1942 FASHION TRENDS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 131, 26 December 1941, Page 42

1942 FASHION TRENDS

? AR or no war, coupons or no W/ coupons, this year’s clothes show no signs of being unobtrusive. First, there is the vogue for colour. The coloured suit, candy-pink with purple, bronze with green, mustard with turquoise, shows signs of challenging the supremacy of its little black prototype. And pink, in every shade from palest rose through candy to cerise, bids fair to become the fashion shade for 1942. The pink and black ensemble seems likely to prove a serious rival to the usual navy-and-white or black-and-white. Another> notable feature of recent overseas showings is the accent on decorative embroidery-the new respect for workmanship. Wool, braid, jet and sequins are all in demand for plain fabric frocks, and the model play dress shown at the right owes its originality to the clever use of a decorative border. eThe evening frock proper still tends to be bouffant and romantic, as our illustration shows. But the tea-dance frock is coming into prominence for the less formal dances of war-time, and, while it is short, often shows the décolleté neck-line of the evéning frock proper. But the days are gone when we had to allow fashions to be dictated to us from abroad, gnd to-day we can work out our own salvation in the fashion world. So we can reject with scorn the half-way hemline, and perhaps even the décolleté afternoon frock. But most women will agree that pink is a good idea. And there’s something about hand embroidery .. .