Long Skirts Again ?

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 867, 10 January 1930, Page 1

Long Skirts Again ?

GAY NINETIES RECALLED Auckland Women’s Opinions DO women want long skirts again? A message from London states that the London and Paris dress designers are re-imposing on women the tyranny of the long skirt—that unhygienic, dusty garment worn by the Victorians. “Imagine rushing to catch a tram in a long skirt on a day like this,” remarked one woman this morning. “Are we to lose all our hard-won freedom?” asked another. This morning a SUN representative set out on a round of inquiries to find out what Auckland women, generally, think of this new movement in feminine clothes. It was vastly interesting.

in one of the city's leading drapery establishments a Titian-haired mannequin paraded in a number of the latest gowns w-hich have just arrived from Paris. These soft, clinging, amazing frocks were all for evening wear. They touched the carpet at tile back and tbe sides. They looked as though an idea had been suggested by a mermaid. There were folds of velvet, like foam, which dipped at the sides, and there were numberless other conceits which are all a mystery to mere man. But they ail looked extremely lovely. Afterward it seemed that woman is just as much a slave to fashion as she always has been. There were one or two exceptions, but it seems that for day wear the dress designers have not won the day. Woman prefers her frock short for the street and for games. LONGER IN LONDON "Frocks for evening wear were all long when I left London,” said Lady Tuck, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Nathan, who is visiting Auckland. “Even for day wear they are not as short as they were. At present they reach to the calf of the leg. I think people prefer long frocks for the evening, bilt I do not think the long skirt will ever become the vogue for daywear.” “Just nicely above the ankle,” is how Mrs. Lee Cowie, the noted Prohibitionist, would like to see all frocks today'. “I utterly disapprove of the present short skirts,” she continued. “I would prefer to see them long again. Not those abominations which dragged up all the germs,” she hastened to add, “but just nicely above the ankle. I do not like to see the knee showing. “I was brought up in the Victorian period, you know, and we were taught modesty in dress, behaviour and manners. It gives me a shock to see married women in the street wearing such short frocks. Personally I would welcome a lengthening ot' the skirts, but not to such a length as to bring back the Old-fashioned trains.” It seemed to the reporter that trains have returned to some extent in the exclusive Paris and London houses. Miss M. E. Hurley. London and Continental buyer for John Court, Ltd., who has just returned after spending two years abroad, produced ! some illustrations of the latest gowns : and these would certainly need to be I held daintily by the hand if tlie i wearers attempted to dance in them. ! Yards of filmy material appeared to be floating round the feet of the j wearers. J “Long dresses have been accepted !in the important London and Paris i houses.” she said, “but skirts are stiil | short for the street and for sports. I These are certainly' three or four inches longer than they used to be. Miss Hurley mentioned that the girl with beautiful legs, which were perhaps her best asset, would always want to show them, and so the skirt was given an uneven hem to suit her. j Short women looked taller in long ! skirts and tall women taller still., | “I don’t think women dress to please ; men nowadays,” continued Miss Hur--1 ley. "I think they dress to create envy in each other. A beautiful froeir ; gives a woman a tremendous sense i of personal satisfaction. "Lelong, one of the leading Paris j designers, is fighting to bripg back the long skirt and the normal waistline. Yes I am certain that the long j frock for evening wear has come to stay, but women will never go back , t.o long skirts in the day' time.” TENNIS IN LONG SKIRTS? !• “I would like to see men playing i

tennis in long skirts,” was Miss Marjorie Miyefariane’s opening comment. Site, as a champion tennis player, .rev fuses to believe that women will even be so foolish as to accept long skirts on the tennis court or for any other sport. “I don’t mind really' what I wear so long as I don’t have to playgames in long skirts,” she continued, “hut I suppose if everybody else wore tbem I would have to. “Just imagine what it would be like going on the tennis court with skirts which reached the ground at the back. I suppose we would liave to play with one hand, holding our skirts with the ether. I can’t imagine the girls I saw in England ever going back to long skirts for sport. Pesonally I don’t think they will ever go back to them—the short skirt to the knee is so much easier to run about in, and tennis clothes nowadays are almost uniform.” Miss Macfarlane added that long skirts required all sorts of other things like petticoats to be worn with them and these, as she remembers from her school days, are extremely uncomfortable when playing tennis. If it came to a choice between the two modes, the Rev. Wilna Constable. Unitarian minister, would rather have the extreme short than the extreme long. “What one wants is a dress suitable for the occasion and for the work which one is doing,” she remarked. “I am thankful that a ministerial dress has not been imposed on women preachers for the street. I would object most strongly to that. A gown is quite all right for the pulpit, but I do not want a clerical ‘dog collar’ Rutile street.” Mrs. Constable considers that it would be extremely silly to wear long skirts again in the street. “Most unhygienic, swishing about in the dust.” was how she described them. “We have only to look at the old photographs to see how sensible the clothes of today are. I think for real outdoor life, such as mountaineering, riding, or walking, women should adopt the divided skirt or breeches, instead of having skirts flopping about- their legs. At Home some of the women still ride side-saddle, wearing costumes which are rather dangerous. For evening wear I don’t think the length matters very much, although we don’t want them very long again. Just to the ankles would, I think, he the best.”

“There will be a long struggle before women again adopt long skirts for day wear,” said Miss L. Scott, head of the show-room at the Farmers’ Trading Company-, Ltd. “Long frocks for evening wear are already in; down to the ankles, but not for day wear.” Miss Scott drew an imaginary picture of a woman of today rushing to catch a tram in the rain and clutching at a long skirt which trailed behind her. She considers that the long frock is certainly more graceful for evening wear, but not for day functions. “SOME AWFUL SIGHTS"

“Personally I am in favour of the long skirt,” said Miss Pat Kendall, the English dancer who is appearing at His Majesty’s Theatre. “One sees some awful sights in short skirts, and it is usually the worst who wear the shortest. “For day wear the long skirt is not practicable, but I like to see them about three-quarter length. Evening dresses, from the point of view of the artist, should always be long. Even the nicest legs, and you don’t see many of those, look nicest when they are covered, and the line of the long frock is always more graceful than the short. Yes, short for sport. 1 can’t imagine anything funnier than women play-ing ’tennis' in long, trailing skirts.”