Dresses of the Week

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18385, 10 February 1928, Page 13

Dresses of the Week

tV ritlen by

"STELLA "

There seems to have been no end to the number of frocks we require for wear during the all-too-short months of summer, but now autumn is about to descend upon us we begin to think of coats and slightly warmer dresses for chilly days ahead. Of course, your gay little silky frocks you made for summer will be worn for several weeks yet, and will later come in very useful for tea dances or theatres. But perhaps these hot days at tennis or parties have ruined most of them, so I would advise you to attend the sales and make up another flimsy dress. There are so many different materials nowadays that it is impossible to specify them all, but, of course, you want a fairly heavy fabric. Milanese makes up wonderfully well and is always useful. One word of warning, however —these require very careful laundering, in water that is only warm, not hot, and you will be well advised to wash them yourself, instead of entrusting them to the laundry. I saw a dress the other day that attracted me enormously. The bodice was cut on the lines of a waistcoat, buttoning all down the front and finishing with a small turn-back collar and narrow re vers at the V-shaped neck. The ends of the waistcoat, were cut in a point at each side, while the back was straight with a narrow half-belt (just like those j t ou see on a man’s waistcoat) joined on at each under-arm seam. The whole of this was piped with a vivid canary-yellow, and the belt was the same colour, while the buttons were ordinary round pearl ones. The skirt had several deep inverted pleats at either hip, and the whole effect was extraordinarily ingSumming up what I’ve seen at the shops and elsewhere, it seems to me that the chief novelty of the autumn designs is their diagonal line. All the new coats and frocks, except the severely sports ones, seem to show this in one way or another. Usually, but not always, it is a right-to-left line,

sloping downwards to the left. Often there are more lines than one—a series of flounces, perhaps, and that design is typical of the useful day frocks for late summer wear, and would be charming in any of the new soft, light woollen materials. These frocks must be belted too, as belts are still as important as ever. Talking of skirts, the newest and most practical design for a sports or any sort of skirt for hard wear is perfectly plain and straight, with the necessary fullness given by three or four large, flat pleats at one side. You’ll find this a very smart and becoming shape to wear, and it carries out the new one-sided idea—“ lopsided." The idea of centring the interest at one side seems to have spread to our new hats, too, judging by the popularity of the new models. Our little helmet hats are still popular and the same shape, but pulled down to make a side-bow effect, will rival them. With a shingled nape, there is a softening effect about a bow just there which is somehow very “ younging.” I would certainly advise you to have one of your autumn hats in this style, before it gets too popular. Oh, and by the way, hats remind me of jewellery—please don’t- ask me why, but they do —so here are some hints! You must never no\v, wear anything “odd" in jewellery. Your necklace must match your bracelets, your earrings must match both. Their smartness lies not in their value but in the fact that they are all the same. Another .very definite autumn tendency is towards the “afternoon” dress. Two years ago there was no such thing—a ten-o’clock-in-the-morning dress, and a six-o’clock-in-the evening one were as twin as the Dolly Sisters. But that is all changed, the great dressmakers of Paris have said firmly that “sports" dresses are for the open-air only, and for indoor functions they are going to give us beautiful and quite elaborate affairs in velvet, moire and so on. The smartest colour for these frocks at present

is black. Yon could have grey, o£ course—l wouldn’t advise a bright colour for daytime in this material, it looks rather clumsy, somehow, and brown has a tendency to look useful and insignificant. But, after all, why not black? Black velvet, you know, with a few nice ornaments, does take an awful lot of beating. A coat of deep claret red cloth with raglan sleeves cut to fall in loose cape effect back and front was unusual and attractive, was worn by a North Island visitor one evening early in the week. The cape panel at each side buttoned on to the bodice, and the skirt had long tabs round the hem falling from the waist, each tab being finished with ifiole fur, the same fur being used on the collar and cuffs. A smart: sports suit which came under my notice was of fawn kasha. The skirt, pleated, was checked in brown and orange, and the tailored coat and waistcoat were of plain material with touches of the checked material. A havof felt was banded round the crown with ribbon, and was a delightful finish to a becoming outfit. A stylish frock of patterned ninon in shades of pink and green on a biege pink ground, was the frock worn by a young bride-to-be at a party earfy in the week. The bodice, slightly pouched at the low waistline, had long sleeves and the V shaped neck had a narrow fold collar of deep pink georgette finished with a bow with long ends. A wide double band of tucks trimmed the skirt and the lower part of the bodice, and tucks were also used on the shoulders to give a little fullness in front. A tennis frock with a cardigan effect and box-pleated skirt in white uncrushable linen looked cool and attractive on the courts at Avonside yesterday. A note of colour was given with a grass-gre£n leather belt and her green Bangkok- hat was banded with green and white ribbon.