SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1932.
THE CHINA MAIL.
&ve
26, The Arcade,
Gloucester Building.
SMART SPRING
DRESSES
IN.
Crepe, Georgette, &
Silk Voiles, from $30.00. Washing Prints
from $12.50. White Silk Tennis
Dresses $21.00.
The WOMAN'S Page
LONDON'S CHALLENGE
TO PARIS.
By Joanna Slade.
London has challenged the sup- Molyneux, the famous British dress fect workmanship with those gen- remacy of Paris as a fashion centre,, designer in Paris, who is one of the uine qualities for which English and English dress designers are youngest men to wear the red rib-textiles are justly famous.
London Dress Shows. nking splendid efforts to capture bon of the Legion d'Honneur, for the
The London dress shows are so high-class model market at services rendered to the Dress In- home, and attract foreign buyers dustry of France, is going to open a Interesting and exciting that I have tempted by exchange advantages. branch over here. Here we have postponed my visit to Paris in order Great things have been accom- man. British, public-spirited, en-to see more of them. When I go to plished so far. But Paris is alarmed-ahe does not take our chal-1 lenge seriously! Let us ask our- selves WHY?
not
Let us try to see English dress design and English textiles with the
5586124 12340538836687-781860s of the sharpest critics in the
world the international buyers, now have flocked four H who up to
times a year to Paris.
SPRING
SALE
NOW
YEE
ON
SANG FAT
Co., Ltd.
These men and women want value for their money. It is not enough a model should be smart. that fashionable and attractive. The finish must be irreproachable, the material exclusive, and in this rea- pect submit that the majority of English model ekathes fall short of perfection.
The future of London as a lead- ing fashion centre reste, unt only in The hands of its famous dress de- signers, but in the hands of every little workgirl who curries out the aletails that make or mar their work. if we could bring the rank and file of the dress industry to look on their work as a calling which de- manda artistic gifts of a high order, | we could make London the Fashion centre of the world.
If we could purge the dress in- dustry of its purely commercial ideals, we should achieve commer-
⠀⠀cial success. We should create an
atmosphere which would attract
J&|||||36|||778423811993|34|||||OME zrtists to devote their talents to the
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dress industry. We should raise it to the honoured position it occupies in France.
It is
British Manufacturers.
thusiastic, who understands the thut Captain Couture Industry from A to Z, who good news
wants to help his country. Let us listen to him.
Captain Molyneux is dong a great service to British textile manufac turers by explaining to them the requirements of the high-class model trade, giving pralse where praise is due-advice encourage- ment, criticism.
English textiles are in many ways the best in the world, they stand for quality. But the minds of textile designers must be plastic to receive the impress of the coming modes; they must be quick to anticipate changes of fashion to offer British model dress designers fabrics ex- clusive to their firm. The "take-it- sometimes or-leave-it spirit" one
Anda over here gives confidence to our foreign competitors.
I believe that Britain stands on the threshold of a great renaissance In what should be a branch of ART -the dress industry. The genius which inspired the designs of Wil- liam Morris, the talent that made the name of a young Englishman, Worth, famous in Paris, will blos- Bom again in the studios of our textile designers, in the work-rooma of our model-makers.
Then London will become the Mecca to which buyers from all over the world will flock to buy clothes, which unite artistic design and per-
Paris later on I shall be able to compare the models shown in both capitals and tell you just how they differ-where London leads-where Paris scores.
The tailored clothes at a recent] important dress show were on a very high level, and many of the. simplest unlined suits were admir- able in design and execution. The skirts were cut on straighter lines than those to which we have been
and accustomed,
the coats were nipped in at the waist. Interesting! belts, original scarves and jaunty epaulets gave individuality to many of the models, Where tailored clothes are concerned London cani congratulate herself on the achlove ments of the Big Three-London's! most famous fashion designers. · ·
The more elaborate clothes were
less successful, especially the Ascot
Le to
ཞིགས་
models. But these famous designer dress parade had a button trimmed depressing, especially in black!
A pinafore frock seen at a big Autumn, and it struck me as most English designers appreciate the are obliged
Importance of perfect accessories to cater for popular
A georgette frock trimmed with specially designed to match the on- taste Half the Society women one bib, and was worn over a blouse of
functions striped jersey, and a Summer frock diamante and jet seen at the same semble. sees at smart Summer like Ascot, the Eton and Harrow of pale green washing silk had a show struck
me as being rather Some of the afternoon and even- match, the Royal Garden Farty, ap-yellow scarf trimmed with orange overlonded, and I do
not suppose ing dresses shown by London de-. pear to be obsessed by patterned and brown spots, repeated in a that the designer of a georgette signers struck me
as being over- chiffon.
yellow and brown belt.
evening ensemble trimmed with fox.loaded-too much of a good thing. Slim, or not ao slim, one sees them Arust coloured suit was worn who had hung a fox tail just where The London collections I have seen clad in chiffon dresses, often chilly, with an attractive blouse, and scarf a human tail would come, if we had so far have impressed me with the, but always convinced that they of Paisley silk, and a woollen frock these appendages, meant us to take fact that English dress designers doing the right thing!
had epaulets of open meshed it seriously!
The woman with a reputation for material like knitting, and a cap good dressing chooses somethwhich combined both materials. less elaborate, which stands out Wool velvet with the pile shaved of dressed-up off was featured in several models, I saw this material in Paris in the
among women.
crowd
AND HAIR DON'T COUNT
LOT
NO, IF YOU WANT EM TO BRING
TEARS TO
YOUR
EYES
By George Studdy
THEY SOMEHOW JUST
HAVE TO BE
FAT
Outsize Models.
have great originality and enter- prise. If they will study the art of eliminating superflupus trimmings
I was delighted to observe that and bring the technical details of all our leading English designers finish up to the standard of design cater sympathetically for the figure London may yet become the leading which is less slim than its owner Fashion centre. would like it to be. The supply of first-cines outsize models never meets the demand, and it looks as if London might capture this very profitable market.
The tulle evening dresses shown by a certain young man who has made his name famous in London and Paris as a dress designer had that elusive charm which is 4880- ciated with all his evening frocks. Exquisite tulle frocks, in blue, pink, white with spangled flower designs made human girls look like fairies.
Fitted and finished off perfectly, they set off the flower-like beauty of exquisite English mannequins to perfection. The debutante does not need to look beyond London to find a dress designer who can make her loveliest.
A famous woman designer who specialises in elegant clothes for the larger figure showed somo perfectly cut afternoon conta trimmed with handsome fur collars, and built on very slimming lines. London's well- known Court dressmaker, who is year by year entrusted with the honour of designing model Court dresses suitable for dowager and debutante for Her Majesty's ap- proval, showed some trply regal frocks.
Many novel accessories in the way of jewellery, gloves, and bags have been shown at all the dress shows
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