Dresses of the Week

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17410, 12 December 1924, Page 11

Dresses of the Week

Pin!., <|» s,l- li t t!,o we. all love beauty >0 is b it gives 1 us happiness. ii .i. „ ..s so. then we owe a great deal ol a >piness to the I " ell-groomed woman, for her dainti- j ness, her sheer *' cleanness.” her neat- J ness, her freshness, provide a type of I beauty that does give real pleasure t«* the eye of the beholder. j Have you noticed that the well- : groomed woman belongs to a small minority? What i> the reason :' The j shops are full of the loveliest clothes ‘ over made : many of them are quite 1 inexpensive, and women spend ever so j much more on dress nowadays than they ever used to! What does being veil-groomed depend upon ? you ask. Well, just think of the French word for it anil you will bo answered: “ Bien-soigne,” “wellcared for.” That is surely the secret. We are not all born with a good dress sense, but there is no reason why we should not acquire it. “ Suitability is the key-note of all the “ ready-to-wears" nowadays. Bearn from the shops! Don’t they sell us the tennis frock, the street frock, the golf jersey, the afternoon frock, the theatre frock, and so on? Beware of the pitfalls of detail ! A stocking put on badly with the seam all awry; a not quite fresh collar and cuffs; an unbrushed coat and skirt: a hat with hat-pin holes showing; uie shoes with the heel the least bit “over ” —-these are. of course, only a few of the things which write Failure ” over even the smartest and most expensive wardrobe. And such glaring outrages as a button missing, a grease spot showing, an underskirt that “ drops,” a bit of braid trimming unstitched ! Just because a frock is going to pay freq uent visits to the wash-tub. and is made up in an ' inexpensive material, there is no reason why it should he a shapeless affair, run up anyhow. Oti the contrary, you should spend just as much time and thought on choosing the designs for a little tub frock as ,

i for vour evening dress, and don’t buy I materials which are absurdly inexpeni sire, because they fade, shrink and j stretch out of shape, so that they are !no economy in the run. A little j extra outlay is well worth while, i Cotton frocks seem essentially right , for summer T really think they can i he more ehio and fresh looking than ! even the plainest of washing silks. f , have noticed that the dressmakers con, j fine themselves to turning out daint> affairs of muslin, linen and voile, and | leave silk mixtures and silks se-verelv j alone, as far as morning frocks are | concerned. Last year the shops were full of striped washing silk? rather Painfully reminiscent of pyuinia Minings—but any girl with good will continue to disregard them. r Fhev are far too ordinarv to he smart. Coarse lace is being used a good deal thiseason with lawns and linens and a simple frock can be made quite ii, ti active with inlet hands of lace in the skirt. Cotton voiles arc >een to best advantage n the pale past. I tints —somehow a very vivid cotton voile looks a little cheap. I rather like those voiles with a woven figure in them, self-coloured, and the addition of a pattern lends them substance. White is alwavs most attractive, and T am rather liking certain white voile frocks T have seen with white net or lace hands introduced, the hands being narrowly piped in a pale colour. Of course, what they call lingerie’’ fror-Ics. of white lawn lace-trimmed and embroidered, are always exquisite - but do be careful in vour choice of lace ! So often these delicious affairs bear a distinct resemblance to an afternooa tea-cloth, which is certainly not the effect to aim at. Alosti of the tub frocks are made cliemise-pattern. and it is rather amazing the many different effects one can obtain from the one pattern. A girl who lives at one of the popular week - end resorts lias made herself a reallv charming frock of linen, using a shade « •of deep cameo-pink. Instead of using «

Written by “STELLA " '

ordinary drawn thread work, she has worked the bands with different pastel shaded wools, arranged to give a hemstitched effect. These bands continue • m the bodice as well as ou the skirt, and with a white hat, her toilette is most desirable. A smart (’hristchurch girl who baa recently returned from abroad, has introduced several very smart gowns to our city. One of navy georgette and tine serge i> particularly attractive. The frock of navy is made with very short sleeves, and a trilled waistcoat effect in fawn georgette, and a long sacfjue coat with tight-fitting sleeves is worn with this, and the only trimming the coat has is a narrow collar of leopard's fur A dainty frock of white voile was outstanding at a recent “ tea party.” The frock was arranged from a yoke embroidered in dull red. and fell in narrow knife pleats to the hand-hem-stitched hem.. The waist- was defined by a narrow band of embroidery across the front and tied with narrow bands or the material at the back. The short sleeves were also edged with the embroidery, and piped with white on the extreme edge. That castumes and frocks are to be much shorter i> evidently a recognised fact, for several recent arrivals from abroad, who are looking extremely smart, have already appeared in skirts several inches shorter than the average I seen in and about The city. One visitor from abroad was lunching 'at Italian cyne's during thd" week, wearing .just the very smartest of cinnamon brown tweed costumes. The skirt was of the wrap over style, wdth the opening coming rather more to the back than those usually worn. The coat was semi-fitting and perfectly cut and fastened with two buttons in the centre irent. An artificial flower of orange tones was worn on the lapel of the coat and a small smart felt hat with the- brim upturned in the front and one side completed the very smartest of toilettes.