Paris In The Mirror

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 45, 22 February 1930, Page 19

Paris In The Mirror

(By Germainc.)

PARIS, 23rd December

In I'raucc, no one on New Year's Day dare' cross the threshold of a friend without some little tangible offering to accompany his good wishes. It is the day when the dancing bachelor can present his hostesses with a bouquet of flowers or a box of sweets, and so thank them for the invitations he has received during tho year. And then there are the .commercial e.trcnues expected by all and sundry. Many of the corporations, the post office men, the man who stokes the heating apparatus of the highly rented Hat, the concierges, your servants, the telegraph boys, all and sundry, pay their call, and extract their douceurs in paper, if not in coin of the Republic. By New Year's morning, there will be many others, .but the spirit of giving and receiving during the day seems "infectious and little grumbling is heard. Thus it is that all the big Paris stores still carry what English people are prone to regard as the Christmas display. They will continue to do a roaring trade till the week end, and then after the first of the year has passed, 'they will set-to, and prepare for the great January sales, which always follow and which are the delight of so many women in the French capital. SIMPLE EVENING GOWNS. Although many Parisiennes are crazy about the new gorgeous evening gowns, there are others, who are far from tired of the untrimmed chiffon evening gown, which depends upon clever cutting and

draping on tabs, 'ends, and fluttering panels, for its interest. They are not quite so simple as they look on examination, for there will bo found fine subtle foldings, and stitehings, and tricky combinations unsuspected of the apparently simple effect. All chiffon frocks have uneven hemlines, but this line is so important this year, that it has invaded every phase of the mode. Even trim tailor frocks, for example, have a long end somewhere in their slim skirts.. COLOUR IS INTERESTING. Colour is interesting this year. While the daytime palette is restrained and sober, we shall get our revenge after the lights'arc. lit.'., Black is still tremendously smart, and dark blues, very dark browns, dark reds, prune-colour and dark greens are all represented for street wear. In the afternoon ensemble, the combinations of two colours or two shades of the same colour is more prevalent than ever. For instance, the Paris couturieres uses brown and blue, both rather dark. She also, puts green and blue, wino' and beige, and bright blue and beige, in the same .model. A mistress of the artist's palette, she uses dark red and Chartreuse, two shades of yellow, bright green and pinky beige, or red, blue, and beige, in the same gown. There is a new grey called "Brouillard," which appears in every known material, but grey in general, is not particularly stressed. It is highly improbable that we shall see a vogue of grey to equal the vogue of beige. The new dark reds—"currant," "garnet," "cassis," "beet"—are immensely important. They flatter in the evening, as they whiten the skin.. They bring out the creamy tones, as green brings out the rosy ones. PERSONALITY IN HAT BRIMS. There really seems no need to worry whether long hair is coming back again, although a short while ago, women arc anxiously inquiring one of another, whether the shingle is actually finished. The excitement lias died down, so to speak, and we are proceeding as it were, with our looks vevy little longer than before. Certainly, few of the milliners seem to bo Ifotliwiiig; in fact a certain well-known im>disto stated tho otlier d;iy that lior clients never have sulViuiunt patience to wait until their hair grows a reasonable longtli, before cutting it, again. So with that, women may rest content with keeping their shingles not too short, and leave tho future to take care of itself. . . Hats arc more fitted.to tho head than ever, worn well oil the forehead, and cut uncomfortably low at the back of tho neck. Fur hats, and fur-trimmed hats, arc quite the latest trend, and very gay. Brims are now playing a great part, and this very often gives character to the whole hat. liven when they only appear at the sides, they are important, and it is essential, when trying on tho hat, to study 'it from every, angle. The "cloeho" may bo said to be dead, and in its place ono sees the modified tricorne, tho bicorne, the German helmet, and the close-h'ttiug toque.

SOME OF THE NEW EVENING , DRESSES GORGEOUS.

Paris dressmakers have recognised the desire on the par]; of certain society

women for rich evening clothes. They are therefore showing a scries of really magnificent models, so rich and obviously expensive that one rather wonders who will be able to afford them.

These new evening gowns are really very gorgeous indeed. They are heavy with exquisite embroideries, and they glitter with jewels, beads, spangles, frequently all used together, but never in obvious designs. They drip with fringes, shaded ones, rather than printed ones, and they really look from a distance like strings of finest'jewels.

All kinds of things have been done with ostrich feathers. The separate flues are used like threads in flat embroideries, or two make great separate flowers placed-here and there over a crepe or, satin surface. , They are clipped to look like fur, and dipped in glycerine to look "like fringes. In Paris, this season, there are many models trimmed with1- feathers. A pretty use is found where, they form shaded black and white tufts all over a scarf of georgette, in pale coffee colour. Madame Van Dongen,; the wife of the famous painter, has -designed scarves for herself, and nothing could be lovelier than her great;fringed triple shawls of three greens, or three blues, or a daring Spanish "■combination of tan, dark red, and orangeJ ' ■ ' - '" !