Paris Again a Household Word In Fashion News

Lake County Mail, Issue 9, 23 July 1947, Page 7

Paris Again a Household Word In Fashion News

French fashion houses are again making their influence felt in the fashion world. Years of German occupation meant that many of the great French fashion houses practically went out of business while others pinched and scraped to keep going. The war had barely ended, however, when they were hard at work again. It was an uphill struggle. Austerity was the order of the day in France, all the French ingenuity was called into play to fashion glamour out of, in some cases what was literally sack-cloth. American designers also had a firm hold on the American fashion world—one of France’s most productive markets. ; France and fashions are, however, for some peculiar reason, synonymous to women the world over and no matter what American and English designers may produce the fashion houses of France still have that indefinable appeal. Maybe it is the unerring flair for line rather than intricate detail, the ability to create something devastatingly simple which *looks equally devastatingly expensive or simply Parisienne chic. Blossoming out from their first necessary austerity, French couturiers are now showing garments equalling and even surpassing their pre-war displays. Times are not yet easy, but they are making the most of what they have. The fantastically exaggerated femininity, which was a feature-of the first post-war French models has noAV given way to a modified version. Very few tailored lines are being shown, however. Shoulder lines are rounded, the very popular three-quarter length coats feature nipped in waists, flaring out over the hips and flowing sleeves. The low drooping neck-line is still the vogue whether it be for afternoon or evening frocks. Little hats froth with flowers , and feathers. Paris, like an old theatre, now is shabby and in need of a coat of paint, but the players contrive to • dress as brilliantly and strut their stage in the play of fashion as gaily as they ever did; and taking no notice of the drab stage the world beyond the footlights can only lean forward and applaud that spirit which has made Paris the Queen of cities.