London Fashion Notes

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 71, 24 March 1934, Page 9

London Fashion Notes

LONDON, January 26.

r . .Londoners'.are,apt to resent the summer visitors' desire to see a: real Lon- , don, fog; because wh,en the sun shines , arid the air is'crystal clear we are apt to forget, these; inflictions. Alas, we have had more than our usual share •iof/fog during the last few weeks eul!niinating yesterday in ' a complete .".:?'black out" and consequent: traffic •chaos.' ' . ; .'. It was pleasant, therefore, •to turn ;outof all this dark drearines into the warmly-lighted white, and gold salon /of a clever young dress designer, who .was; courageously;; offering his new collection before all the fashion experts rushed.. ■ off- .to . Paris for the early" spring "openings" nest week. : '.. First, I was intensely interested at the number of;new materials he was using with such-success. Then I liked the simplicity; of his line- and cut, and clever colour combinations. .-_-- I -have mentioned before the love of glitter in the latest models. Here I found-many'new fabrics in wool, silk, crepe, arid satin that had fine lines of tinsel thread woven into the surface, which although quite plain and often absolutely smooth, gave the impression of great luxury because of the sheen produced. One suit in light-weight grey woollen had a thread of gold in its weave, which gave it a softened t6ne vastly becoming. The coat just covered the hips, and it was fastened with grey leather straps with gilt buckles down the front and worn over a sleeveless waistcoat of grey and gold thread crepe. There were afternoon and evening dresses in these new glistening materials, and. I expect to chronicle their appearance many times when the dress parade season really starts. .REPTILE FABRICS AND JBBSEYS. , Other unusual materials were many kinds of reptile skins dressed and . dyed and treated to give a suede appearance, also lacquered 'and waterproofed. The reptile has certainly given the modern, dress designer a novelty fabric that has endless possibilities, but it still remains a novelty and has never reached the popularity of the ready-made garment. The earliest woollen materials shown in this collection give great prominence to jersey fabrics. These in especially lovely colourings, some plain, some patterned in. one colour or two, mould the figure and tailor exquisitely without the "stretching" qualities one used to associate with jersey, and thereby,retain their shape indefinitely. ; A suit in jersey fabric in the newest pastel, pink was belted and fastened with beaver-brown suede straps, and worn with a pink sailor hat, with a similar brown "belt" Tound the crown. It is difficult to describe the fashionable pink, because while disapproving of the popular term '' dirty pink,' ' I have to . admit this is rather descriptive. But pink of any shade should • certainly be pale with a dull bloom oveT it if one aspires to be altra fashionable. This colour is .being . used for day euits, washing-silk frocks for hot days-

Sptefilly Written it Tha Pott."

and evening gowns and hats. One of the prettiest wash dresses I have sketched, made in dull pink macclesfield silk, beautifully pleated to give a tailored line, but easy to. wash and press as the pleats were on the straight. The half-belt on each hip was in deep wine-red suede, land a matching red straw hat was; trimmed with one flat pink rose crushed against the flat crown. CRINKLED CREPES IN COTTON AND SILK. : Crinkled weaves are by no means finished, and there were several afternoon dresses in crinkled crepes in dark

and light colours. One evening gown in white cotton crepe had evidently been designed with an eye pn the tropics—its special charm being that it,"could be washed by ,any native" without spoiling. This white} cotton crepe had wide "crinkled stripes, -was