SPATS AND GLOVES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18420, 29 June 1925, Page 7

SPATS AND GLOVES.

FASHIONS FOR MEN. (raou ottb own cobbebfokdmt.) o SYDNEY, Juue 13. The opinion of Airs A. E. Grace, wife of tiie governing director of one of the biggest department stores in Sydney, tuat Australian men will never have a well-dressed appearance until they adopt spats and gloves, and thus conform to the habit of the Englishman, whom she regards as the bestdreised man in the world, finds rew supporters. . The consensus of opinion ■is that spats and gloves, and more especially spats, are not suitable for ' Australians, and that if we have- to make some offering to the mysterious goddess Fashion, in order to bring our men-folk more into line with those abroad, regard will have' to be paid, not to these tastes and effects, but to better dressing, for it is an ugly truth to any observant eye, in Sydney, at all events, that while the women kn.ow how to dress, the men for the greater part, 'pay all too little attention to their attire. Let one stand at any busy part of the city and that impression is unquestionably forced upon him. - • But while it may be considered right in London to affect spats and gloves, because it is fashionable, these little affectations will find few supporters in Sydney. Very few men in Sydney today wear spats, not even at Government House levees, or at other big social functions. Alderman William Brooks, M.L.C., one of the Reform aldermen, and one of the influential figures behind the Employers' Federation, has a liking for spats, and is rarely seen about Sydney without them, but he is a lone figure in that respect, except when the Prime Minister (MiBruce) is in Sydney. In the case of Mr Brooks, who/ by the way, is a most likeable personality without the faintest tinge of snobbishness, his favourite spats almost suggest an evolution, for it is not many years ago when he was a very obscure employee in the printing trade in Sydney. To-day, he is one of our captains ot industry, with a huge army of employees at his command. One" of the few other notable figures in Sydney who conform to Mrs Grace's ideabis the director of the Conservatorium (Mr Orchard), who would look as out of place without his 6pats as he would without his walking stick.