The Best Dressed Women

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 245, 6 January 1928, Page 4

The Best Dressed Women

Most women aver that they dress to please themselves; some admit that they dress to excite the envy, and perhaps win the praise, of other women. But the well-dressed woman of to-day studies to please the taste of men, not only those of her own circle, but men generally and artists especially. ' _ Men like straight, plain things, and to-day the criterion of smartness is, simplicity. ■ _ ■ - Woman’s preference tends always toward ornamentation and fussiness, as is shown in the hideous styles of twenty years ago. before women were free to mingle with men as equals and critics. Now women dress very much as men did in bygone years, says a male writer in an English paper. She no longer has ’’party frocks or “tea gowns” or dresses for “occasions. She has evolved a costume, akin in practicability and trimness to a man s lounge suit. .. , t . .. . With her tight, small hat, devoid of feathers and flowers, she is ready for any activity, "slogging” in an office or lunching in a smart restaurant. Any other effect for wear during the day is “frumpy” and the smart woman has a-half dozen of these severly-cut, highly-priced costumes in her wardrobe. ... - In the evening she may indulge herself in bright colours and luxurious silks, but here again she apes the men. The evening gowns of the first fashion are austere in line and very slightly trimmed. The well-dressed women have- four distinct styles to follow according to her type—the stately, the romantic, the picturesque and the ultra modern. To the artist’s eye, the best dressed English women of the first group are the Duchess of Sutherland and Lady Dondonderry, who have fine homes to dignify and magnificent jewels to enrich their clothes. Their idea of dress conforms with their surroundings, and they blend the straightness of line with elaborate materials, which can carry many gems. In Paris, this English type of “grande -dame” is represented by Lady Crewe, the British Ambassador’s wife. '

One finds the romantic style chiefly among the young girls in English society, who like to revive the ancient fashions and who have the youth and grace to defy the hard and fast rules of tyrannical Paris. These young women wear the picture dress and large hats. In the group are the Ladies Mary Thynne, Lettice Lygon, and the Honourable Daphne Vivian, and they have set this fashion certainly in London. Picturesquely dressed Londoners are the beautiful Marchesa de Casa Maury and the Honourable Mrs. Reginald Fellowes. They have individuality and great taste, and always command attention. They derive from the Orient many of their best results, and they are difficult for other women to copy. Lady Louis Mountbatten is the best example of the ultra modern school. She invariably presents the newest ideas in every detail of dress. Her jewels are splendid, but up to date, rather than ancestral; and abroad she is much praised for her carriage and vivacity. Lady Inverforth and her mother, Mrs. Sainsbfiry, are famously well dressed, in this crisp, tense way. Exceptionally smart, too, are Mrs. Schofield and her daughters, from Bradford, who have beauty to aid them. Well-dressed women in London are legion, and to compare them is ungenerous. But the artist can see in a woman’s ensemble effects of which she herself may be uttely oblivious.