TAILORED SPORTS WEAR IS SMART

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21186, 5 November 1938, Page 11

TAILORED SPORTS WEAR IS SMART

TRIM NEW STYLES IN MODERN FABRICS More tailored than ever are the sports clothes for the summer season. Of linen, cotton, sharkskin, terry, or any other of the outdoor materials, they have n trim line and a smart neatness, set off by attractive colour schemes. For golf, tennis, walking, or motoring, they are distinguished by these features. Probably none of the summer fashions are smarter or more attractive than the dresses or suits which are being worn now for tennis, golf, spectator sports, walking, motoring, etc. Although sportswear has always been distinguished to a certain extent by its tailored appearance, the new sportswear shows the effect of tailoring par excellence, and the high necklines and trim collars, the short sleeves and bright accessories, the popular culotte skirt, have caused the sports frocks to take on a new and interesting character. The entire style of sports frocks has improved with the advent of materials such as terry, sharkskin, and the modern linens, and also with the advent of better tailoring. Formerly, the materials used for sports frocks were limited in number, including only a few linens, some washing silks, and cottons. Now the new sportswear materials have made sports frocks far more trim and suitable, since they are designed for that purpose. They look well, hang well, are easily laundered, and do not crush. Formerly, too, women bothered very little about the style and cut of their tennis and summer golf frocks. Many kept a more or less permanent pattern, from which they cut a fresh sports frock each season, so that the frocks had little or no individuality. The popular style included a small turndown collar, short sleeves, and a skirt well pleated to allow freedom of movement for an energetic sport such as tennis. Summer golf frocks consisted almost exclusively of a linen or cotton skirt, very plain, with an open-necked shirt or a simple linen or cotton dress. Now, however, sports frocks have smartness and individuality in their variety of style, in their bright belts and scarves, in their new and attractive materials. The culotte skirt, designed especially for and seen at its best in sportswear, has to a large extent replaced rows of pleats, which were difficult to launder. It hangs gracefully, and should be worn to well below the knee. The era of very short skirts for sportswear has passed. More becoming than ordinary shorts or slacks ever were, the culotte skirt or the play-suit skirt reaching below the knees and cut with inverted pleats right round constitutes a great im-

provement in styles for sportswear. When choosing or cutting a culotte skirt it is essential to see that there is plenty of material in the pleats, or otherwise it will quickly lose its shape.

The two most popular styles for sportswear are the tailored frock and the tailored suit. With regard to the latter, present fashions suggest linen of some strong non-crushing type, cut with a wide shoulder-line, and sleeves perhaps slightly puffed when they join the shoulder; wide revers, or perhaps no revers,’but the addition of a scarf; a link-button jacket or a slightly flared basque; pockets, and a plain straighthanging skirt.