Chat From Paris

Evening Post, Issue 28, 1 August 1936, Page 19

Chat From Paris

By Margaret Manet.

)l BEFORE SPRING COMES

. Before the last of the new buds burst on the beeches and the little green ruffs crisp out from the plane trees in the Bois and the Jardin dcs Plantes there are always the "occasions." They are the night occasions —the last group of the season—and they mark an important moment, for with their passing we feel that spring has established herself. We-take a last look, as it were, of ourselves before the "change over." And in this essential pause we are critical of others. It is because the wily designer knows that at this season impressions, are made that he creates the "Good-bye to Winter" models. They, matter, because one is going to remember them. Spring is bound to be the wild, irrational, intoxicating young person she always is. But these garments are for now, and now alone... Let's be rash. Let's be extravagant. Let's get a new gown. Choose your colour carefully—the colour that makes of you the natural contrast, the compliment of hair and skin. Try,'at the same time—and this is more difficult— to work out a scheme for yourself that you have: never before attempted. , Here are some "possibles." You are tall, with that waxy pallor that goes always with red-brown hair. Let your hair, this once—and, if you will, your lipstick—be your only colour note. Your gown is four tiers of the ■• new and . splendid lace—hugely patterned in rich cream or parchment on coarse black net. The tiers or frills are three in^the skirt—perfectly regular and graded downward as to fullness, ithe last gathered ever so discreetly to the back to give an imperceptible droop of the train—the fourth shaped flatly to around neck and hanging to envelop" you to the elbow. Parchment evening sandals, a narrow velvet waist ribbon, richly black and tied loosely so that the loops are' irregularly knee-length, the ends' to the floor. Your underslip must be black, un.shiny, and slimly cut. It also must be floor length, shaped or split if necessary for ease in walking. A CHARMING MODEL. There is. a model of Chanel's that •will go all the way. It is one of the simple ones that are so more than difficult to describe. Yet, if your colouring is what your friends call "mousey" and the London artist, Augustus John, nas more flatteringly recreated as "ash blonde," it is most certainly for you. It is of dark, blue tulle—broad meshed and of a rich "bright night" blue. Under the bodice is worn a slip-top lining of flesh pink. Again, it must not shine. An easy full little sleeve to the elbow and caught in to a narrow band. Cut to a low, waist-deep V In front and back—the bosom filled by an enormous flower-like rosette of tulle in ■ the new colour that might be described as "terracotta watered down." A terracotta ribbon belt is worn looped in front to give, with the rosette, almost the suggestion of a bouquet. The skirt is cut to fit closely until knee length is reached, and then is added such quantities of gathered tulle in a side-to-side sloping frill that the frock literally stands alone. With it, but detachable by narrow terracotta ends, is worn a full tulle cape. .It has irregular lines so that, flung back over the shoulders, it hangs in seeming ragged manner. The strange colour, that is almost pale enough for salmon, can be found in a certain carnation, artificial and otherwise. Search for one and wear it in your hair, just below the ear. Make the most of lace and of tulle.

It is undoubtedly the half-way step to what will come—a new spring crispness. It is a mistake to think that you will tide the social, moment with a old gown remodelled^ along the lines I have... indicated. Neither you, nor your friends, . will derive any real pleasure from the result, because the sown I wish to mdi.-

cate to you is not so much an extension of a winter wardrobe as a forerunner of what the spring shall bring with her. It is not really an extravagance, once it is done, to readjust your dress consciousness so that it extends that little bit into the future, rather than trails that little bit "out of the past. Remember, then, lace and tulle. But lace is perhaps the more satisfying. It may even give a chance to those yards and yards of six-inch biscuit lace that has come to you from an ancestress. Build a frock of it— band after band—with six-inch strips of tan brown organdie. High neck; little sleeves to the elbow; floor length girdle of eire, and you are as smart as you could wish, for dinner or the dance. And it is, ■undeniably, a "carry through" gown.