Dress In Paris

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 October 1916, Page 2

Dress In Paris

A LESSON IN BUYING. (London Times' Correspondent.) Paris, August, 1910. Women still d'o a certain amount of aimless shopping, as the crowds in the big shops prove; amd to watch them would bo amusing if it were not a .little depressing. Their drooping hesitation over countless objects for which they vainly long, and their air of injury at being asked what they want, go to prove the futility of shopping without real wants.

Wearily, but with stubborn fortitude, they trail round the immensities of the ''magasins de nouveautes" on burning summer afternoons just to see what they can buy cheaply. All the novelties of the waning season are slightly soiled, and are marked down, so that temptation meets them at every turn. They pass from counter to counter, leaving behind tlieni a mass of limp finery, and finally they leave the shop with voluminous paper bags, bulky parcels, and an empty purse; or, as sometimes happens, go • home empty-handed but with their* purses untouched. The latter condition is to be more desired ; for in tho other case both time and money have gone to achieve a very doubtful object. The woman who can successfully buy; bargains is as ra.ro as she who can resist altogether.

I The war has iot yet taught women to reduce their needs in. that simplicity that does away with doubtful ornaments. The upper classes may have reduced their dress bills more in proportion to tilie middle classes, but the middle class women, more especially those who work for their living, have had to go on with their ordinary lives and have needed the usual clothes. The nurses' uniform has helped a good, many women to economise in clothes, but those who have not worn it have had to solve their problem as best they could. The women whom we see doing futile shopping may bo doing it with good intention. They hope to dress at half-price; but cheap things are always expensive, as women who undeistand dress will agree. Nothing is less likely to succeed than, vague shopping when the sales are oa.

To drese well and suitably to the present needs -a woman must have a perfectly clear idea of what she wants, and when the new autumn fashions come out she must not be turned from her plaiiß, after once having made up her mind that they are the right «nes. There can bo no hard-and-fast rules about dress, because every woman needs a different adaptation of the same thing, otherwise the tailor-made would soon become a uniform. But even in the interests of economy, few people seriously think it would he a good thing if women followed men's example, and dressed as much like each other as men do. To be simple is charming, to be womanly is natural and necessary. The weak point about the ordinary woman's mode of dressing is that she lacks concentration. In choosing her tailormade she filiould not wander off on dinner dresses, and when she orders shoes to wear with the tailor-made she should not l>e attracted by ball-room slippers. She must keep a clear idea of the walking drees which is to see her through the season, and she should not stray into vague dreams of something wl)ifh she would like but does not want. She should also put the different- parts of her costume together on trial before deciding on tlieiu; coat and skirt, blouse, hat, shoes and gloves, for one or another if wrongly chosen, is enough- to spoil the effect of the whole. To do this is neither foolish nor extravagant as if once a costume is right it can be dismissed from the mind, but the consciousness that it is wrong will be a continual worry.

Lii the slack months of fashion a woman can make good resolutions about economical and good dressing. She can review her pa6t mistakes and determine how not to make the same again. Follies in furs must be sternly resisted, and if she be wise, she will buy no personal things during August.