WOMEN'S WINDOW

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17062, 21 September 1929, Page 12

WOMEN'S WINDOW

LONDON FASHIONS. FOB THE LATE SUMMER. LONDON, Aug. 5. As spotted materials are so much in fashion at the moment it is probable that many of them will be worn at the Royal Garden party as well as floral chiffons and laces. Silk poplin and crepe dc chine arc being shown with spots and also some foulards. Bed on white and white on red arc favorite spots and white on navy, yellow on brown, and green on black are also seen, and there are muslins spotted with silk. Small checks on washing silks also look neat for simple occasions. There are, however, some new floral materials which mark the persistence of the flower design. There are new moires in a chiffon texture which have chiffons to match and are being made in two pieces with the coat of the moire. The new line docs not show so many untidy ends as appeared at Ascot. There is a closer fitting line coming down over the hips and then allowing the material to free . itself into fulness. Goodwood, which does not call for elaborate dressing, will probably bring out some of the neater silk frocks, and also some of the tailored tussores in color which formed a relief on some days at Ascot to the froth and frills and dipping pieces. For Cowes there is a new array of what for want of a better name are called “sports" frocks. White with navy or red trimmings is likely to prove popular, with pleated skirts and silk cardigans. Yellow, on the other hand, has become rather too popular. Green has survived, but red and blue are. always (good in simple clothes. Bags and scarves of colored crepe dc chine decorated with tiny ships in | whit'd silk embroidery are for those | who like a nautical note. Big white and navy blue coats for the deck on i chilly evenings show a slightly fitted look, as do most tailored clothes, but | there arc conservative people who prefer the square double-breasted look, i For evening there are new frocks | exemplifying the new line flowing from a tight hip. The fashion for tulle in the evening appears to be growing, for there has been a great deal of it in almost all colors. Borne very neat suits in woven stockinette resembling a hopsack basket weave are suggested for Scotland. They are wonderfully tailored; the skirts are treated as if made of I the finest tweed with a close hip line and side pleats. Some have a godet skirt made to fall without too great fullness and the coats are strictly tailored and made with very neat shoulder line. There is a brown and white stockinette which is as soft and close as kasha and as light to wear; it is made with a short coat bound -with braid and a tailored skirt. The old dowdy stockinette suits bear no resemblance to these goodlooking tailored garments, which are now so often preferred to tweeds, since they are softer and easier, Unless they are looked at very closely they have the appearance according to their patterning, of a tweed, a hopsack, or a line suiting. There are herringbone and diamond patterns as well as basket weaves, and also a number of plain surfaces, not unliko serge. Some of them are made in threo pieces with a finer stockinette jumper with rows of stitching on the collar, front, and cuffs. For country house wear on chilly days there arc handsome stockinette dresses with short, closed cardigans made sleeveless in this ncW woven stockinette which can be slipped on over the dress and are belted in dull leather. For afternoons there are house-frocks of printed velvet.

MORAL DRESS CRUSADE IN ITALY. “MUSSOLINI CLOAKS." MILAN, August L There is at present much talk of the “moral Italian fashion” in dress, and the newspapers give illustrations of the models. Whether or not, in addition to seeing these fashions ih the newspapers, we shall see them also in the streets is another question; but the movement, which was initiated at, Bologna, lias the backing of many women of the aristocracy as well as the Church and the Government. The crusade against short skirts, sleeveless frocks, and transparent stockings has been conducted during the last few months with great fervor by various associations. More than one bishop has sent circulars to his parish priests instructing them to nso their influence in favor of more tcspcctablc and dignified fashions. The models of the now “moral fashion" which it is sought to make popular among women are many. There is, for example, a “conciliation gown,” with cape, stole, and a long train. It is marked by great simplicity and severity. Then there are two “Mussolinin cloaks" —a “walking-cloak,” opening at the front, and a “state clonk," with a long hood and a high, 1 raised collar, which resembles very closely the cloak A la Savonarola.

PAINTED WALLPAPER. Painted Chinese wallpapers, such as were freely used in the eighteenth century, are much sought after just now, and are by no means within the i reach of all. There are, however, 'new painted wallpapers which arc very effective, and also papers are made in Alsnec which carry on the idea 1 of the personal note. These are ordered very largely by Americans who either have old patterns rcneWei' or new ones made which shall have 'some connection with their life and doings. I A well-known American woman with a large and rather historic house on the Hudson, had a wallpaper rei vived which was made about eighty or ninety years ago. This allowed an elaborate picture of her house amid rocky heights, with greatly exaggerated scenery, and with the .French designer’s naivete, the artist had painted white Americans driving about very grandly in chariots with negroes attired with equal splendor, i At the moment there is an attempt to strike the modern note with painted wallpaper, and the results should prove an interesting historical document on the manners and customs of the day.

WIFE WHO CANNOT SIT AND READ. “TERRIBLE CURSE FOR A MAN." LONDON, August 1. “I have known women who never read at all. It is a terrible curse not to be able to read, and it is a terrible curse to be married to a woman fl-ho cannot sit down quietly with a good book," said Mr. P. B. Shovvan, formerly senior lecturer in education in the University of London, at the vacation course for teachers. He regretted to see that books of travel were not more used in schools. 1 ‘.Books of travel, and detective stories," he said, “are extremely useful in weaning a boy away from the penny dreadful, but when I see a boy reading a penny dreadful in a Tube a say to myself it is a pity, but it is better than his not reading at all." LONG SKIRTS OF VICTORIAN PERIOD RETURN TO STYLE. PARIS, August 3. Long skirts—not only long skirts—trains—that is the keynote of the autumn ami winter styles, as portrayed by Jean Patou, acknowledged fashion creator in Paris, at the showing of the opening collection of modes on Friday evening. A fashionable gathering of society folks and expert style writers gasped in amazement at Patou's daring in rc-introdueing the hour-glass silhouette of 1890, with Princess Empire effects and long, swirling dresses whose gores and flounces sweep the floor. “How will women dance with such robes?" the spectators asked ono another, for the dresses shown do not have the old-fashioned train which could be caught up and carried in the Land. Anybody trying to hold up the dress from the floor while dancing would be revealing the entire lower half of the body, as only filmy sheathlike drops, if anything, are beneath the slashed, angular gowns. All evening models cut decorously high at the neck and front, but scandalously lacking backs and armholes cut dangerously low, were displayed. Some were slit right down to the waist-lines on both sides. Practically every dress had an accentuated belt, lifted waist, with bodice draped blouse-like over it, giving it an odd Russian effect in many instances. Longer, tailored: skirts which made the mannequin, look all legs, had cut pockets for cigarettes and what not, and some were fitted out in filmy, translucent blouses remindful of the old days of the peekaboo shirt-waist. M. Patou tried another sensation at innovation, the hip length and threequarter coats as parts of ensembles for dinner gowns and evening robes, which instead of looking snippy, blended with the intregal parts of the dress as the former style long coats never did. Dahlia in three tones, a new color, was launched by Patou, which ranged from deep plum color to a vivid flowing mauve shade,- with several wonderful emerald greens and deep wine reds, which evoked applause even from the hard-boiled critics and blase society people. The modes revealed hats merging toward the ancient tarn o’shanter models, with tassels hanging over the ears n 'everything,, also wide-brimmed floppy models, which are extremely unapproachable, COAT DRESSES. There are eoat-frocks to be seen at most of the early Paris openings. A light tweed cOat-dress is excellent as a mid-season garment for early race meetings and similar autumnal functions. Light beige, gfiey, speckledtweeds, and other light wool fabrics are well tailored and shaped slightly in at the waist in this newer compromise of cont-and-dress. In jackets there are many oldworld revivals noticeable. The return of the fine face-cloth is all in keeping wdth the “jacket" period, for such coats can bo worn separately over any frock without reference to the skirt. In fact, they look well Over light dresses. Here black is once more the favorite choice. A fine black cloth is chosen for a new short three-quarter length coat, Which is slit up at the sides. It has a tucked trimming in the centre-back, and is cut from a square-shaped yoke; a very attractive completion is a large collar and deep cuffs of white shorn-lamb. A tunic and skirt in black cloth has a side-piece of astrachan fur and a narrow collar of the same tying in a bow lower down. The skirt hero has a sidc-godct. Tunics,look well with a narrow belt; so does the ulster-strap placed at the back only; but the band “all round" and at a higher waist-line is not becoming to any but the slightest of figures. Many cloth coats are trimmed with the new ribbed and grooved border. The clever designer makes use of such details to indicate innovations in line.

AT LAST. It is reported that a bridegroom in England wore “a silk shirt cut low in the neck" at his wedding. All hail to the day when the paper reports What the bridegroom elected to wear, The cut of hi,s shirt, and the length of his shorts, And Ins manner of dressing his hair. No longer alone shall the bride and her train, Draw fair praise from the “man in the street." But once and again we shall hear the refrain, “Oh, doesn’t the bridegroom look sweet 1 ’ ’

WOMEN TO WEAR THE BUN AGAIN. LARGER HATS TO BE ADOPTED. LONDON, August 7. The bun of hair on a woman’s head is to return to the realms of fashion. This revolution in hairdressing was prophesied yesterday by a distinguished Bond-street milliner, who also said that in consequence, women's hats would lie made larger. In a few years’ time the head fashions of the present day that arc admired so much— the shingle, the bingle, the bob, and the tight-fitting hat—will appear ludicrous to fashion experts. A hat now eight years old, with a large wide brim and a sailor angle, will in a few months’ time be much more becoming to the modern head than the smart hat which is typical of present-day fashions. The fashion expert produced a wonderful eight-year-old hat and placed it on the head of a mannequin with showery golden curls to demonstrate the truth of his prophecy. Hat and mannequin looked perfect. “At the present time," he said, “many of the women who arc growing their hair arc able to dress it in, a gentle roll. “The ultimate aim, of this roll is that it will become a flat bun. As this bun grows so the hat merchant will increase the line of the hat," The little tricorne of velvet is likely to be a favorite autumn hat. “GIRLS—NOT HOYDENS." HEADMISTRESS AND MODERN HAIR FASHIONS. CHERTSEY (Eng.), July 27. > “I want girls to be girls, not hoydens," said Miss Eastougli, headmistress of the Sir William Perkins School, Chcrtsey, at the prize distribution to-day. “Eton crops arc no longer fashionable and ears are once more to be discreetly hidden by hair growing naturally. We may even have long plaits again, similar to fifteen years ago, when this school started. i “I am old-fashioned enough tjo feel that every girl should be as feminine as .possible. The war made many of us take on jobs for wjiioh were were entirely unsuited, and for which we had to dress and behave in unbecoming manners. There is no reason why present-day children should suffer for the war; we ought to profit by all we learned from it." GIRL ROCKS 382 HOURS AND SHE’S STILL DOING IT. CHAMPAIGN, 111., August 19. _ Claiming to feel in excellent conditions, Mrs. H. B. Schmidt, 20-vear-old Champaign girl, last night had increased her world’s record for rocking to 382 hours. She started rocking at 8 o’clock Friday night, August 2, with six others in a rocking clmir marathon and was declared the winner last Wednesday when the final opponent fell asleep. She is continuing racking, determined to set a record which should prove effective against allcomers,