FROCKS AND FASHIONS IN LONDON.

Otago Witness, Issue 3714, 19 May 1925, Page 58

FROCKS AND FASHIONS IN LONDON.

(By A Lady Cokbespondent). (Fob tdb Witness.) At long last the world acknowledges that England is capable of designing fashions for others besides low comedians. For years the mere mention of British clothes, drew giggles from the rest of Europe who, by way of commentary, drew pictures of ladies wearing minute hats perched on immense chignons, tight waists, dipping skirts, flat-heeled button boots, and often piuce lira, prominent teeth, and ill-rolled umbrellas. We have changed all that, and now tho great French designers who come over to show us their creations, are graciously pleased to take back a few of our ideas with them. It is only natural, after all, that the French artist should design his models primarily for his own countrywomen; even though ho adapt them Inter for America or British clients, the fact remains that a very different type inspired them. Equally naturally, a clever English designer, knowing instinctively our good and bad points, evolves clothes for us accordingly, and, as moro people realise this every season, so the British expert has come to the fore. Having played games, and done our beat to make everyone else play them as well, for so many generations, we should understand the right clothes to wear for them, and be able to design attractive examples to p|pvc lb

WOOLLIES. What people suffered before woollies came into their own, only those who have survived tramping about in heavy tweeds and stiff shirt blouses can describe. From the happy day on which the idea of knitted clothes, as a solution, * inspired some benefactor of mankind, we took to them as ducks to water, and have worn them in varied and elaborated forms, and at all seasons ever since. Just now we in England are beginning to wonder what attractions are being made ready for the spring and summer, so I chose this house as a fount of information, and went along to Wigmore Street to inspect models. The charm of these were legion and many new notes quarrelled for highest marks. On the whole, the lines were long. Three-quarter length coats and tunics over narrow dresses or wrap-over skirts. A noticeable feature was that many of the suits were so made to a tailor’s pattern, as at a little distance to appear or dinary tailored coats and skirts; an example of this was a tnbnc suit of wool with an artificial silk stripe, the coat was slightly shorter than the majority, whilst the collar, cuffs and pockets and edge of the wriip-ovor skirt was bound with arti ficinl silk. The straight well-defined lines of the whole were extremely pleasing. Another new note was the extraordinarily effective results obtained by their clipped wool and silk trimmings: prepared in n special way, the threads do not pull out, but remain close and firm, and the simulation of different furs—beaver, leopard, ermine, and astrakhan—reveal fresh possibilites, which would draw nmn&ed bleats and snorts from the original providers of the raw material. Clipped bouclette is used for tho imita-

tiou of astrakhan ami persian lamb, ami all these trimmings look particularly well on the types of eoat which they adorn. One three-quarter suit having bouclette as trimming was seemingly a one-coloured suit, but when the three-quarter eoat was thrown open it revealed a straight frock, the body of which was of contrasted artificial silk and wool, giving a brocaded appearance. Tiny buttons ran down the length to above the knees, whence the dress was finished with a plain hem to match the coat. In cither soft mistletoe green and silver, or in beige and bracken brown, it would make a welcome addition to any wardrobe. Honeycomb wool was employed for another model having close clipped furseeming wool collar and cuffs; yet another of beige alpaca Lad a knee-length artificial silk tunic, collared and cuffed with ecru georgette, and worn over a plain skirt and under a three-quarter length coat trimmed with boucletteastrakhan to match. THE UGLY DUCKLING. To revert to the continental caricatures of the British; the men were invariably portrayed in check travelling coats, and the women in voluminous macintoshes entirely devoid of shape, "v'e are obliged to plead guilty regarding our fidelity to macintoshes —with u climate such as ours, they form a sort of epidermis, and their acquisition is second nature, for they are as necessary as are cats winter coats. At one time we looked on them simply as necessary evils, which inevitably spoilt the effect of the rest of our toilets, but a series of wet Ascots and Goodwoods set our modistes resourceful brains working out some antidote. The most mocking voices of Paris, Brussels, Borne, and Budapest!], could but sink into respectful admiration of tbexample of the result of this concentration which I saw in Madame HandleySeymour’s New Bond Street show rooms the other day. It has all the appearance of a beautifully cut straight black ottoman silk eoat. with collar and cuffs bound with strips of the same material; ,yet the silk had been prepafed by some process which gave to it all the virtues of tho ugliest and most dependable macintosh. Such a garment holds its own in the smartest assembly, and enables its owner to face the most sodden enclosure enviably undismayed. _ “PUT ON YOUR SILKS AND PIECE BY PIECE GIVE THEM THE SCENT OF AMBERGRIS.” The straightness and simplicity of the lines of our clothes of necessity, draws attention to the materials of which they are made, and this tremendous importance of fabrics has kept designers and embroiderers working at full pressure. Artificial silk, the possibilities of which, hitherto, had been unexploited, has leapt into prominence, and very beautiful results obtained by experimenting manufacturers, who have discovered that it can feign brocades and tinsels so successfully as to deceive all but professional eyes by its mellow lustre. Liberty’s, who we always associate with something exceptional in the way of colours and materials, show gorgeous satin-surfaecd examples of. its development, in all shades from gold to copper, enu-de-nil to emerald, and azure to imperial purple. A clever illustration of the versatility of this fabric is the reproduction they have made of the soft paisley crepe, beloved of our grandmothers, and having that same recurring opter satin stripe invariably present in those shawls. Liberty’s now own the Merton Abbey Works, where the hand-printing of their silks is carried on. When they took over, they discovered some century-old blocks, and these they have brought into use again for their Rani satins and Tyrian printed silks, for the designs are just what the inodists are telling us to use for the long tunics, jumpers and hotWeather frocks for the coming season. THE QUESTION OF BAGS. This affection for embroidery and stamping, finds a further outlet in bags and pouclicttcs which, of all gny hues, reveal fresh gadgets and pockets, and are either large enough for a suit case or so tiny that they would go into a pocket did our tailors but permit such criminal practices. Asprcys, living up to their reputation for thoroughly understanding these things, offer vanity cases of enamel, ivory, lacquer, jade in flat shapes, tube shapes with tassels, on chains or on cords, and of such ingenuity of design, and in such infinite variety as to recall the royal gifts of eastern fairy talcs, or the novels of Rosita Forbes. For everyday use Vickery’s have some beautiful pouclicttcs in pleated black figured silk, with or without mounts of silver, marcasite and onyx. FOR THE CONJUROR'S-RABBIT, Then there Is tho portmanteau type of bag secretly so dear to ns. These need not be of dimensions large enough to contain their bearers evening dresses, or a set of conjuring props, although we have a weukncss for this size, but Asprcys make them in all kinds of leather, and of n size to accommodate note books and things, and yet to remain in proportion with the genernl scheme of our clothes. These threo types are tho most popular, and they are made in such a diversity of materials an to suit all tastes. With the question of bags one difficulty always manifests itself, like the Ancient Mariner’s albatross; namely, tho acquisition of something to put in the new purses and note cases; so well pressed looking, and yet so pathetically anxious that 1925 shall test their capacity to its full extent.