The FASHION REVIEW

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 360, 16 October 1930, Page 2

The FASHION REVIEW

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SUZETTE

Simplicity and sensible smartness. Simplicity is the keynote of absolute success in costume and appearance. You are all familiar with the over-dressed person who succeeds only in making herself a freak. But it is quite probable that, however much time she may have devoted to her frills and frippery, she put much less real thought into the assembling of her costume than that very simply dressed woman with the quiet air of distinction. The latter creates an immediate and unconscious impression upon all who see her—whereas the former, while succeeding in her ambition to have all eyes turned in her direction, earns for herself only pity and derision. In this cult for simplicity, one cannot be too emphatic about the importance of trifles. No matter how plain and smart your suit may be, unless your bag, gloves, hosiery, shoes, hat and such accessories as costume jewellery, are chosen with the same good taste, the ensemble will not be harmonious and the effect will be spoiled. To illustrate this, fancy up a smart brown tailored suit, with which is worn brown shoes and stocking of exactly the same shade, a beige blouse and brown gloves. But the unenlightened wearer, because she happens to have a particularly charming string of jade beads, must necessarily wear it—because her grey felt with the touch of blue is her most becoming hat, she wears that too—and proceeds to add to the discord by carrying her new black (and expensive) handbag. Now. . . what a difference if she had indulged in the warranted extravagance of an equally becoming beige or brown hat, worn her amber beads, which, though less handsome, were ever so appropriate, and used her less expensive brown pochette that her friends admired so much “ last year.”

Which brings me to the question of how to choose a wardrobe. For anyone, and perhaps more than ever the girl with a limited income, I would urge that when she is ready to do her purchasing, she should not do it piecemeal. This is fatal, and results in a heterogeneous collection of clothes that serve to no purpose, and is to be condemned for the reason alone that it is an unwonted extravagance. The careful shopper decides upon her ensemble beforehand—at least gets an idea of the main points, the colour, how much she is prepared to spend, etc. She also keeps in mind all the useful garments of which she is already possessed, and which have previously served to no purpose—because these, contrary to popular belief of being white elephants, are often just the thing that is needed when planning and buying a coriipletely new outfit. The careful girl or woman does not buy a pair of new shoes this week because her old ones are shabby; a new hat next week because it happens to be springtime and she feels like a new hat; and finally a new suit—then to come to the hideous conclusion that none of the new things “ go ” together or “ go ” with anything else she possesses. She may have bought black shoes and a red hat, not knowing that she would finally choose a brown suit. No, she is rather inclined to wait, and, buying the suit first, she builds up around it a perfectly planned and chosen ensemble effect. I was going to say a few words about how to be really smart on all occasions—in other words appropriateness of costume, but I find that it will have to be reserved for a later date.