NEW COAT FROCKS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2969, 5 January 1917, Page 3

NEW COAT FROCKS

Whatever changes are occurring in fashions in England to-day are in tho direction of making dress at onco neater and more serviceable (says a Melbourne writer). That is why tho width - that is necessary in skirts for rapid and coml'ortablo movement is now uoing pressed into fiat pleats.' Everybody knows that a pleated skirt wears w r ell and permits of alteration when necessary moro readily than a plain skirt, and most of lis have realised of lato that a llaring skirt gots dirty much nioro quickly than a narrower, straight-hanging one. So we are to have pleated skirts, whicl» will take up Jess room and attract less dirt than flared ones, ibid 1 tho desire for useful rather than purely ornamental clothes is responsible also for tho popularity on tho other sido of the world of the coat frock. Pleats lend thomselves admirably to this typo of dross. I have seen one or two very attractive coat frocks in pleated styles. AVhere a woman is fairly slender and possesses small hips tho pleated ooat frock may bo made all in ono, but women of more generous proportions will need to have the skirt portion out separately in ordor to allow for the greater width of material jiceclod about the hips.. The belt is. then arranged to conceal the waist join, and tho % all-in-ono effect is enhanced if the waist is mado fairly loose. It may indeed be accepted as a general rule that a, tight waistband spoils tho effect of a coat frock. Linen, for example, looks better than cotton stuffs; taffeta silk looks better than crepe do chine; and a good woollen stuff looks better than either. Velveteen has been much used during the autumn in England for theso frocks, but wo havo not had any of theso on show hero as yet.