“Wear What Suits Best”: Is Expert’s Contribution To Hemline Controversy

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 96, 7 November 1947, Page 8

“Wear What Suits Best”: Is Expert’s Contribution To Hemline Controversy

For every New Zealand woman left bewildered and uncertain about the fate of her own hemline in the now world-wide controversy over the length of the new season’s clothes, one of the Dominion’s own leading fashion experts, Mr J. T. Lewis, offers a commonsense rule: “Think of your own figure first—and wear the hemline length that suits it best.” Just home from a visit to the centres of' fashion in America and England, Mr Lewis has said that he had carefully studied the newest trends and talked them over with prominent designers and experts. The present controversy was mostly concerned with the hemline, but there was argument as well about square as against sloping shoulders. “To the women who must be finding it hard to make up their minds what to do in the face of all these arguments, Mr Lewis declared, “I cannot do better than pass on the advice of one of the leading overseas experts: ‘Do not be bullied into Wearing styles that are not smart. If trying to follow the fashion too closely makes you look dumpy and dowdy and inelegant, do not be a sheep. Be sensible with fashion—aim to be elegant and slim.’ “In other words, as far as the hemline is concerned you * should wear your skirt to suit your own particular figure. Now I personally think that the smart dress will have the hemline at the calf. But your own taste must depend on the line that suits you, and makes you feel that you' look well dressed. If a hemline a little above the calf is more suited to you, wear it that way; if you feel better dressed with the line below the calf, that is where it should -be for you. Remember, too, that skirt lengths must differ according to the occasion. Fabric and silhouette have also to be taken into account. But most of all think of yourself.” Mr Lewis said that the question of shoulder pads—square as against sloping shoulders —must also be a matter of suiting the individual, depending on the kind of shoulders a woman had and their relation to her whole figure. He did think, however, that the square shoulder was the smarter style—as long as the width was not overdone but was in keeping with the rest of the figure.