THE WAIST LINE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 145, 20 June 1931, Page 20 (Supplement)

THE WAIST LINE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE.

THIS SEASON’S MODELS FASHIONED WITH BELTS. (By a Fashion Correspondent.) PARIS. Your most important feature this season is your waist line. Waists have come into fashion again with a vengeance. They are made conspicuous by every kind of device. The majority of coats are belted with either leather or their own material. Day frocks of every description are provided with belts of some kind—usually the shiny leather variety—and evening dresses have belts or sashes. Waists -have been out of fashion for such a long time that most of us had forgotten that w r e possessed such a thing, and now I am very much afraid we will discover that our waist line is not all that it should be, or rather that it is a great deal more than it should be.

The truth of the matter is that fashions in figures are changing. We no longer admire round shoulders and flat chests. Ido not for one moment believe that women will actually go back to the old boned corsets, but I do think that some attempt will be made to regain a waistline. More Freedom. The princess silhouette that has been fashionable during the past year and a half made it necessary for us to wear the type of long elastic belt or corset that moulded the hips into the slimmest possible lines. The result of this has been that there appears to be no difference between our waist and our hip measurements. I think, to fit in with the new fashions, the present-day corsets, which are really no more than elastic or rubber belts, or a mixture of elastic and batiste, will be cut on slightly different lines which wiU support the waist, but allow the hips a great deal more freedom.

It is very interesting to notice how in every Paris dress show the clothes are designed to make even the slimmest woman look as if she were anything but slim.

This effect is achieved in several different ways. The bodice may be cut like a cowl so that it hangs in soft folds, or it may be cut in a deep V with a “ modesty piece,” which is really a bib inside, usually made of soft ruffled Valenciennes lace.

The very newest type of bodice has a draped scarf attached to it, and this is the style that seems to be most popular in Paris at the moment.

I saw a most attractive ensemble a few days ago made in the heaviest kind of flat surface crepe. The dress had a navy blue skirt, and the bodice, which was in pale pink the colour of strawberries and cream, had a draped scarf in two colours—the left-hand side was a darker shade of' pink, and the right-hand side was a deep powder blue.

A short navy blue coat was worn with this dress, and the ensemble at first sight gave the impression of being a coat and skirt until the coat was taken off, and you saw what at first appeared to be a blouse, but was really the bodice of the dress. Plaid Scarves.

At one of the Place Vendome houses they are showing any number of plainly tailored navy blue or black dresses in either crepe de chine, wool georgette, or fine stockinette. •

Each dress is provided with a threecornered taffetas plaid scarf, which can be arranged in several different ways. These scarves are extremely smart, and can be worn with tailored suits as well as with dresses.

All you have to do is to buy a square of a pretty plaid taffetas the size of a large handkerchief and fray out the edges into a small fringe. The fringe prevents - the scarf from being lumpy or stiff at the edges, and gives it a smart finish.

The fine taffetas that they are made of drapes extremely well, and you will find that you can make it look like a collar by tucking the point at the back inside your bodice or coat. The newest way of wearing this type of scarf is to cross over the two points in front and tuck them inside the bodice instead of tying them on the outside in a knot.

Small narrow c\iffs and a flower made of the same plaid taffetas also make a very smart trimming to a plain dress.

Last summer the effect of our clothes depended on the elaborate way in which they were cut and pieced together. This season the smartest clothes are plainly tailored, and rely for their effect more on their material, the originality of their colour scheme, or the drapery of the scarf or cape.