News From a Paris Showroom

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 200, 12 November 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

News From a Paris Showroom

Skirts to be Longer . . Crepe de Chine Ousted . . Invasion of Lame

PARIS, October 6. The ordinary visitor may say that fashions have no changed, that skirts are as short, that figures are as slim, and that hats are as unbecoming as ever. Broadly speaking, this is true; but ask any woman who follows fashion closely and she will tell you that it is impossible to wear last year’s frocks without having them remade; that last season’s hats are quite out of all question; that . . . but she will go on for ever to prove her point if you will listen. The most notable changes have been made in materials. Crepe de chine has given place to satin, velvet, woollen crepe, marocain. Georgette is still used, but not for so many kinds of dresses. And the preponderance is given to materials which have gold i threads among their beiges, greys, ; blacks, whites. Every colour you can { name, indeed, is woven with gold, and j called, broadly, lame, j There was a time, not so long ago, ! when gold tissue, and tissues with gold | threads interwoven, were worn in the ; evening only; but now you can play l golf in a jumper which is threaded with gold, you can have a tailor-made with a plaid skirt that glistens with gold, you can wear a gold lame jumper for tea, and, if you like, you can line every garment you possess with lame. The invasion of lame into every moment of the day’s clothes is one of Fashion’s changes which may not be denied. FULLER SKIRTS Another change is the shape of the skirt. No skirt is so tight this season that walking in it becomes a struggle to keep on the feet. There is always fullness somewhere. A fold-over tweed skirt is provided with penty of material to ‘‘give” when its wearer steps out or up. A kasha or jersey skirt to a sports suit has sections of pleats here and there, round about the knees. A dance dres is almost voluminous with draperies that overlap, or with shaped skirts which flow or dip, or, again, with side draperies which fall below the hem. Skirts, too, are just a very little longer. Evening dresses only have long skirts, and these are exceptions, not rules. It is fashionable to have longer, but not long, skirts, and they must look slim, however voluminous the draperies. This is where the subtle change in skirts is easily seen by the expert in fashion. To look slim and yet have skirts that are well furnished with draperies is not easy. Formerly a skirt looked slim, and was slim in itself. A hem which measured two yards is now replaced by one which may measure three or four. * The difference between the two is important since it means that dresses a.re much more difficult to make, take more material, and need careful wearing. HIGHER WAISTLINE The change in the cut of the bodices is just as subtle as that in the skirts.

( The waistline is not clearly defined as being high, but it is higher, and it is

crooked, and it may be curved. You set your waistline as you season your soup: every time anew. Your jumper remains slim and straight, with a narrow belt to break the stripes, or whatever pattern may cover it, round the hips. Your afternoon dress is made with a crossover drapery, caught to a jewelled clasp on one hip, and the back is cut by a crooked bolero-like drapery which falls from the shoulder. To say just where the waistline is would be difficult. For the evening you may have one of the new princess robes, with a clearly but softly defined waistline, set at normal, or you may have a picture dress, with a pointed bodice and the waist set above the hips, but not quite at normal. Long coats follow the same lines as the dresses they are worn with. They all have some fullness, and the sleeves are important, wide at the wrists, with deep fur trimmings, or ballooned and caught in fur bands. Sleeves on afternoon dresses should also be noticed. They are graceful in line and variously trimmed. Then there is jewellery. Dress jewellery is one of the features of the season. There is no pretence to claim for it intrinsic value. Its purpose is decorative. The paste clasps, buttons, buckles, belts, the same things in coloured stones, the necklaces, the bracelets, which are worn on dresses of all kinds, from the sport jumper to the most ceremonious of evening dresses, is something to marvel about. If the dressmakers did not use them so skilfully they would look very vulgar, and, to be frank, there is a danger of vulgarity in this fashion. One topaz buckle, two good paste clasps, fulfilling their respective purposes, are quite acceptable; but when a woman loads herself with jewelled chains, bracelets, buckles, clasps, and proudly proclaims them decorative, taste protests.