CHANGING FASHIONS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5180, 19 September 1927, Page 2

CHANGING FASHIONS.

SMART GIRLS, SLOVENLY LADS.

THE COCKTAIL HABIT.

There is a v e ry marked difference in the appearance of the average woman in the streets of London as> she is now and as she was even as recently as five- years ago. Then a comparison between Paris and London shbwed that in the former city the women were exceedingly smart, while London had a majority of badly dressed representatives of the fail” sex. Now the order of things has completely changed. It is unquestionably London which deserves the distinction of being the “best-dressed city,” at least as far as women go.

But what these recent changes, and even more so those of, the last fifteen or twenty years, have meant to many industries, can only be discovered if statistics are perused. Many flourishing manufacturing concerns have had to close down or alter their production if they wanted to avoid extinction. Take hairpins. The bob and the shingle and the Eton crop have reduced the consumption of this aritcle to an infinitesimal fraction of the former volume. And the same fashions have been responsible for tne almost total disappearance of the hatpin. One well-known manufacturer has scrapped his pin machinery and is now making smoking requisites' for ladies.

The big theatrical costumiers have to alter all their antique dresses. They were built for waists such as do no longer exist. Gone are the woollen stockings and those of cotton. Artificial and real silk have not only taken their place, but more than trebled the stocking trade; Gone are muffs. The trade in ladies’ gloves has fallen by 50 per cent. But other industries such as cigarettes, motor-cars, fancy shoes, etc., have received a mighty impetus since women have begun to patronise them. Twenty years, ago the choice of the menu and the wines was invariably left to the man. Tch-day women know how to choose for themselves, and choose well. Very often, however, their knowledge of wines is surpassed by that of cocktails. SLOUCHING BOYS. The smartness of the London girls also contrasts greatly with the untidy appearance of the majority of socalled “smart” young men. The origin of this, is to be found in the advent ■of the “Oxford bags.” On Hampstead Heath, of the, many costers who assembled there on the lasjt bank holiday only one was dressed in “pearlies,” while thousands wore Oxford bags, plum colour being very popular. Eton boys> now seek to distinguish themselves by dressing in as slovenly a way as they can. ‘A visit to the famous Eton college provides the surprise of seeing the lads walking about in spotted, often frayed, trousers;

Pressing is not “it” at all. Thick, wrinkled socks show between the illfitting trousers and the dirty boots-, which are often down-at-the-heel. The only passably tidy attire is the silk hat. i

Quite in keeping with their appearance is the “Eton Tramp Slouch,” which these boys cultivate. It consists in walking about slowly, hands in pockets, shoulders rounded, head, dangling, and feet dragging.