NOT SO SLIM – BUT JUST AS SMART

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20886, 18 August 1939, Page 3

NOT SO SLIM - BUT JUST AS SMART

“A woman of seven-and-twentv,” exclaims one of Jane Austen’s young ladies, “can never hope to feel or inspire affection again!’’ With equally ill-founded resignation, a woman of more tlinn a certain number of pounds avoirdupois sometimes decides that she can never hope to be well dressed —let alone fashionable—again. If you are one of those who cast gloomy looks at the dial of the bathroom weighing machine and think, with a sinking heart, of departments that stock “gowns for the fuller figure,’’ now is your moment to throw down a challenge to fate. Begin your campaign by taking everything out of the wardrobe and subjecting each coat and frock to a sternly critical eye. Ask yourselfl whether it is distinctive or dull, whether you wear it with pleasure or with patience, whether it stresses your best points or merely makes a feeble attempt at concealing the less good. And if the answers are the wrong ones, don’t put the offender back on its hanger, but fold it ud to be sold or given away. Wild extravagance? No, courageous common sense and a necessary clearing of obstacles on your path to dress success. Now spend ten minutes in front of a full-length mirror and criticise your figure as frankly as your frocks. Decide on your assets and make aj mental note to play up to them; ad I mit your liabilities and determine tha I nobody else shall know of their cx-| isteneo. ? The first essential for carrying on!I >our plan is a really good corset.# Don't heave a sigh and indulge inf visions of discomfort and compres-j sion; a good corset is never an un-' comfortable one, and a filler who knows her job will see Hint yours gives you just the right amount of support and control. And don't, in this one matter, grudge a little expense; every slid ling you put into your purchaso is going t" pay you handsome dividends ii. the shape of smartness later on. When you come to the actual clothes-ehoosing, there are one or two simple rules to bear in mind. You'll avoid, of course, big checks, horizontal stripes, shiny surfaced materials and large prints. Avoid Bright Colours You'll avoid very bright colours. And you'll wisely avoid all forms of exaggeration in your silhouette. Slightly widened shoulders, for instance. will give apparent slenderness to waist and hips; much broadened ones will make you top-heavy. A skirt with soft fullness will give grace of movement and banish the ugly "sal-in” line: a fully flared circular skirt will produce -a fatal effect of width. Let's consider that very important matter, your top coat. Put out of your mind the coat with the tailored collar and long, narrow rovers which lias for so long been brought forward bv shop assistants with a glib “Very slimming for •Moddom!" Instead, choose one of the smart new squarecut boxy coats that hang straight and i loose from the shoulders and are collarless. thus affording you the softening llattery of a gay chiffon scarf. Sec how tiie long, unbroken line jf such a coat adds height and con-

ceals width. See, too, its young and casual air, its pleasant consciousness of being in the mode, and its blithe unconsciousness of the slightest need for a policy of slimming. Your suit? Over a skirt that is straight but easy-fitting put a loose, wrist-length jacket in narrow vertical stripes, navy and white, grey and wine, or green and mulberry. Have crisply cut re vers of iplain material that spring out to put width where it is wanted, up at the shoulder line. On warmer days wear a coat-frock of fine dark woollen, styled like a redingote, with, perhaps, a scalloped edge to draw the observing eye up its long, vertical line to the frosting of white at the throat. For the afternoon dress I suggest printed crepe in one of those small discreet designs that are the season’s smartest, with bracelet sleeves and

3 j An ensemble with a jaunty and • j casual air. : t - the new, cool, clever version of the tklwavs-becoming V-neck. 3 In the evening fly a flag of revolt against the convention of trailing lace I draperies and angel sleeves. Choose t a straight-falling dress in rich dark crepl—;p turn, midnight blue, purple t gi-ape—with a raised waistline that f gives an illusion of length; have the 1 neck cut low but narrow; put flowers i For less formal occasions add a ,■ companion jacket, loose in cut and long in sleeve. ’ You have now a basic wardrobe t smart enough to have come straight . from Paris, yet perfectly simple and . practical for every day. “ And it most persuasively urges you 3 lo forget figure faults and weighing machines and enjoy wholeheartedly fee fun of fashion.