What Paris Wears

Southland Times, Issue 20499, 30 May 1928, Page 5

What Paris Wears

(From Our Correspondent.) Paris. I went to tea chez Fast this week, and looked at what the well-fed and moneyed French woman is wearing for everyday occasions. One might say there is nothing new at a first glance, but a second proves us wrong. The long, straight coat which covers the dress, the short with fold over skirt, are things that never go out of fashion. But there are details about them which mark them new or old. Let me tell you of one or two well-dress-ed women and the little nothings which marked them up to date. To begin with, black and white, black and beige, those

two eternal songs of Dame Fashion in Paris. One table had a party of two women and one man. Both women wore black and white. One had a black and white crepe-de-chine dress, a little all-over pattern which did not pall. Over it she wore a straight black coat which was ribbed in slanting lines across the back, and had the same ribbing cut into sections to give shape to the whole thing in front. It was lined black, and trimmed with a narrow collar of ermine. On the neck of the dress was a soft creamy white lingerie collar which fell in a little jabot down the front of the bodice. The sleeves were long and had soft white frills at the wrist. The hat which went with it was’a fine black Bangkok straw trimmed with two creamy camellias over one ear. The brim was rolled back from the brow to dip over the ears. Her jewels were pearls, and black shoes were worn with creamy stockings. The bag was black suede and ivory. A black and white flower was fixed into the white fur. The other woman wore a neat black cloth coat and skirt with a white chemisette in crepe-de-chene tied round the neck, with a narfow black and white necktie which fell in longe ends down the front of the chemisette, and had little gold tassels. The shoes had the same sort of black and white laces tipped with gold, tied in bows and ends on the instep. A black and white gold flower was pinned in the lapel of the coat, and a silvertipped fox fur w-as worn on the shoulders. The hat was in black felt, very close fitting, but with a little brim broken over one eye, and trimmed with black, white and gold petersham (only a thin line of gold). At another table was a woman wearing a little dress of Indian red georgette with an onyx pendant. Her coat was red cloth, trimmed with black fur on the collar and sleeves, her hat was black celophane with bright red camellia. Her bag was black and so were her shoes. The dark-eyed, dark-haired Parisenne likes a red ensemble for a dull mood. Quite different was the dress of another little lady, very pale, very clear-eyed, a little fastidious. She was wearing one of the new creamy toile-de-soie dresses vaguely

marked with a dull blue check. She had a ' l little box-pleated skirt, a straight bodice l with a white waistcoat and collar, and a short coat of the checked material. Her hat thus natural straw with a blue band and cockade. Over it she slipped a long blue coat when she went out. No flowers, no jewels, but a neatness that had great charm. Beside her sat a girl in a small black and white check skirt and a short black coat, topped by a small black straw hat with a little white wing set flat at the side of the crown. Inside her coat she wore a white blouse and a long black and white scarf. Neatness is the keynote to the clothes worn by the Parisienne for her everyday occupations. Very neat, perfectly finished, not a hair out of place, and everything to match. The comfort of a well-finished tailored ensemble is not to be questioned. It carries a woman almost everywhere, through any hour of the day, and the woman with a small income can well economise and look her best if she settles on the rule of being tailor-made from nine in the morning till seven in the evening, when she can get into chiffon, georgette or any other fussy sort of frock she likes.