Fashion Notes from Paris.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 21, 22 May 1912, Page 70

Fashion Notes from Paris.

March, 191'2. The assertion that you -cannot be well dressed on a small allowance cannot be held true in these days, for the presentday fashionable woman not only can, but very often does, turn into most artistic and distinctive toilette her last year’s frocks which are beginning to look somewhat “fripee” and old-fash-ioned. RENOVATIONS. The problem of remodelling one’s last year’s clothes takes up a large share of the attention of the woman of limited

income at the beginning of the new seaeon. It its therefore most important that she should have every help possible if she would avoid mistakes. I cannot advise, in general, exactly what to purchase. since it depends largely on what is left over of last year, the possibilities of which (or making over are bestknown to the individual. Of course there are many -“left-overs” that require only a little manipulation to make them possible. It is quite possible, for instance, to re-model an out-of-dale evening gown into a dream of beauty. 1 was delighted with a “renovation" which came my way yesterday. This was a blue satin dress veiled in misty grey, with wonderful embroideries of silver and filoselle; no one would have believed that it had been evolved from an old-fashioned and rather

shabby Wil dress. Another transformation has been worked by draping an emerald green satin with an over-dress of black ninon, caught with big jet buckles, whilst a lavender blue satin bodice and skirt had been converted into one. of the new swathed corsages with a chemisette and sleeves of real lace, and

straps of fine old lace —in fact, one should never discard a good drese until one is certain that one cannot give it a hew lease of life; it is a truly marvellous economy. OUR SKETQJI. In our sketch on tins page you will fuid illustrated a last year’s frock which has been very successfully renovated. I cannot imagine anything prettier than this simple frock of pale rose satin veiled in ninon and ivory guipurt, with a coat effect in guipure, the train and sleeves edged with silver filagree and silver fringe. In the original gown the corsage, which was somewhat soiled, has been replaced by the lace coat, a veritable “cachemisere” covering a multitude, of sins. A pale pink satin collar had been added to carry out the colour scheme. The skirt is as cleverly handled as the coat, though the addition of the silver filigree trimming and the silk fringe has given quite an up-to-date appearance to what was, at the outset, a somewhat dowdy frock. LOGIC IN DRESS. Is there any logic in dress? I wonder! Whole volumes might be written on this subject. I will not begin here and now. ’Tis my duty to recall only the passing whims and fancies of the dressmaker’s mind. No argument, however, is necessary to defend the beauty of the flowered and brocaded ribbons this season, it would be hard to surpass the grace of a wide black chiffon searf bordered with three inches of creamy swansdown. Your imagination might revel in the same idea carried out in gerauuim red with a heavy grey bead-embroidery border: or chrysoprose green with a black jet bead-embroidery border, or Madonna bluo with a bordering of fine black silk fringe, and many other artistic combinations. The newest scarf for the neck is made like the double-faced scarf of last summer, but fastened in a short burnous in the middle back and then flattened to form a capuchon hood, with a tassel at the point, the V above the hood being filled with a triangle of lace and embroidery to fit the neek. SUNSHADES. It would be interesting indeed to know how a sunshade ever happens to be saddled with such an unkind epithet as “ugly’’; but according to Jean ingelow, that is what they were once upon a time called. Among the bevy of pretty parasols to be seen in the shops in the Rue de la Paix and elsewhere are some lovely Dresden and Pompadour effects, w.hich are the strongest possible proof that the sunshade has at last justified itself and is indeed “its only excuse for being.” Of black velvet, a pretty model shows a striking departure from the ordinary. Even the handle is velvet■covered, the lining being of rose-eoloured silk, so becoming to the complexion, by the way. Every one of the ribs in a pretty Pompadour model shown are finished with tiny rose-buds of pale pink taffetas to harmonise with the pink shepherdess's bow. Emerald green and the crude apple-green are favoured colours in parasols, as well as the other details of the toilette.