FABRIC RESTRICTIONS—YES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 178, 20 November 1942, Page 8

FABRIC RESTRICTIONS—YES

Fashion Restrictions — No

E’RE on the set at the Government Film Studios, _ Miramar, and the crew is getting ready to take shots for the next Film Unit short "Simplified Clothing." And while cameramen push cameras back and forth and lightmen flick arc lights on and off, the director confides to me that this is the first time the Film Unit has attempted anything in the nature ‘of a fashion show, anything with a specific appeal to the female section of the audience. In keeping with the subject, the set is simple. A simple pillar, a simple balustrade and a simple flight of four plasterboard steps, set against a simple background of clouds and _ landscape. And now we're almost ready for the models to arrive on set. But downstairs in the dressing room there’s still some confusion, The models, who’ve never done this sort of thing before, gaze

Tatnher askance at. yellow’ faces and _ purple lips, and . tweek skirts anxi- .

ously and experiment with alternative hat angles. Finally, all are shepherded upstairs by the script girl and hover in the wings waiting the call. Simple Suits I eye them interestedly. All three are wearing simplified suits, and it’s diffi--cult for anyone but a connoisseur to tell the difference between simplicity and pre-simplicity clothing, at any rate, as far as suits are concerned. "Why are they ‘simplicity’?" I ask. Model A, in neat black braid-edged tailleur enumerates the points of her costume. "It’s rather shorter, for one thing. You can’t have your skirts less than 15 inches from the ground, and this is 18. Then there’s the. coat, single-breasted and no pocket-flaps, and the sleeves narrow, lapels small, and an unexaggerated shoulder line." Model B in greenish-brown Harris tweed redolent of Country Life, takes up the tale. "There’s a regulation about the all-round measurement of skirts, too. Not more than 58 inches round the

hem if you’re an _ under-forty hip measurement. So you see, there are only two pleats in the front and none in the back." Solo Effort "And what about Model C?" I ask. Model C is an attractive suit of bottlegreen and white check. Its ‘simplicity’ was not, at first glance, apparent, for its three front pleats and three patch pockets suggest a certain disregard for the spirit, if not the letter, of the newlygazetted Factory Emergency Regulations. But even Model C demonstrates one plank in the simplicity clothing platform, for the longer-length jacket represents the maximum measurement (1014in,) from waist to hem, But now there’s a call for models. In a soothing voice from the right side of the stage the assistant-director gives instructions: A and B are to stand talking at the top of the steps, their attention is called to something at the right, they glance in that direction, then by mutual consent, turn together down the stairs as Model C comes up from behind. Five rehearsals, the final one with lights, and then the take. Cameras burr, the director-in-chief yells "cut," and Models A and B relax till close-up time. (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) And now it’s the turn of Model C. Hers is a solo effort, one slow and lingering turn to show off all the points of the "green and white check, and then down the stairs out of camera range. Two rehearsals, and again the camera burrs. Short for Evening The models ‘hurry down to the dressing room to change for the next take. But we have no time to wait for the slow grinding of camera wheels, and have to -content ourselves with viewing off set the highlights of the Simplicity — collection. "No long dinner or evening frocks," says the edict. But the simplified

aiternoon and evening models have lost none of their glamour through having their yardage restricted. There’s a junior model in flame crepe with a shaped midriff band studded with enamelled stars, and sash ends that tie at the back, and a lovely little blue woollen peg-top dress with striped collar and cuffs. And for town or sports wear an emerald-green stud-front frock with pleats back and front. Coats, too. One grey camel hair has a@ generous. wrapover and darge pockets with double, cuffs.. (ae "But isn’t this a simplicity, model?" we ask in bewilderment. "These things are really no different from the clothes we've been wearing or envying in shopwindows for the last year or so. We expected each model to be more or less a foundation garment, the apotheosis of simplicity, merely what was left of a reasonably attractive outfit after each superfluous inch has been purged away." "No, that’s one good thing about the regulations." savs

the Wardrobe Mistress. "We're restricting the amount of fabric a

in the new clothes, ¥ but we've still had enough material left us to make

each style distinct " from the others. We haven’t been reduced to bread-and-butter garments, Take this coat, for instance." She points to what appears a moderately voluminous travel coat in a grape-coloured check tweed. "Now we had a model like that before the restrictions came in, with deep, unpressed pleats in the back. It took half a yard more material than the regulations allowed. But now we’ve adapted it to conform, and instead of the deep pleats, we have a flare that falls into .what look like unpressed pleats. The effect is almost the same, but this is the simplified. version." We sighed with relief. There is obviously no rigid line separating "simplicity" from pre-simplicity models.