SHORTER SKIRTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 25, Issue 3761, 27 May 1936, Page 3

SHORTER SKIRTS

COMING SEASON WILL SEE SHORTER SKIRTS

SAYS NOTED DESIGNER A peek at forthcoming pictures revealed that Hollywood’s famous legs are about to come out of retirement. What is more, this exposure by the movie stars of shapely limbs foreshadows a general shortening of skirts throughout the nation, according to Travis Banton, famous stylist at the Paramount Studios.

The new skirts, which fall about three inches below the knee, are being introduced by Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard and others.

Miss Colbert will introduce the new mode in “The Bride Comes Home,” while Miss Dietrich is working opposite Gary Cooper in an abbreviated sports skirt in “Desire,” which is being produced under the personal supervision of Ernst Lubitsch. While the trend is toward shorter skirts, Banton emphasised there will not be a return to knee-length garments.

“I should say the average length from the floor will fbe about 111 inches,” the Paramount designer explained. “According to personal preferences, skirts will vary several inches, above or below that mark.”

WHY THEY MARRIED / A FEW MEN STATE THEIR REASONS Because I did not have the experience I have now. Because I thought she was one among a hundred. Now I think she is a hundred among one. That’s just what I have been trying to fathom for fifteen years. I thought it would be cheaper than a breach of promise suit. Because she told me four other men had proposed to her. That’s the same fool question al) my bachelor pals ask me. I married to get even with her mother, but never succeeded.

I was lonely and melancholy, and wanted someone to make things lively. She makes things lively all right.

FASHION SHORTS

FROM THE. PARAMOUNT STUDIQS

Gladys Swarthout, who makes her screen debut in Paramount’s “Rose of the Rancho," has a very gay daytime frock for the holiday season. The dress combines black wool crepe with brilliant cerise chiffon. The skirt and jacket are or black, while the bodice and an ampsing boutonniere, are of the cerise (chiffon, which is informalised by narrow, all-over quiltings which make it look like a more substantial fabric.

What Hollywood's younger set would do without metal cloth is a deep dark mystery this holiday season. Grace Bradley, Paramount player, has a semiformal afternoon frock of crepe lame in green gold. There is a short underskirt of the fabric and a long circular tunic with a very high neckline which gives a most sophisticated Illusion. It’s the perfect frock for these days when it matters what peeks out from under one's fur coat.