BLUES AND BROWNS.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18407, 14 August 1931, Page 5

BLUES AND BROWNS.

POPULARITY OF TWEEDS. Fresh from England and with many years’ experience in Paris and Europe, Mr H. Libgatt, a dress designer, reached New Zealand by the Tainui. According to Mr Libgatt the latest colours are blues and browns, and they will be prominent in the near future. Styles are very much the same, he says, gowns being worn much longer, with higher waists. Particularly for outdoor and sports wear, tweeds are likely to be Increasingly popular. There is also a tending towards large hats and it is entering into competition with the cult of the close-fitting tailored hat. Mr Libgatt said that before leaving England he had Just returned from a trip all over the Continent. Vienna was undoubtedly leading Europe In styles, and Viennese models were far better now than those from Paris. Lately Viennese models were displacing Parisian ones. The last Paris shows had not been* a great success and had suffered from a lack of buyers. In late years. Mr Libgatt said, the English designers had left the Continent standing and, with the Americans, aimed at beauty and simple lines Instead of the grotesquerie which characterised many French models. The French still had Agnes, Phillippe and Gaston, Molineaux and other famous creators, but the world at large was getting tired of paying £lO or £5O for a model in Paris when in Vienna, London and Berlin it would cost £8 and be smarter into the bargain. The French seemed now to be putting too much on fo their gowns, and Vienna and Berlin were going ahead by their clever use of simplicity combined with original forms. But the English and Americans were more than the equal of any of them. Before the war Mr Libgatt worked in Paris, Geneva, Barcelona, Biarritz and the South of France. lie went home at the outbreak of war to join up. and when later convalescing in England decided to remain there. He was principal of a London firm, which designs for the trade, and is coming out now as general manager and designer of costumes and gowns for a New Zealand firm. 4 London was undoubtedly the best part of Europe to live in, he said. It was the cheapest, and certainly the finest city in the world. Anyone who knew London six or seven years ago would not know it now’. The changes and development have been wonderful. Next to London, Mr Libgatt preferred Switzerland as a place to live. It was reasonable, he said, and a very progressive little country.