Evening Dresses.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 3, 19 July 1911, Page 69

Evening Dresses.

Whatever is to come, at the present moment the rage for high-waisted gowns has overtaken everybody. The Josephine models are the most "reeherches”—this is the kind of dress that the Empress Josephine used to wear, loosely hanging from under the bust on a eorsetless figure. Although these toilettes are apparently simple there is hardly anything more costly than the trimmings, half hidden, half-revealed, that adorn them. There are no petticoats worn, but underslips which are little works of art in themselves. They are filmy things of tulle or mousseline de soie, with lace insertions and drawn ribbons faintly seen in transparence. White ninon is preferred for the making of young girls’ evening dresses with touches of colour, but not vivid touches, just a hint of pastel blue or rose, unless that girl is of a very decided type which requires special setting. For instance, we all know that the blue-eyed girl, with golden hair, looks well with wreaths of forget-me-nots on her head, and bunches of that pretty little flower on the dress; but much more difficult is the green-eyed type of girl with black hair. If her complexion permits it she will look well in unrelieved creamy white; if not, the trimming of the gown could be of a green matching the colour of her eyes, and a wreath of green leaves would certainly be becoming. If she is tall and stately, no longer a “flapper,” old gold embroideries following a Greek key pattern on a palm design, will harmonise well with her style. As for tlie very dark girl, she is more favoured than usual this year, as the two prominent colours, purple and scarlet, are both very becoming to her, and she can stand the mixing of them better than the fair-haired woman. Of course, one can always obviate this slight disadvantage by wearing bunches of sweet peas, roses and violets far enough from the face not to clash with the colour of the hair.