SMART FASHIONS

Southland Times, Issue 22915, 13 June 1936, Page 16

SMART FASHIONS

Too Many Flowers n (By a London Fashion Writer). I am not at all sure that I admire all the garden produce that I have seen worn in the hair just lately. It is all very well to wear a wreath of real flowers, or a posy, bird or butterfly lightly posed on your plastic curls if, as a mannequin, you have the centre of the stage to yourself with arc lights focused on you. But when you appear garnished this way on a dance floor where the lights are dimmed the garden produce is not nearly so effective as gleaming jewels. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. One of the smartest women dancing on Quaglino’s new copper dance floor a few evenings ago wore a white satin evening dress embroidered with the brightest flowers. The bodice was cut like a tight-fitting little Chinese jacket with a high neckband, and the skirt was ankle-length and slim-fitting. In her hair she wore a large brightly coloured butterfly, and it was most effective. The newlymarried Mrs Douglas Fairbanks wore a pearl-grey satin dress cut very simply, and diamond clips in her long bobbed hair. Mrs Charles Sweeny’s tulle dress was almost exactly the same colour. The bodice was gathered in front with an enormous diamond ornament. The skirt was very full and bell-shaped. Somerset Maugham’s newly engaged daughter, Miss Eliza Maugham, was also with a party. Her black crepe-de-chine dress was printed with bright flowers. The dress was cut to fit tightly except where the skirt was belled out at the hem over a tightly-pleated pink net petticoat. Latest Dress Show. The newest dress show in London is Dilkusha. Their show-rooms are as white as icing su«ar and as rounded as cakes. The clothes are typically Parisian although Dilkusha was an English girl before she married the Prince d"> Rohan. One of the nicest models is a r. ivy blue satin dress done on the shiny side of the satin at the back and ’ the dull side in front. A draped shiny sash and a dull white felt jacket are worn with it. There is a lovely long white net evening coat with large square sleeves, worn over a black gown and a knee-length scarlet cape made of men’s hunting cloth worn over a brightly-printed dress. There is a shiny white tulle dress with a blue velvet sash and a blue flower headdress. A slate -grey marocain dress with four or five deep tucks at the hem line is worn with a crisp page boy jacket of brown net patterned all over with white three-leafed clovers. The day clothes include a very ’ood long black woollen coat with white woollen revers and a white belt it the back; a black marocain dress with a wide ilver belt trimmed with black whalebone; a navy blue handnitted skirt arid short-sleeved jacket vith a red and blue print blouse worn zith a navy blue stitched tulled hat. There were some really beautiful flower decorations at a party given at Claridges, where Steibel showed some of his newest models. One crinoline frock which had a skirt made in sections of black and grey tulle and a tight-fitting little bodice had scarlet flowers down the front. The mannequin also wore a wreath of scarlet and blue flowers on her head with a crisp little veil of black and grey tulle hanging down to her shoulders. A girl who wore a yellow evening gown with long sleeves carried a muff of purple and scarlet flowers. A silver lame dress had funereal-looking waxed white lilies on the front of ihe bodice.