PREDICTING FASHION

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 92, 12 January 1935, Page 16

PREDICTING FASHION

Belief That it is Possible

Is it possible to predict what kind of clothes a coming generation of women will wear?

Dr. C. Willett Cunnington, who has assembled a vast collection of women’s I9th century clothing, drawn from private sources, into a fascinating exhibition for charity in the West End of London, believes that it is. He is so confident about it that he is conducting a special experiment by giving an essay test to schoolgirls to provide himself with a forecast on what the coming generation of Englishwomen will wear, as part of some comprehensive data he is preparing about why women year what they do. Dr. Cunnington is offering a fiveguinea prize for the best short essay from a schoolgirl under 18 years saying which dress in the exhibition she considers' most beautiful, and . why. Analysing the entries, he believes that lie will be able to indicate which way the fashion breeze will blow during the next decade. “Women’s dress reflects so accurately the whole temper and feeling of a generation,” he said in announcing his experiment, “that it would be very valuable if we could know beforehand approximately how the next generation of women was going to dress. I believe that it will be possible to get a psychological forecast from the girls’ reactions to the dresses of four or five generations. I shall be surprised if the girls do not choose as the most beautiful the dresses of the 1830’s, with their small waists, long pointed Gothic bodices, and air of slightly angular demureness. If they do. we can expect a return to Gothic architecture and serious religious feeling. A Gothic feeling in dress means a return to Gothic feeling in other things. ... If the girls show no feeling for this period, then I think we can safely predict that they will branch out Into some completely new line, even more interesting to watch than a revival.”

Mr. Edward H. Symonds, of Revllle’s, president of the British Fashions and Fabrics Bureau, and one of Britain’s leading fashion authorities, is not as sanguine as Dr. Cunnington that the experiment will produce a result of practical value. “The features of olden time fashions that the young women of to-day may admire will have no influence upon the fashions of the future,” he said. “Nevertheless, I think that Dr. Cunnington's experiment should prove interesting.”