GERMAN FASHION SHOW

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 108, 31 January 1921, Page 6

GERMAN FASHION SHOW

MEN MANNEQUINS IN COLOUR.

The first trade fashion parade to be held in Berlin since the war took place yesterday evening (says the Berlin correspondent of the “Times.” on November 17). in the Marble Hall of the Zoological Gardens. It was attended by some 5000 persons of both sexes, about two-thirds being members of the fashion trade of Germany, Holland, and Scandinavia. and other countries, and the rest mainly from Berlin’s rich and curious class. The Modeschau was made the occasion of a great trade festival. A stage hnd been erected in the promenade down the centre of the hall, and curious onlookers sat on either side of it. Bands opened the proceedings with a great dance, and a string of small children danced and frolicked to the music of a Strauss waltz, a trifle stilted and graceless, but doing their best to be light-footed under the severe eye of their instructor.

After they had danced, the serious business of the fashion parade began. Fashions in Berlin are not only for women. The story of the daily life of the young Berlin buck and his cnarming companion was the theme illustrated, from getting up to going to bed. To the strains of a two-step a. young man mannequin in Violet silk pyjamas led on to the stage a young woman mannequin in a nightdress in cerise and lace insertion—a play-acting, of course, since you could see the young man mannequin's braces .and padded shoulders through the diaphanous China silk. They stood for a moment before a looking-glass, and then strolled self-consciously down the platform to the critical wonderment of the trade and breathless admiration of the schiebers. Others followed, in shades transcending the wildest dream of the aniline chemical laboratory—mafgucrite yellow-, carnation white, hortensia pink, chrysanthemum lilac, and so to dress. The mannequins retired to array themselves in clothes suitable for their sports, and tho music from "Rosuiuumle” invited the dancing children to wile away the interval. Then a dashing young man in a travelling suit of brown with pointed patent shoes, trousers, creased to a nicety, and an almost brimless emerald green felt hat, led on, greatly daring, a sportswoman, in a dainty, if attenuated, garment of all kinds of white and violet velvet, and fur, in high-heeled white boots. Lest there be any doubt ot ■her purpose she carried an ice-axe. As tlfey and other cheerful people suitably equipped for the finest weather came breathlessly down the platform, the hand, by way of furnishing suitable accompaniment, broke with a burst into “Tipperary,” here regarded as the national hymn of all true sports.