FASHION PARADE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 99, 17 December 1931, Page 7

FASHION PARADE

MODERN GOWNS AS DISPLAYED IN FRANCE NOVEL AN DAMUSING HATS PARIS, Saturday. I have just returned from a large fashion parade, and^ inspired by the perfect frocks I have seen, I am writing to you before the visions I fade from my memory. The most interesting frock was j one in heavy white crepe,_ made with i a bustle baek draped from the hips over a pleated skirt, which again was mounted on a frilled taffeta petticoat. It was buttoned down the front in real Alexandra style with diamante buttons, and had the low back outlined in diamante studded soutache. Another bustle frock was in heavy white satin as stiff as that of which our grandmother's wedding dresses were made, and it was designed on severe lines, with a lot of plain seams and some fullness gathered under the puff bustle. Another white dress was of plain white cloth and was the first cloth dress designed on evening lines. It had no bustle, but -a line of fulness from the hips, and the' top was of a coat of mail of pearls. Another unusual material was an elaborate dress of wool crochet in a damask design in a bright lapis blue mace for what the dress designer called a "frileuse," which, I presume, is the French for a chilly mortal. But as it had a very low line at the back the wearer must have suffered from only local chills. It was on the slender princess lines that have been fashionable until the first suggestion of bustles appeared, and it had a deep narrow belt ornament in lapis blue. Some very lovely dresses in heavy black faille were made with drapery of various kinds at the back, and this was almost universally lined in either red or rose pink. One black dress in lace and georgette had a curious bustle made of red and blue cire ribbon arranged in loops. But among the bustle gowns were shown some models on the slenderer lines that are worn at the present time by tliose who cordially dislike bustles, and they differ very little from those of last season, sweeping the ground in lovely slenderising line and suggesting dignity and beauty. An unusual medieval gown was in pale jade green georgette made with long puffed sleeves and a slight train. This was a dinner gown. Ha4 Display This morning there was a hat display given by a well-known French designer. She showed a variety of quaint shapes, some like children's poke bonnets, with ribbons tied under tho chin to one side, and others like flat, broad pork pies, with the trimming in ruches brought down at the back. Nearly all her trimming was at the back, as there it was most needed to break the line of the growing hair. Pancake hats mounted on side bandeaus and others with strands of ribbon crossing the head were arranged 011 growing coiffures. There was a supple square crown introduced on some that were in a chiffon velour, of which the brim was left unstiffened. Tricones, with a new side movement, resting like a yacht under the wind, were other I novelties, and there were some hats with a flattened front brim that were based on the late Georgian beaux hats. Others like boaters were amusing. It seemed that most of the novelties needed far too much adjusting for busy women to take to them easily, and they certainly were not the kind of hats that one could pull on in the dark or in a hurry. The usual cocktails and caviare helped to make the pretty things look roseate to young and old, and numerous other cocktail parties are listed for coming weeks, when new collections of all kinds, including new corsets, as well as clothes, will ' be shown. Well, that is all for this week. I suppose you are all preparing for Christmas and, in case I cannot get another letter to you in time, I wish you the merriest Christmas and all good luck in the New Year. /?'■