FASHIONS FROM PARIS

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1928, Page 18

FASHIONS FROM PARIS

FROM A PARISIENNE'S NOTEBOOK. (By Yvonne Rodier.—Special io News.) Paris, August 23. Millinery exhibits are obviously the outcome of the dress influence of the moment. The gowns that are being packed to take the air at Vichy, Aix, or Brides, with their wide, . light-flowered skirts, their frills and flounces cut'“en petales” are giving the milliners their golden opportunity. They are making the most of it, but it is doubtful whether the poor dears will make much hay while the sun shines with such apparent warmth on their zealous efforts.' Even the Parisienne, for all her love of up-to-date chic, appears to be perennially enamoured of the “petit chapeau.” Lightweight felts still have it all their own way, and even the straws are most, popular when they are mixed with supple “feutre.” The new Dutch bonnet may prove the must successful of the millinery innovations. Cut like a baby’s Dutch cap, and tied with strings, it imprisons the head completely. And it frames the face all round with its picturesque ruched edging. Well at the right side, over the covered ear, it is adorned with a bunch of feather-flowers in some flam-, boyant hue. The strings are of long satin ribbon—rather wide—and are made to tie under the chin in front, with the long end’s dangling below. Exactly like the close bonnets, in fact, that were worn in the early fifties. Will this creation catch on? We must wait and see. But in Paris as elsewhere we seem to be curiously less self-conscious in the matter of gowns than in millinery. The Parisienne has taken quite kindly to the most exaggerated form of the “robe de style,” witli its tight-fitting bodice close mounded to the figure as far as the hips or the back, and its ultra-lull skirt. But she looks askance at anything outre in the matter of miF linery. Turbans, nouveau style,, still’ hold their own. The very latest notion is a turban can made of very soft and supple straw’ set close to the contour of the shorn head, and trimmed with stemless and leafless flowers. These are laid quite flat on to the foundation. Sometimes .wide-meshed net, through which the hair is visible, takes the place of the straw. New colours for the months ahead demonstrate the vogue for striking hues that we may evidently anticipate. Pale and pastel shades are obviously to be shelved in favour of saracen reds, loniond blues, and “greenstone” confections. Violet and lemon yellow • also have their place in tho advance pattern-books. Among the more delicate colours will be “submarine” (sea-green), ariel (pale blue), and a new putty tint christened “pebble.” “Prawn” is a bright pink with a hint of yellow in tho texture. . New hosiery includes shaded silk stockings. Of a dark colour down the back, they grow paler towards the front, till from' black they merge into pastel grey; or, for evening wear, from deep crimson to shell-pink. The effect is indubitably slimming. Gold and silver stockings of tissue are worn with shoes en suite. In some cases, the newest openwork clocks are so wide that they almost meet across tho front of the leg and tho foot. They look like a premonitory symplon, us it were, of the old-fashioned “openwork’ hose. As for the “chiffon” stockings, of the very finest silk, it is almost impossible to discern them on the leg. They are distinctly sensational,

A LETTER FROM LONDON. A FASHIONABLE FORECAST. (By Diana Dane. —Special to News.) London,'August 23. Though gay rippling dresses, with uneven hems, frills and furbelows, are still being worn by most of the women who count in the dress world, there is a feeling that things will change within the next month or so. Very advanced models show straighter lines, more restraint in the matter of flares, and much more definite one-colour schemes. Only dance frocks seem likely to retain the peacock sweep at tho back, and even this with a difference! The stage, which is regarded nowadays as something of a fashion centre, sponsored a particularly pretty mode in a recent popular production. The peacock sweep was there all right when evening dress was the question, but it was achieved in a more original and attractive manner. Joined to the inevitable tight little bodice at the normal waistline was a closely pleated skirt, the pleats stitched down in a curving line to just above the knees. Then, instead of falling as pleats to the dipping hem, each one was cut up the length of the crease, pieot-edged and left to float out gaily like innumerable lengths of ribbon—very graceful and youthful! Other dance frocks with the dipping skirt-line introduce novelty in a different way. Tho back dip, which shows the reverse side from the front, was lined with frill upon tiny frill of chiffon in a contrasting colour, or with narrow metal lace in the case of black and white gowns. This looked extremely effective. Day gowns are to exploit the more severe tailored note. Geometrical designs already appear on many of the new fabrics in place of the rather overdone fruit or floral motif: diamonds, checks, futurist cubes, stripes and angles. These, of course, call for superb cut and fit and almost total absence of trimming. I saw a beautifully built model the other day in the salon of an important designer. Buff colour washing silk—a lovely new kind of washing 'silk that looks like heavy crepe de chine —was printed with rather large checks in graded nasturtium tones. At the top of the bodice the lines were faint and in the palest shade, but they became heavier and deeper towards the hips and at the hem were quite broad lines in the iftepest, most glowing of the nasturtium tints. Plain at the back, and allied to a

bodice cut on simple shirt-blouse lines with an adjustable collar and buttons and buttonholes down the front, the skirt was box-pleated at the sides and front, the pleats stitched down for some four or five inches below the waistline. This last, by the way, was normal and defined by a woven horsehair belt in which all the shades were blended into perfect harmony. A good model to copy in any combination of shades desired. Hats are still small, but not necessarily of the skull-cap order. More becoming brims are appearing, some of which turn down over the eyes while others take a gradual upward sweep at one side or in front. The beret comes with a fanfare of trumpets and is to be included in most of the fashionable wardrobes that are to accompany their owners in search of health by way of tin'* spas.