CLOTHES IN WARTIME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 200, 22 April 1943, Page 9

CLOTHES IN WARTIME

The Dressmaking Trade Booms When Troops Are In Town |

YNICS have asserted that the main reason why women are so interested in clothes is because they want men to be interested in women. And this theory would seem to hold good even in wartime for, according to a dressmaker interviewed by The Listener, booms and slumps in dressmaking in recent years have coincided with the presence or departure of troops.

On arrival at this dressmakers workshop we looked around at the busy room scattered with all kinds of materials passing through the metamorphosis that transforms dress lengths into "creations." "Isn’t it rather odd that you should be so busy," we asked, "what with ‘austerity clothes’ and coupons, and wartime conditions?" "Wartime would always be boomtime in the dressmaking trade if we could get the girls that we need for our workrooms," replied the dressmaker. "Normally I need 16 or 17 girls and now I could easily employ that number or more, but naturally there are so many calls upon girls to go into the Services or into essential industries that we have great difficulty in getting the dozen or so that you see here. "Curiously enough the rush periods in dressmaking in the first years of the war tended to come and go with the departure of the New Zealand echelons. I suppose the girls would get new outfits to wear during the last days of their boys’ leave. Then there would be a flat period for dressmakers until the next contingent went. However, since the Americans arrived we have had a pretty constant boom: in fact we just can’t meet the demand. Not that you can put it down entirely to that cause: I think a good part of the reason is that girls now just haven’t the time to make their own clothes. Most people are working harder than ever before and in addition most girls do a good deal in the way of Red Cross work or helping at the various clubs. They haven't time fo ‘home make,’ but they do have the money to ge: their frocks made by an expert. Perhaps I could add that American servicemen seem to expect girls to look smart and well groomed. They are pretty outspoken and they don’t hesitate to say whether they like or dislike what a girl is wearing. Have you noticed a difference |

in the office girls that you see about? I have. They have smartened themselves up, and it is a good thing, too." "Of course girls are only a part of our customers, We get married women and business women, too — all sizes and shapes. And we have some difficulty at times in persuading _the larger sizes that a pattern intended for young girls really would not become them. Unfortunately

the illustrations in fashion books are so fascinating that often people do not realise how far their own figures fall short of the ideal." "What about coupons? How does the rationing affect you?" .we asked. "It might have affected us more if we had more girls in the workshop. As it is we have all the work that we can get through. It seems to me that the coupon allowance is very fair and should keep people from spending more, than they need. It is a much more generous ‘allowance than that in Australia or in England. As for materials, I think the new ones we are getting are rather lovely, especially in colour, Of course they are dearer and I don’t think the quality is so good, but it Seems to me rather wonderful that we are getting anything at all." Better Dressmaking "Has simplification of clothes had much effect? Are fashions changing much?" "Simplification or austerity regulations seem to me very sensible. There is still quite a wide margin for widths and lengths of gowns, and even trimmings are not cut out, only the amount of work that they entail is limited. That seems fair enough..On the whole this is gyvod for us because it makes for much better dressmaking. A bad dressmaker can get away with a lot when the whole frock is covered with flounces and trimmings. But there is a swing back to tailored styles and they have to be well made."