FORTHCOMING FASHIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 20 (Supplement)

FORTHCOMING FASHIONS.

Slender by Art if Not by Nature. THE NEWEST HATS, (By A PARIS EXPERT.) How many women, gazing at lovely mannequins displaying lovely dresses, think they would look as well in the same clothes. Some, of course, are happily satisfied with their own appearance, which must be a blessing beyond compare, but there are many who are not. Others even say bravely that they wish to have no deception. They like to ©ee as they really are. Heaven forbid! It is a horrid thought. One wants to see the new models on pretty people, not displayed on the fat, the lean and the middle-aged, who are to wear them. As a matter of fact, to display gowns on some figure© would

condemn them at once. No short, stout woman would wear a dress shown by another of "her type, but what is possible is to design dresses suitable to the tall and lean, and the short and ©tout, show them on pretty girls, and then point out why certain features of the dress are kind to certain figures. The slimming ability of some of the new frocks is something to talk about. Of course, it is a case of optical illusion, but what of that? If you can’t be 6leuder according to Nature, be so according to art. The new broad shoulders make hips appear slim by way of contrast. And the diagonal and vertical seams lead the observer’s eye up and up . . . away from the breadth of a figure. A Survey of the Newest Paris Fashions. From a survey of the newest fashions as seen in Paris, 1 am able to give my readers a few hints. Firstly, the day silhouette has turned straight; the most significant trend is toward a straighter silhouette for day time. This is stressed by knee length, squarish box coats, hanging absolutely straight and wide over a slim, straight skirt. A hemlength, or a three-quarter-length coat, will, as often as not, be fastened at the neck and hang loose and straight. Even jackets over dresses, as well as many suit jackets, have a straight cardigan look. There are also bolero© cut square and tidy round the waist, over a matching dress or skirt, and contrasting blouse. The fitted silhouette will be less confining. The tight-fitting round-the-ribs silhouette is disappearing from the mode. The beltless, fitted coat or jacket is now hardly fitted at all, hanging much more loosely about the wai©t than last season. When belted it has a slightly bloused look. The one exception is the jackets of strictly tailored suits, which continue to indicate the waistline and flare out a bit to six or eight inches below the waistline. Skirts hang straight, whether cut on the straight or on the cross. Any circular fullness in a day skirt falls within a straight up-and-down outline. Aids to the vertical look are stripes in fabrics, vertical lines of buttons and sashes, with long panel ends, reaching to the hem of the dress. Millinery Styles. The Paris hat styles for autumn are minus any unity. They ranged from high turbans to pancake hats with tiny crowns and widish brims. They

included berets and successful revivals of the cloche. The sailor is seen, and feather and flower toques are all over the place, and very becoming they are to most faces. The beret in its new shape is as becoming a© the old one. It may flaunt a brim, a modest affair which sometimes narrow© into a mere visor in front. Without the brim, it will be pulled down over the eyes, the interest being centred at the back, where the deep line is stressed by a. trimming. Points are the “highlights” of the autumn millinery silhouette. A beret made in sections glove-stitched together, mount© in a group of them, a narrowbrimmed hat will have a crown cut in two stark angles, like a battlement. The mandarine hat is a. new shape, boasting of Oriental influence. The crown of thi© hat may end in a point, or it may be finished by a button from which floats a silk tassel. Sometimes a toque of swathed satin ribbon is twisted round and round, until it ends in a peak at the top.

There is a large following for the eccentric type of hat, though a cap, made of the rtew “long hair ribbon,” which I saw recently, is perhaps too exaggerated to be popular. Veils Come to Stay. Veils are permanently with u©, and women seem unable to discard them, although they change in style each season, just as do the hats they adorn. After veils on the forehead, and others touching the tip of the nose, come the stiffened circular out all round the new hats. The very latest form of veil in confined to the back of the hat. Made in soft tulle, often with a braid border to weigh it down, it falls over the nape of the neck, leaving the face quite free. It may drop to the middle of the back, or just cover the neck. One varies its length according to one’s taste, and the manner in which the hair is worn. Millinery Hints. The subtle tilt of the hat on the head is an individual matter. Every woman must decide whether an eye, an ear, or a temple tilt suits her best—and wear her hat accordingly. I have always noticed that most women, in choosing a hat, consider the brim first. Even if it does frame the face, it is by no means the essential part of the hat, for the crown alone proclaims smartness and creates the right balance. The crown is what gives—or does not give—a good shape to the head. A carefully made hat should fit the wearer’s head as well a© the shoe© made to order fits the foot. No chances must be taken of losing one’s hat, no more so than losing one’s slipper. A straight crown devoid of any slant is becoming to no one, while a' slight slant in front of the hat is of advantage to most profiles. I suggest to readers that they adopt the very elegant notion of having their most becoming hats copied in all shades to match their different gowns, and of wearing but that one shape exclusively all through the season.