FORTHCOMING FASHIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20291, 28 April 1934, Page 23 (Supplement)

FORTHCOMING FASHIONS.

Parisiennes Muffled Up to the Eyes. MUFFS AND WOOLLENS. (By A PARTS EXPERT.) When King Frost tightened his grip on Paris this season Parisiennes donno.! their warmest clothes. Women took even greater precautions against th<cold than last year, large number.casting aside their thin silk stockings for woollen hose or wearing a fine pai. of white woollen stockings under their silk ones. And they protected their faces, too, so that often all that wavisible of their features, enveloped in a turned-up high collar and a velve*

beret, were a pair or eyes and a nose, which last was not infrequently rbd and apparently a rebel to powder. Muffs have made their appearance little rounds ones. They look very cosy and wfirm, and it is certainly a comfort to be able to keep one’s hands warm once again. It was glorious weather for a brisk walk, which partly accounted for the numerous pedestrians in the Bois de Boulogne. The big lake there was the chief attraction. It is now covered with a thin sheet of ice except for a portion reserved for the water fowls. The black swan, who goes by the name of Snowball -lie’s a poor widower, having lost his wife last year—was looking particularly desolate, and to cheer him up a bit we fed him with breadcrumbs and a nice fat little Madeleine cake. Snappy and Exciting. The first good-looking street clothes of the season are as snappy and excitin'* as ever they can be. The swagger coat is a fashion which flourishes as a bay tree over here. The girl who has not got one had just better stay at home these days. These swagger coats come in all the new materials, ‘new rough tweeds, tailored impeccably. For Riviera wear there are piques, marocains, silks, and taffetas. The French swagger coat often 6ports a top-heavy sleeve. {This season you will find distinctive suits and ensembles, quite different from former collections coat - suits with definitely restrained sleeves, with new long perpendicular tucks, streaking down the loosely comfortable sleeve or down slightly flared back section of the coat—new collars, around high necklines—new separate blouses in all the sheer materials, and in satin and in taffetas—all the new rich colours that will do grand things for weary souls that have tired of bright and startlin'* colours. The big-shouldered, upside-down triangular silhouette is the champion runner of the season. The designers are making shoulders broad, and they have added peg-top sleeves for good measure. The -Careless Touch in Smart Dressing. The special talent some women possess of attaching a eearf around their necks at the exact angle that achieves smartness is an invaluable help to its lucky owners. Scarves are an essential part of costumes- Every frock has its particular scarf, but the scarf must never be chosen to match the rest of the toilette. It must be of a different colour but harmonising in demonstration of its wearer’s good taste. Some scarves are tied in an irregular way around the neck—the more careless, the more becoming the effect. Others are twisted once round the neck and hang down each side. Each is cut to be worn in whatever way the wearer desires. A triangular scarf of chiffon may hang down the back in a point on the decolletage of an evening gown. The other two ends are knotted and arranged on each shoulder. Scarves for sports wear must be triangular and vivid. Add a small pocket handkerchief to match in the right cuff of jumper or jacket, and you have two good ingredients of fashion. Some scarves are long and narrow. These are arranged round the neck of a frock at the right, and form a collar at the back, pass through a large buttonhole, and then fall down the left side in a. cascade past the waist. Scarf habits are not easy to acquire. Women will want the conjurer’s magic and a handful of his coloured handkerchiefs before they are proficient. Practice will make perfect, however. Perfect, too, will be the finish given by the properly tied scarf. Make-up Suggestions for Brunettes. Wluore brunettes are concerned, a pale Racliel powder will be found better than a deeper Rachel- The rouge with it will have to contain a certain amount of -orange fit in becomingly. The lipstiiCk, too. inis to be chosen with an eyte to the skin shade. Here, too, I ithfink, a lipstick on the orange tone is

better than the brilliant reds. The darker the brunette’s skin, the paler the cosmetics used. The eye make-up is something to be considered, too. A certain shade of eye shadow used with fair skins might make the eyes appear large and luminous. The same shadow used against an olive skin would appear to make the eyes recede and lifeless. And, by the way, have vou noticed how lovely, absolutely lovely, brunettes look with a platinum blonde hair shadQ ? I was in Madrid recently, and 1 was struck with the. number of dark-hued Spanish girls who have taken steps to become blondes. The platinum shade is in high favour. This season the strictest attention is being paid to keeping the hair sufficiently off the back of the neck to “youthify” the line there. It is a wellknown fact that in the neck proper there is more style than in the cut of clothes. That era which we have just survived—of hair flopping over coat collars and dress—invariably added years to the unfortunate wearer. Superfluous hair, no matter how downy, dooms the upturned mouth corner. Women break their hearts many times over if a moustache starts to grow. Maybe because hairy faces and hairy legs never were broadcast as feminine lure. Women can bear up better under a funny nose, a fat face, or a funny profile. But, reader, get rid of your downy growth at all costs. There’s wax and there’s pumice stone, you know, and there’s oxygene; these three things all help.