VOGUES AND VAGARIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 531, 7 December 1928, Page 5

VOGUES AND VAGARIES

By MADAME JEANNE VARREZ. Sports clothes designers have surpassed themselves this season in the matter of cut. Tweeds of varying weights and textures fashion the newest models, of which the coats are plainly cut, while the skirts show the waistline at the normal; or, alternatively, a novel style of yoke finish which fits well up above the normal lines. Blouses which tuck into the skirt are worn with such suits, and are seen in all manner of fabrics. Quite a number are cut on crossover lines. Others illustrate the ordinary shirt or jumper line. Breast pockets are a current vogue. * * * Specially interesting is the hem treatment on all the latest sports clothes. Hems may be stitched; or, if the patterning of the material is very definite, such as a herring-bone, the material at the hem is superimposed so that a series of diagonal lines appears. Particularly attractive is a suit of very fine grey whipcord, with a

jumper complement of deep crepe. At the waist the jumper has a belting of ribbed silk —which makes it a blouse. On the left side of the skirt is a capacious patch pocket, round in shape; and on this pocket is a smaller one, just large enough to carry a golf-ball! Beneath these pockets all the fullness of the skirt is concentrated in the form of closely folded pleats. * * * Coat lengths of the moment are various. They range from hip length to three-quarters and "frock” length. Some sort of ornamentation on coat fronts seems a prevalent characteristic. Often it takes the form of a shallow castellated edge from neck to hem, which is given "body” by some plain contrasting material, or, in the case of a tweed coat, material of the predominating colour in the

tweed design. This colour touch, showing through the cut-away portions of tl\e hem, is quite interesting and attractive. Quite a collection of untrimmed velvet evening cloaks are on view in some of the foremost salons. Many of the models are peculiarly intricate in cut, with deep round yoke effects and mysterious scarf finishes. Numerous shades of brown, as well as every other colour in the latest pattern-book of La Mode, are employed in the fabrication of these chic wraps. * * Besides a number of new materials, there are many new versions of old fabrics. There is, for instance, a revival of hand-block crepe de chine in an irregular plaid design. And La Mode lias sought among the old

Egyptian patterns for new ideas for scarf designs. Some lovely artificial blooms in red, pale beige and blue adorned an outstanding daytime model at a famous house. The flowers had some sort of kinship with the convolvulus, and were amazingly effective. Evening flowers may fall in a trail from either shoulder, if the frock calls for a garlanded motif; or from the waist on one side. I have even seen a trail of large white roses hanging at the back of the skirt of a smart black model, an arrangement which gave a bustle effect. Newest ot all, however, Is the arrangement, facilitated by the V-neck—the most popular neckline of the season-—of a knot of blossoms in the centre of the corsage, just at the point of the deep “V.”