IN FASHION’S REALM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3803, 1 February 1927, Page 67

IN FASHION’S REALM.

Margueritm

WEEKLY UP-TO-DATE DRESS NOTES.

By

As a rule we confine dress writings to day attire, with only an occasional reference to the evening. And why do we do this? Simply because, in my opinion, we are of the workaday sort, and think in the terms of daylight. Suppose we had more money we could count that is, the majority of us—then, in my opinion we should say ever so much I®®® about day attire, because our thoiiglits would be wrapped up in the gaities. Did you ever read Babette ? She is one of the great dress writers of the United States, and her attitude seems to bear me out, as, to go by her papers of, say the last few years, one would think that the average American girl had nothing to do but dress for the theatre or dance room. Hear her in these few extracts from an article, with pictures, filling four columns of a daily paper: Like a page from the fairy stories of princes and princesses, like the wondrous tales ot jewels and gold, like the shining brightness of a fanciful palace of jewels inhabited by creatures too splendid to live, —like all these, resplendent with beauty, are the evening things of Fairyland loveliness that are now ours for the asking. Which, if interpreted by the man of the family might read: America has money, and Mrs Sam and her daughters are spending it. * * *

But now that I come to think of it, we, too, have become a bit on the gay side, for we, too, have money, and Mrs N.Z.’ and her daughters are just as anxious to be beautiful as any others. And so, as there is an instructive note in it let us get some idea of what “Babette ’ is talking about, always remembering that what she wrote appeared in November. “There are women who are clothed m gorgeous creations that look like the scales of some handsome creature in Neptune’s realm. Again, who appear in wondrous gowns bedecked with jewelled trimmings—tilings that look like bits ot amethyst or coral. or sapphire or turquoise set in gold. There are women who appear in dresses with designs simulating the midnight sun, and carried out in diamonds, and otheps whose gowns depict the Milky Way in pearls. There never was such evening finery. There are evening wraps of velvet in brilliant colours that begin with a luxurious collar of fur, of velvet finely shirred and lined with shimmering metal cloth in the colours of the Orient. It is all very wonderful when it includes gossamer hose and dainty slippers of metal brocade with jewelled heels and brilliant buckles; when it further includes necklaces of rhinestones, exotic earrings, bracelets of brilliants, and brooches of the same.” And so on, and so on, with this to finish —the latest charm, a dangling glass eye that may be to study the future, meaning to where all this is leading. * * * x Incidentally, when it comes to evening attire, we may wear “ shapes ” which in daylight outside would be taboo. A noteworthy example will be found in the extended skirt —clearly a crinoline shape for all the fact that it is short. Yet it may be very artistic, and the accompanying illustration is a proof of it. Simple though

the design, it still shows what can be done with a trimming when in contrast to make a border. Braced from the shoulder this is caught up either side with a loop, and from that point it widens out till, lo and behold! it is just as you see. And the curved replica to the skirt between the sides completes a very artistic edge. * * * A glorious time is foretold with day dresses as soon as it is time to aim for something with a little warmth in it. For myself I foretell coat modes before anything, and this means where the coat has the value of a dress because of its beauty and fit, and because it is intended that it should be worn as fashion’s first choice. Entirely gone are the days when a coat was worn for purely utility reasons. Coats are npw worn because they serve the dual purpose of a coat and a dress. In this, of course, I am referring to the coat that envelops everything else —the lovely one with the fur collar, and this time with the cape sleeve, meaning the one quite 18 inches deep from the shoulder and tapering to nothing at the wrist, or even before it is reached. A coat must always be of good material if it is to please, and on this score I think I am safe in saying that those on the wav will be among the finest things ever loomed. .

I gave the skirt portion of this dress before, and then, seeing it in print, thought it a pity that I had not given the complete thing. Result: here it is in full, a charming design with no end of possibilities. About the best thing about it is the way a long waist is achieved, and yet a short one with it. or, put another way. how a short skirt is maintained and

-the effect of a long one, comparatively speaking, secured at the same time. How this is done is seen at a glance—by that band section above the pouching. The idea in the further band that is brought round to top the skirt, and that in this case finishes in a more than generous mass of ends, is admirable.

Which inspires some curiosity—which was father and mother to the other, the swathe-draped hat or the swathe-draped skirt? Clearly they are in complexion, and as time proceeds will be more so. The hat of the autumn season is being heralded already—a plain, meaning smooth, crown, of very great height, or a swathed one of less. The latter engages my attention because it is one with the ■ most assured life. Cleverly shaped, with a kind of arching-in, it is draped in nest form, one swathing fitting into the other, three, four, or even more. It has a turban effect, and, unless I am much mistaken, suggested what you see with the skirt, unless the other way, meaning that it was suggested by the skirt treatment instead.

Here is the skirt treatment in yet another form—a very pretty thing with the blouse curtained over it. But it would never do to have this in contrast, and

so the dress is of the one material throughout, and that ornament on the sleeve is to atone for it. The variety of these designs is infinite, and nearly all are good. * * * Shall we ever wear low heels again? In my opinion, never. In fact I shall go further, and it is to say that if -anything like a low heel is seen in five or ten years from now it will be with the aged. There is a reason for it, as they say in some of the advertisements. The constant use of high heels in youth changes the shape of the foot must. Imagine such a foot with the shoe removed. Of a certainty the toes will be found to have assumed an angle to which they were never born. If high heels are persistently worn, as they are now worn, all that part of the foot from the hfiel to where the toes have their origin must slope downwards, and the toes therefrom alone the other way. And so, ms there must come a time when there will be none

of the sex left who didn’t favour high' heels for years and years—well, it will be found impossible to wear any other. As regards the high heel, as a matter ot beauty there can be only one verdict —• it is the very last word in beauty, and, instead of deforming the limb, as they used to say it would, why, it gives a greater grace by continuing the line in front, as viewed from the side, practically all down the instep. High heels have an advantage to the manufacturer, as protecting the bridge to the sole; they allow of certain manipulation with straps, etc., which with a low heel would be impossible. No, such low heels as prevail are like the horse-drawn vehicle, rally—excuse me—on their last legs.

Ribbon is a most valuable thing, and well might it be asked what we should do without it. Where the garment closes with a long rever it provides a very pretty finish, whether of the shade of the rever, assuming this to be different/ from the dress, or not. To give the effect as well as possible both ways, here

are two little sketches, the variation rri which has a further value, as it shows that the “tying” may be anything you like, always provided that it is artistic and not too scant. It is for you to say just what kind of garment would be improved with this little, addition —whether a dress or a coat. As in every other case, it depends.