PICTORIAL SUPPLEMENT
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, JANUARY 26th, 1929.
PAGE THREE
The Role of Fur in Paris Fashion
BY JEAN PATOÛ
[IHÈ subject of winter fashions
Paris, Can hardly
The of wine want a serious cul-
sideration of furs. And yet this was not al- ways so. If a couturier ventured 25 years ago to speak with confidence and authority about fur in genern he would have been regarded..
something like an imposter, best a craftsman wandering in a field foreign to him. A quarter of a century ago a fur coat was a heavy, stiff and cumbersome allnir, with very little beauty except that of the naturni pelt. It was further stiffened by coarse linen linings and the result was that wameh looked bare,t of any grace of line.
Then the couturier entered the fold of fur, There was a great demand for him. il treats ed fur with the art of the dramaker, What personality or originality would an afternou enable offer without a necessary fur trim- ming? As for an evening eat, it' is the lavishi use of saft and precious, fura allied with luxuri-, ous fabrics that strike the note o sumptuous- ness essential in any gala drese.
The couturier began by enticing Che aid of competent men who knew their tohs well and who combined the profession of furrier with that of the dress ereator. The result is now seen by the fact that furs can be handled with the same facility as a piece of mat, rial. FOR a long time I am speaking of years he- -
fore the war, it hurt my sense of the ethe tip to see women plaerd to so great a dis- advantage with their furs. That is why I decided to have my own furs worked under my direction.
From that time on couturiers worthy of the name followed the lead and started in to mani- pulate pelts as they should be, although with a ertain amount of prodigality. After a while nobody dreamed of questioning this prerogative nor of contesting the influence which the use of fur was bound to have on fashions in general.
We have now reached the point where fur plays a muck 'more important part in fashiona than that of an additional trimming. It not only does this but als emphasizes the lines of a cost, when it does not constitute in itself, the charakteristie movement of a creation..
It is not necessary to be andress creator in realize that an effert arrived at by placing material in a certain fashion is intensified bundredfold it fur is usel to outline . The softness of the fur can never hurt the eye and it helps to underline any intricacies of cut that otherwho might be passed by/
But for a couturier to possess a fur departs ment is not enough. The matter of getting the best of a great variety of fur from the most reFable sources of sappily is of first importance, by any nothing of the time and skill reynired in the numerous operations fur has to undergo before it becomes a fashionable coat.
N establishment such as mine, utilizing a really, insportant quantity of für each sea- son, can but effect purchases in the country of Origin. If women stopped to think of the hard- ships, efforts and sacrifices entailed to obtain and offer them furs for their adornment, they might appreciate better a feature of Tashions that has become indispensable to them,
How few women, possessing a valuable coat of chinchilla op sables, realize that in or der to give their wraps that look of continuity several hundred yards of scaming has to be done.
When they happen to see the inside of their euits they are apt to believe they are dif made up of small pieres, which is wrong. All these seama represent a great art, one in which the French furrier excls.
f
Fow women know that furs like sealskin. example, arriving, on the London market from the glacial regions, achieve their "etape" in Paris. where they are sent for dyeing purs es, afterwards returning to London to un- dergo the final preparation.
From there they are shipped to every com try in the world and it sometimes happens that a skin will return to its point of departure. I have known severul people who have been hap ps and proud to buy and bring back furs from their place of origin, little dreaming that they thus have made them effeel a third Voyage across the Atlantic,
THERE is no denying the fact that Paris now
launches far modes just as it dues all others. The proof of this statement can be found in the way furriers allow themselves to be guided by The fashions launcfied by the dress greators ber Fore creating their own models..
With the couturier the preparation of fur's is on the road to becoming a fine art. De j continually seeking for new ideas and new metheuls of utilizing this now indispensable medium of adorning his elaborate creations, and although Immensurable progress has been made in this direction, 1 hope to go on doing better until something like perfection has been reached.
1
An Ermine Cont Cut With Circular Flounce And Scalloped Hem Has the Softness Of a Cloth Wrap
Dyed Fox Trinis This Ensemble. The Cloth Is Brown, Speckled With Beige
Asirakan
Is Used in An Original, Manner On This Coat
Of Gray Cloth
Characteristically Patouesque Is the Way
In Which Muskrat Fur Makes
The Scarf, Muff and Cuffs of This Costumo
Quiet Luxury
Is the Motif
Of This Coat
Of Black Velvet
Trimmed With Silver Fox