LONDON AND PARIS FASHIONS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue XVIII, 31 October 1896, Page 569

LONDON AND PARIS FASHIONS.

T really requires an extraordinary memory ~.gS| C-uf to remember the thousand and one artistic blends that Dame Modus has stamped with h er approval, and decreed that we shall use for this season’s fresh millinery. ‘Brightness without vulgarity * seems to be the latest maxim. So, following this motto, the modistes are carrying out certain delicious schemes in their hats and bonnets, not mixing colours pele-mele as they were inclined to do last year. Fancy rough straws in various shades have made their appearance, brown, moss-green, violets, and a charmingly subdued tone of cedar being the favoured tints for these picturesque plaitings. Some of the hats worn at a smart race are quite worth describing. One, which especially appealed to my sense of the discreetly artistic, was a large, important shape in cedar straw with the trimming added on broad low lines, only a couple of the silk loops towering behind rather above the nest of blossoms. These are rich-toned crimson roses in full bloom, with their petals expanded to reveal the delicate yellow centres, some of their own foliage

making a delightfully fresh setting. The wide ribbon which composes the bows is of gros-grain shot from green to cedar, while the whole confection is softened by the introduction of some fine cream lisse frilling, daintily edged with narrow cobwebly lace to match. The mode of thus toning down the ensemble of a hat with some transparent material is fast gaining ground ; and in some shapes we find the flowers modestly veiled with black or coloured tulle. The dressmakers are quite in accordance with the milliners as regards introducing a certain method in their colour-blends, and recommend their clients to always carry ont the tone of their frocks in the ground work of their bats unless bien entendu, a black shape —wearable with all and everything—be preferred.

My second sketch is a most effective cape for young lady, in black satin or silk velvet, trimmed with a ruching of black satin ribbon, lace, and black bead ornaments. Some of the new shot silk frocks are * turned out ’ on very quaint and rather babyish lines, one Paris model having the skirt edged with three btbe flounces, and the bodice gauged half-way up. For the up-to-date walking gowns that should be cut to only slightly touch the ground—or, indeed, to just escape it if the dress is built for country wear—soft grey materials bid fair to be the most in favour, the whole scale of woollen and cotton canvases, mohairs, alpacas, lustres, and smooth summer cloths being exhausted in the making up of these trim little costumes. My third sketch is a very good specimen of the sort of toilette de promenade chosen at present by the first-rate women, who reserve their grandest dresses for indoor and evening wear. Some soft dovegrey cloth has been selected as the most appropriate material, and with this lainage a round full skirt and coat bodice have been modelled. A cream satin waistcoat breaks the greyness of the corsage, a lace jabot of the same ivory tinting being draped on either side of the plain vest. The round collar and bows under the ears match this plastron. It is no mere supposition to say

that all the new sleeves are much more moderate in their dimensions, no stiffening whatever being now considered necessary. In fact, many ladies have extracted the muslin from their last year’s ‘ balloons,’ draping these up in such a way as to obtain in some degree the effect procured by the very latest Parisian manches. By the way, many of these are slashed up twice on the inner seam, the slashings being filled in with soft gatherings of lace or chiffon.

Plaids are just now so synonymous with smartness that even in flimsy lisses and chiffons we find this popular pattern, flowered designs woven into these lightly-made materials being also one of the demiers cris for the tossing up of pretty evening blouses. For ‘tailor* and walking-gowns we have the new canvases, as well as the ever-beloved habit cloths and mohairs, all the shades of beige and biscuit being the pet colours for these outdoor toilettes. The dress at the end of this column is a very trim one in biscuit mohair of a silky texture. More than half of the skirt is braided with narrow dark brown

military galon stitched diagonally down the front to form a species of tablier. There is a smaller quantity of braid about the jacket bodice, which is cut on quite unique lines. The waistcoat fits closely to the figure and is the perfection of daintiness as regards material and treatment. Composed of thick ivory satin, it is finely embroidered with gold thread, which glistens very effectively between the severely planned fronts of biscuit cloth. This is just the kind of taut costume a woman loves to jump into on a bright day, when the sun shows up all the stains and dust on our winter clothes. Just a word on petticoats before 1 end to-day’s causerie. The white batiste jupon bewilderingly flounced and belaced is still to be first favourite ; but for common every-day wear, and for women whose habits are essentially active, the grey and dust-coloured silky alpaca petticoats with a steel inserted in the hem are particularly appropriate, and are much more seasonable than the black moreen under-skirts really only suitable from April to September. Heloise.