PARIS FASHIONS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1938, Page 8

PARIS FASHIONS

SATIN FOR THE AFTERNOON. Patou has launched a 1 new development in -line with .waists which inched down. to .the lowest normal waistline level and promised to slide into unnatural proportions -with drapings or with sashes which tied well down on the hips. His wonderful afternoon frocks bloused right down ..at the back; were discreetly high at the neckline; showed bishop sleeves gathered into narrow .cuffs; were pleated or gored and represented Patou’s forceful argument in favour of satin for the afternoon. His hats were revolutionary. Even with afternoon frocks, which were very feminine, he remained faithful to an uncompromising version of the enormous sombreros worn by cowboys in Middle West films. His first “ten gallon” hat looks wonderful worn with a green tweed suit, which had a brassstudded leather belt and a .plaid blouse as accessories, and from then on he, developed his sombrero theme until we saw black ten galloners accompanying black afternoon frocks without a wince.

Their shapes didn’t vary. Rolling bound brims and round crowns were the same, with an occasional embroidered pink rose as Patou’s only concession to decoration.

The Bishop Sleeve. Sleeves, again, are significant. Patou and Maggy Rouff both stand firmly by the bishop sleeve, which, long and full, is gathered into a cuff. Maggy Rouff sometimes gets variation into these cuffs by making them narrow away under the wrist. Jean Patou makes cuffless bishop sleeves on one of this swinging sports coats, so that the frock’s contrasting cuffs show underneath; Lelong ends bishop sleeves with enormously wide cuffs made of pierced gold metal, looking, for all the world, like the cuffs fishmongers wear.

And the third significant development in the Paris collections is represented by skirts. Patou gives his swing and movements by pleats or exquisite goring; Schiaparelli gives her skirts a slightly wider hem line, without, however, breaking her characteristically slim line.