IN FASHION’S REALM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 55

IN FASHION’S REALM.

WEEKLY UP-TO-DATE DRESS NOTES.

By

MARGUERITE.

Spring is always a great hat time, and on this occasion it is with a prodigal amount of colour and a great display of needlework. The liking for pedal straws and flower- is well provided for; the desire for hats with much lace upon them, and again for others with drenched plumes is fully met A fine picture hat in mauve may have the brim. lined with shot taffeta, the crown displaying an artistic treatment in georgette, and naturally the side that droops provides a field for flowers, and so a tumbling over of these in the same material. Another choice model will have a crown, perhaps, entirely of flowers--something small and closely set, the brim of transparent lualines having- on one edge a posy ox the same selection. A choice hat is in dark blue tagel, with a regular brim set with flowers, and with this a mount in the same. Another combines rice straw and crepe, the two shades being noilobtrusive, and everything lion-obtrusive, and everything depending on the excellence of the draping. A grass-straw hat is of tire upturned variety, and features a georgette brim, the flowers used being in cluster form at the side. All these would be expensive lmts as briefly described, and so a sudden descent, to the corded ribbon hat, the colour being what you will, and the pull-on in silk which is trimmed with tinsel straw, tire- colour effect being again a matter of choice. For the home milliner there are plenty of shapes, many of them being distinguished for their drooping brims and soft crowns; while if the whole thing is wanted then there are fancy straw plaits —stain straws, chenille straws, and so forth, with many departures from the ordinary for those who aim for originality all through. The hat shown is more to demonstrate a desirable contour than anything else. A simple shape, ves, but there is the height,

and there again is the brim-width, and the rest is more or less inconsequential. Circling round it, as it were, you may place a hundred hats, two hundred even, all in order according to the orbit determined by attractiveness —and price. It is going to be a great blouse season. What is more it i.s going to be a beautiful blouse season. The materials account for some part of this; but the styles account for much more. It is said that the blouses this time evidence the popularity of the jumper, and of course they do. For example, a georgette is of decidedly jumper complexion, and for the rest is distinguished for its frills and again for its headed ornamentation —beading, let me »ay, promising to become something- of a rage. Another has lines of Irish crochet down ihe front; and another still has strips of ribbon very artistically applied. A silk crepe blouse reveals some kilting, and a good deal of hand embroidery, and a crepe de chide is worked over with flowers in taffeta. Then a white voile blouse is trimmed with killings, and Fuji with ribbon. A true jumper in white voile i.s prettily embroidered and edged, with insertion. A noteworthy tiling is that so many of the blouses one sees in the shops have short, sleeves—a reminder incidentally of some other things, chiefly silk gloves. Picture to yourself a jumper in two tones of silk, which are so knitted that the result is opalescent., ihe below-tho waist part being in bars in still more shades. Or you may select a knitted silk in a bine shale, with a long collar featuring bars in emit rust, and a very effective one too. Or, if these do not suit you, assuming your purse to be a deep one, you may have a knit of complex design, and rejoice in a. tie, and again in a threaded girdle, over a hem that features several bars that combine both colour and art in munipuhi I ion Spring proclaims youth, and, to quote from the classics, youth must be served. Arifi so what 1. have just said is an easy introduction to a, “young miss” frock of the character indicated. Here we have the

free and easy blouse in which youth is free to revel in as gay a pattern as desired; the neck low, and the sleeves short, and tlv

kilted or pleated skirt in contrast, and just as rich as ever it can be. It is a rejoice ful age when dainty clothes provide for elation, buoyancy, and happiness. The hall-mark is not in the skirt so much as in the blouse, unless, of course, we take frocks, and even then art does not aim for an elaborate one. The accordeo-n----pleated gaberdine skirt is a favourite with its coloured etitchery, and few can pass a good model without admiring-it. Then the apron skirt is another —one, say, in jersey silk with apron panel front and back and sliteherv at the sides. Again, there is the skirt that owes most of its attractiveness to braid, the application of which will be in the most artistic form possible, and very likely with buttons to assist in the effect. All these notes are with a due regard for the belt, girdle, or sash. The belt will be narrow or wide according o suitableness, tile girdle the same, and *ew will be without ends of some kind. The sash, however, is final eomplemmt with the fioek that admits of it, and -d-o gains from it, must not be mixed in. as it would be if coupled with ihe nho-e for an extended notice. 'ihe sash this spring will indeed spring, as if the ultra fashionable one is preferred it may be just as large as ever it can he, seeing what it has to do. In fact. I have seen some sashes in the life, and even more in be picture, that could hardly be larger. They tie artistically, and for the rest really become part and parcel of the dress, especially the skirt. But, as the season advances many will be chosen for their tvanspai ency—sashes that will be distinguished by a kind of filmiiioss not flimsiness -with me frocks that will gain from this. And men. lion of this brings up a casual reference to the evening or party frock —the sash raav be of the kind the fairies are supposed to be able to weave, albeit they can weave no more than the talcs that describe them. I show a very pretty bodice for a frock for a quite young gild, even a child. It evidences a nice neck, a nice sleeve, and

again a field for .some beadwork, and it was the latter little feature that ready induced me to include it. Spring means a return to delightful neckwear, the kind we don on occasions. , notice in passing the organdie costume | fronts with tlieir pin tucks and embroidery; the same with tlieir 101 l collars and fine ' hemstitching and embroidery, and the same j with their rows of insertion. There are j gome very becoming collars, too, and a ! mention of them will serve as a hint, as j the organdi muslin with a two-tone frilled j edge and the same sailor with filet lace j to border. Then the georgette roll collars j are beautiful, such being trimmed with vaiinsertion; and the crepe do chines are as I good, these sometimes fenfining a good j deal of hemstitching. A little laid our on : dainty ncc-kwear is well laid out. as the selections are great beautifier.s for certain occasions. I have managed to get two drosses into one drawing complete simply by doing them small. The one on the left', is a choice type with its panels, the sides being shorter than the front. And everything i.s well marked off with a double row of stitching as a border and a Greek scroll between. The other dress is of a different order, and yet ju-t as pleasing. The feature here is the pleated skirt, though the bodice is nice. In both case- there is a flair,j sleeve, the former one being split in order to conform to ihe general design. The spring sunshade as now in evidence is decidedly "floral, ' and of arfi-tic beamy in tile highest degree. Handles short, finished oit with bow-knois into which a flower or two is introduced to harmotiL-e with those ornamenting the shade itself Some have tiny posies fa-toned here and there over the 'ton; ~;her- have the "lib- ’ underneath outlined Wi'.h trail- - r Hire buds and foliage. (Do I part ienla tly noted was entirely made of tie; x i> -e ".-am.