Pale Colours for Evening Dresses

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 169, 4 August 1937, Page 8

Pale Colours for Evening Dresses

The Popular New Coatee

(From Our London. Ccrrespondent.) NJEW evening gowns, as seen at the Opera and smart film premieres, are rather a revelation. The rich, deep colours the dressmakers seleeted some time ago as suitable for evening occasions during the COTonation season, and which they display at their small, exclusive show* are not nearly so popular as the lovely pale pastel tints usually associated with very young girls. Tfte green seen in a Neapolitan ice, a real fondant pink, the softest of turquoise tones and a warm but very soft yellow are chosen by six out of every seven women, no matter what their age, If black, brown, or navy blue is worn, it is nelieved by a three or four-colour sash in deiicate tones and equally deiicate material. The eye flashes to the Waistline hpmediately when one of these sashes is worn, and its composition and colouring remain in the mind — a vivid, attractive memory— when material and stjrle generally have been forgotten. The Floating Sleeve. Most of the exquisite sashes are made of soft chiffon, which has become surprisingly popular in the last few weeks, especially for the evening. Frocks are made with full skirts, the layers of material being fine enough to fall softly and gracefully to the figure. The bodice of a chiffon model is invariably simple, but it has sieeves, from the elbows of which drift long square draperies reminiscent of the afigel* sieeves of a few seasons ago, but considerably longer. Ihejr literally float in the air as the

* wearer moves, and when she stands still they droop gracefully to the ground, looking like side trains. Debutantes are wearing circular chiffon capes. So far as material is concemed they are very suitable, but it is possible that an older and more experienced woman would carry off the style a good deal more successfully. It needs an upright figure, a certain air of assurance, and some grace of carriage. Then its simplicity is seen at its best. On many of the younger girls this length of cobwebby material, devoid o£ any kind of' trimming or fullness, merely cut to fit the neck and shoulders trimly, looks like a rather untidy scarf fashion. The older woman .has eopied it in thin silks, and Very firiest 'satins and transpareivfc nets. A woman at Covent Garden one night wore a white satin gown and had slipped over it a circular cape of black fish net, long enough to rea.ph to the hem and with wide fioating sleeve draperies. The effect was novel and smart.; All the circular capes, by the way, reach the ground, and, except that they are very thin, resemble the oldfashioned velvet opera cloak which used to he slung round the shoulder and fastened at the thxoat with a huge hook and eye, its length and fullness covering every inch of the gown worn beneath it, no matter what the weather. The new coatee for evening wear has obviously been designed with the idea of enabling the busy woman to go on from daytime engagements to dinnerparty, film premiere, concert, or even to the ppera. It is very much like the

bodice of an Edwardian frock, except that it is worn outside the long evening skirt, and the enJs come down to the s hips, very often .in points resembling those of the waistcoat. It is high at the neck both back and front, and has tight-fitting sieeves reaching to the wrists, and sometimes over the hands in mitten fashion. It can be worn in the daytime, if necessary, under an ordinary coat or with a suit, and aU the changing that is 'necOssary is the slipping off of the costiune skirt in favour of a longer one. Daytime lingerie, often uirsuitable for the low-cut eveniqg frock, can, of course, be worn with this type of coatee. , Gold and Silver. Gold and silver lame are not so popular for "evening dresses and coats as might have been expected in a Coronation year. But a great deal of brocading and embroidery' is done with gold and silver threads, and white materials for the evening are invariably woven with one or other. The dull-surfaced ivory-tinted moire that makes "important" dinner and dance gowns nearly always has touches of gold in it, and it may safely be said that no other material looks more beautifui than this one 'with the gleaming threads shining in an ivory background. Brocaded satin, however, is very attractive, especially when a floral design is worked into it with the metallic threads. Where gold lame is used— and it makes a certain riumber of dance frocks and coatees— it is unusually soft in texture and almost bright yellow in colour. . Indeed, in the distance, it quite frequently resembles the pale butter colour that is worn a good deal. Silver decorates the wljite frocks of debutantes, but not to the extent it did a few seasons ago, when nearly every girl, seemed to have a bouffant dress of white net powdered all over with silver. This season the silver is not so pronounced and, instead of appearing as beads and pailettes, takes the form of polka dots at intervals, or ofx a hem and a sash of silver damask. The sfiver and gold kid accessory fashion is one of the prettiest of the season. Simple, plainly-cut frocks of pale coloured crepes are trimmed in this way, sometimes with a "necklace" of delicately designed and ornamented leaves, with a belt of pale gold or silver or with a corsage posy. A pale blue crepe ; model, which was exquisitely cut and gave the impression of being moulded to the tall slender figure of the woman who wore it, had a circlet of gold leaves round the neck, the points coming down on to the material. A white georgette dress was belted with leaves of silvered kid, and shoulder straps of pole gold were used on a fondant pink chiffon dress. Neat Gas Cooker. For the small family, a neat little gascooker that hangs on the kitchen wall by a speeial bracket is a good idea. There is less of it to keep clean, for one thing, and the smaller oven space, large enough L'for the joint for two or tliree people, takes' less gas to heat than the full-sized cooker, while it can be hung at a level to suit the cook so that the-e is no stooping.