The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-02
Smartness Goe $ With House
 Dress
By FLORENCE CLARK

smartness this season. Kitchen aprons are good looking enough to wear while entertaining chance wis itor on the porch and porch dresses are smart enough to wear to the vll- lage., All because they have adopted certain characteristics of the cur rent mode instead of being merely use ful garments without much regard for the dictates of fashion.
 There's the coat frock, for instance. It has been charmingly translated into terms of summer comfort and utility without sacrificing the trigness that has endeared it to so many women. The lines of colt frock are simulated by brand or pipings of a contrasting color. Buttons are added because they are one of the smartest trimmings of the season. Sleeves are dispensed with for comfort and the skirt of course is not left open like an honest-to-good- ness coat frock, but the outlining braid is made to give the illusion of the popular coat frock.
 Then there's the gilet or shirt front idea, which graces some of, the loveli- est, dressy 1frOcks. It too has been applied to the very practical summer dress. And you can see by the photo graph on todayIs page how fchamingly the adaptation has been accomplished. The bib-like section of white at the front lifts this frock out of the ordi- nary morning frock class, giving it a finished, trig appearance. Blue and white striped linene fashions the dress itself, white pocket openings and the very important gilet.
 Front panels are another becoming feature of the useful cotton dress that you must not overlook in your search for smartness combined with practica- bility. It has a slenderizing effect which appeals to many women, Now 1t isn t that they all need to be slenderized, but as you have no doubt discovered. really acceptable figures have way of seem ing to have suddenly expanded when they are clothed in a porch frock whose lines are ill-considered. So watch for the front panel, those of you who have objected to the house dress on that score, for the front panel has a gra- cious way of slenderizing the figure. l This season you will find some fetch ing frocks which feature the panel idea.
 BrOadcloth a FavOrite
 English broadcloth, which came into favor with the vogue for tailored things, has been taken up by the porch dress of more or less tailored design. Cool, silky, washes like a handkerchief, wears forever, . these are some of the things one hears in favor of 1 this fabric. All of which are desirable qualities for a summer dress to possess, you must admit. And Che best part of it is that it's true if we are to take the word of certain sex who demand that | their shirts be a combination of all the superior points of good materials.
 Furthermore, white has firm place in the summer mode. White chiffon for evening, white suits and coats for sports wear, and the white broadcloth dress 1 for tween times. White dresses have | the delightful quality of looking fresh and new each time they are laundered, so the white frock ought to have a | place in the wardrobe of the woman who is planning to keep house at a bungalow during the summer months. r For instance, you may wear your broadcloth dress in the kitchen 'or at picnic one day, but later when it is laundered into its original freshness and with the addition of a perky plaid tie and colored belt, it becomes one of the smartest dresses at the tennis match. That is why it is going to be popular with the bungalOrwite.
 Gingham Has High Place
 Then, too, there are gingham dresses made in the most fetching ways. Dainty collars and cuffs of organdie and frilly jabots give them individuality. Such airy graces sound rather fussy for the practical frock, but the lingerie touch is really a most practical feature.
 The collars and cuffs may be laun- dered and replaced when the dress it. self may be merely in need of thorough pressing to freshen it. Many girls make new summer dresses into old summer dresses too soon because they wash them as soon as they appear the least bit rumpled. Try pressing your cotton dresses when they seem to need laun- dering; you will be surprised to see how many pressings they will "take," and how new they will seem to re- main since the sheen and lustre of the fabric are preserved.
 Gingham dresses, along with the other washable fabrics, cling to the straight-line styles and are shorter than the excepted length for street wear. Pearl buttons and crocheted buttons and balls are used extensively for trim ming and leather belts, carrying out the predominating tone of the plaid or supplying a contrasting color note, add to the sum total of the smartness which the gingham dress has achieved this season.