The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-05-20
Attractive Goods For
 Summer Fr0Cks
By IMAGERY WELLS

How one does welcome the season Tor the thin summer dress The acme of informality has been reached. The season when thin things ana unpretentious things are au fait has presented itself.
 It used to be truth that, in the l city, there were very few opportuni- ties for the wearing of the summer | frock, but that era has passed away, | due to the fact that designers have | considered the city girl, her neces- sities and her activities, and they have produced lot Of frocks which are just as useful for her as for her country sisters You see. we used to be so scared of the pressing and washing and mussng. Nothing seemed to keep it's shape for more than minute and it's freshness more than an hour. So. what was city girl to do with fluffiness and a day before her of work and heat and fatigue? She just had to forego all the joys of being cool in that way. Now the situation has changed ma terlally. There are tailored frocks Of non -mussable material and straight dresses of prints that are SO completely covered with pattern and color that mussing does not show and soiled spots are submerged by the color and design The frocks
  be sure, but not oftener than is humanly possible.
 brief two or three months in wash frocks sends you back to warmer things with relief and an enthusiasm that are distinctly worth while, but without that interval of cool dressing you have none of the inspiration that comes with a return to heavier costumes and suits and wooden dresses.
 FrocISs Of Cotton Rntine.
 Linen goes into creases at the least possible notice, but there is the cotton ratine, with a rough Turkish towel sort of finish which gives much the same effect s linen and h0 the happy faculty of keeping it's shape and it's contour through every emergency. Not the least of it's at tributes is that it comes in all the wonderful colors that are character istic of the season and, when it is made up. 1t seems as though there has been produced something which is ideal for wear during the summer months and in the city. Any one who has ever had one of these frocks will Nouch for it's satisfaction as regards both serviceability and beauty.
 The simple one-piece frocks which are so much part of the present
 
 made up in this fabric. They can have collars and cuffs of white or colored thin materials, or they can be provided with pleated jabots. or they can be bound in braid and kept quito plain and tailored. But in any event, they are indicative of smartness of style and rrettiness of appearance.
 The ratines have been done with stripes and plaids that make them even more attractive than when they are left plain and unadorned and, by using the patterned ones. you can carry out your favorite style of dressing, for wooden dress dupli- cated in this material brings every satisfaction that you may be look ing for.
 Printed Voiles.
 All of the colored printed patterns which have intrigued you so in silks have been transferred to cotton voiles, or al least many of them have been so handled. And if your soul is longing for brightness and beauty of design then this is an awfully good opportunity for you to make a trial with the more vividly pat termed materials. A cotton dress is far less expensive than a silk and though it does not last so long or