Clothes that are Easy tio Wear: The Craze for Metal Shoes London.
The London fashions for autumn which are already being shown in some of the salons in the West End will appeal immensely to women. They are more adaptable than -the fashions of last season, although perhaps they are not quite so jaunty. But, after all, jauntiness appeals to only one section of the women who are searching for becoming clothes. The older woman, who has been neglected of late, will find these new autumn clothes very easy to wear.
The high waist, for example, need worry' no one. There are several ingenious variations of it, and London designers. have studied it carefully with the idea of adapting it to suit the English figure. On many models-it drops at the back to a little below the normal waistline, and some of the belts are adjustable to any figure.
I recently saw at a London house some woollen sports suits having corselet skirts which were cut to a point in front; this buttoned on to a tab of the material on the crepe blouse. At the back a belt was fitted at the normal waistline over the skirt. Even on. some of the jumpers the high waist is stressed in the-design. But these are usually more becoming to the younger woman. Her mother will prefer the belted woollen jumpers and jerkins which are shown in nearly every house.
Another fashion which is sure of a welcome is the wrap-over dress, which has definitely arrived this season, It may fasten at the back if you prefer, but it is easier, and often more attractive, to have the opening in front, with buttons or clips or some patent fastening to add interest and act as trimming.
Another easy-to-wear newcomer is the raglan sleeve, which will be seen morning, noon, and night next season. This is more important, really, than it appears at first sight, for it is one of the reasons why those "jaunty" lines have passed.
With it have arrived the three-quarter coat and the longish jacket which passes the hips, the cleverly set-in yokes and the hundred and one new kinds of fur scarves, "nieces," and capes. On sports and evening wraps this sleeve is usually very loose; but on the morning suit and the afternoon coat it is nearly always cut in such a way that the silhouette looses very little of its trimness.
It is going to be the fashion this autumn to load oneself. heavily with metal. Massive chromium bracelets like elegant handcuffs, some in the shape of miniature gauntlets, and ropes of metal necklets twisted and worked, will serve to brighten @ shower, plain dresses. I saw wearing what seemed to be a wide metal collar like an African native's, for we are only now seeing the effect of last year's French Colonial Exhibition on fashion. The collar looked smart—but thoroughly uncomfortable!
Some of the designers are using what looks like chromium or brass headed nails as a trimming on belts ar shoulders, and there are some new fasteners which are really only enormous press-buttons. But they look like the kind of pointed studs which ornamented the shields of the ancient Britons, so they evoke a considerable amount of curiosity. the designer's idea. The newest thing is to have a bag which is closed by means of a fastener which looks like part of an engine—a cog, or a valve, or something else' which suggests a mechanical mind.
Very much the same idea is seen on the latest belts. Ordinary buckles are things of the past. I saw one which had a couple of chains slipped through a thick meta] book, and another made of a metal circle with a tiny wooden stick pushed through it. They are all amusing, though I confess that it took the mannequins who showed them a couple of minutes' concentrated effort to get one or two of them off.
Shoes seem to be the only access sories to have escaped the vogue for metal. Sandals -are still very strongly in favour for the evening, and some of the new autumn models are made of soutache braid in gold and silver and pastel shades. They look rather like the shoes of woven string and leather which are so popular now for the beach, Another new material for evening is grosgrain ribbon ornamented here and there with hand-stitching.
Shoes made in sections with a border which curls away from the foot are very attractive, and there is a trimming made of fine gold leather piping forming a stalk which ends in a tiny leaf. I liked some of the new mules made of satin cut on the bias and folded in and out over the toes, Many of the new velvet gowns have shoes to match. The new "velours pay san," which is a velvet with a crepe surface, as well as the new dull velvet, is being used. One designer showed me some shoes in a rich wine-coloured velvet, covered with a hand-made gold net which allowed only the toecaps and heels to be visible.
For the sportswoman, however, the new pony skin shoes will be interesting. These are not unlike calf-skin in appearance, and the surface is extraordinarily resistant to wear. I was told by the designer that a pair of these shoes would last ten years!
Nothing is ever wasted in the dressmaking world. Everyone will remember the thick floss silk of which we made jumpers just after the war. Well, I saw it used in a big house as a trimming on evening frocks and jackets and day-time gauntlet gloves. It looked like fine ostrich feather fronds, but no, it was artificial silk curied and stiffened. It struck everyone as very novel, but not one of. the spectators at the show had the courage to ask what would happen to it if it were caught one woman; @Another amusing novelty is the "sequin," made of velvet or linen or pique, covering an evening dress of tulle. I was assured that each of these was sewn on by hand, and it is credible, for on one dress made of velvet "sequins" the square neckline was bordered by a ruffe made of the perforated velvet from which the sequins had been cut, rine hen anson
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.