness, Issue 3396, 16 April 1919, Page 57

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