THE CHOOSING OF COLOURS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 920, 13 March 1930, Page 4

THE CHOOSING OF COLOURS

Tlie greater the difficulty overcome, the greater the triumph. Once one has seen a perfect three-colour costume, one can seize upon the idea for oneself, but one must not be influenced by cheap copies of multicoloured models with a badly assorted colour range. The two-colour idea may be carried out by the frock alone, and this is especially smart when the lighter tint is used for a long tunic or for the upper part of the frock. Here, again, beige and grey are smart. Colour wrongly selected, has the power to undo the work of the best designer. Colour can vulgarise; colour can outdate. Colour, successfully chosen, fits the mode, the season, the place, the time of day, and the occasion when it is worn, and, moreover, it expresses the personality of the wearer. It is more than merely becoming. It can key up the undecided personality, can tone down the flamboyant.

WHEN TWO OR MORE SHADES MEET.

Since one colour may have such a decided effect upon another, one-colour costumes present the fewest problems. However, there is a strong impetus toward two-colour and three-colour costumes. Fur colours, for instance, in silks and other fabrics, should be chosen for the dress that goes with a fur-trimmed coat, instead of for the coat itself. But, when one reads of a blue coat trimmed with cross fox and worn over a frock that matches one of the tones of the fur, this does not mean that any blue and any yellowbeige may be used together. A far easier interpretation of the two-colour idea is the black or dark brown coat trimmed with natural caracal and worn with a frock that matches the fur. A contrast between fur and coat is the height of smartness. Various shades of yellow are important in fox furs, and badger with black is a new note. To choose one of the new Riviera colours is to be in the vanguard of chic. There is a so-called dusty quality in the smart pinks and blues, the yellows and the mauves, an ivory cast to the newest white. One finds, on close examination, that there is an admixture of white iu the weave that has a subtle effect upon each colour. A dusty mauve-pink, for instance, happens to be smarter, just at present, than a clear one.