FROM A PARISIENNE’S NOTEBOOK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20168, 9 June 1928, Page 4 (Supplement)

FROM A PARISIENNE’S NOTEBOOK

NEW MODES AND NOVELTIES. (By Yvonne Rudi er) (Specially Written for the ‘ ‘ Chronicle ’’) Frocks for really “dressy” social functions grow increasingly elaborate. They embody complications that proclaim, definitely' and unmistakably, the ultimate mode, and that “date” creations only' slightly older than these new designs. There is. for instance, the pronouncedly slantwise line, now characterising the latest coats as well as the smartest dresses. Yet, with it all. the newer elaborations are so subtly introduced to maintain the longaccepted ideal of the slim and simple silhouette. Though every phase of drapery' and stitchcry is repfeschted in the collections, this first-glance impression of simplicity is created. The illusion is helped by clever arrangements of incrustations, godets, tuckings, pleats, gaugings, embroideries, and the rest. Flounces also are treated with exquisite skill. They, too, are in the slantwise category, and make it impossible for the really ambitious elegante to maintain her reputation for dressing to the height of the mode With the flounced frocks of last season! Even the uneven hemline spells something new in unevenness. Lines and seams and other details of workmanship are equally indicative of the “last, word.” intimating clearly, to the. lessoned eye, the subtle changes that help La Alode to maintain some measure of her ancient tyranny. Spots and stripes are notably the

vogue for jumper-suit designs; those gay little suits that one meets in the Bois of a sunny* morning. Typical was a model creation comprising a sleeveless cardigan in a new blue fabric with conspicuously' large white spots, and a finely-pleated frock of plain white erepella. Equally clearly .labelled as the nouvelle mode was a godet skirt of navy crepella with a straight, narrow, matching coat lined with a. very chic navy-and-whitc spotted crepe de chine. An,4 the same gay' fabric fashioned the basqued blouse complement of the little jupe. A picturesque corsage indeed, with its bordering fringe of red silk; and an under waistline indicated by a swathed folded band of the blue and white.

Foremost among the favourite colon r.i are two of the übiquitous green range: chartreuse, and a curiously attractive grey-green. The two hues make one of the most fashionable ensemble alliances of the moment; as illustrated, for example, in a dress of Roman striped silk, worn with a plain green coat —of the short “jaquette” persuasion—with touches of the striped fabric. The spot versus the stripe rule, as regards colourings is light and gay for the. former and rather subdued effects in the latter. As for fabrics, never, surely, was there such a variety to choose from! And the universal soft-surface vogue redeems from crudity the colours resuscitated from, the somewhat violently vivid past—of forty years or more agone.

A marked feature of the prevailing trend of fashion is the tucking one sees everywhere. It is particularly noticeable on the uncommon-looking coats of heavy black georgette, unlined and charmingly graceful. Here, this tucking is graduated in width, the tucks widening as they reach the hem; but again the slim silhouette is preserved. Collarless, too, for the most part, are these dainty confections, unless one can dignify by t.he name of “collar” the piquant little neck fin-

ish in the form of a flat band daintily piped with black satin. Altogether an invaluable acquisition. this georgette model, for wear over any kind of light frock as well as the gown cn suite for which such a wrnp is specially designed. The jeune lille follows her own fancy among the models specially' designed for her. She sighs ecstatically over the sac coat in its infinite variety of new guises; and with special admiration over a debonair little, square coat in a wonderful shade of begon'a-pink shantung, unlined, smartly' stitched, strapped, and seamed —to be worn over a figured frock of smallpatterucd pink-and-white shantung. Y’ounger and older women mingle their enthusiasms when they meet in the fancy' foulard jumper-suit section of the displays, with lovely colourings for tho jeune fille, and equally attractive crputioiis of a similar gilniC) but more matronly appropriate, in the black and White foulards, and plain black ci'epc-satins and taffetas bploved of th'* no-longcr-qtiitc-so-young ParisiOn no.