The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-15
All lrDay Dres;s' Suitable For
 GeneralUse
sy FloaINcE CLARK

By FLORENCE CLARK
 How often have you Jshopped for . dress without knowing exactly what you wanted. If you had put it into so many words, you would say that you wanted dress which you, could wear all day long.
 Perhaps you live twenty min utes from Penn Station" and often come into town to spend day crowd ed with diGarent engagements, lunch con, afternoon tea, a little shopping and 8 theatre at night. So you want dress which will be smart com promise between morning. afternoon and night.
 Of course, no, one dress could pos sibly fill perfectly these exactiHg de- mands. The thing is to have 1t more afternoon" than anything else and so it blends little into the morning and still little into the evening. It ought to have a touch of severity for morn ing and something striking to redeem it for evening wear, but dress that is in its main points suitable for after noon will be: best.
 To be sure, you could have a dress that wasn't severe or striking, or anything else. A plain black silk crepe that is like many other plain black dresses would do nicely. But if you do want something different, that is where the problem comes in.
 One that could be worn all day, and there is much to recommend it for each occasion. First of all it is grace full and smart for afternoon wear. Then, there is a certain dignity in the big folds of white crepe, which make it suitable for morning wear. As to it's possibilities as an informal theatre frock, why it's very attractive ness makes 1t desirable, You want to look attractive even though you have to suit your dress to existing conditions.
 This dress is in the smart black and white combination, which is not only very modish at the present time, but which is surely going to continue in favor for spring. Heavy black silk crepe is used to fashion the main DOT tion of this dress, and exactly the same kind of material in white makes the circular folds which you see on the skirt and sleeves and at the neckline. White silk stitching makes an effec- tive pattern all over the dress. On the skirt the design happens to be diamond shaped, while the upper part VI tuc SOWn 4dS tuc StitCHihS Auh I'll big squares. The black and white contrast coupled with the graceful lines of skirt an6 sleeve made this a very striking frock.
 A black dress relieved by contrast ing folds is always an excellent choice for the versatile, all-day dress. Rib bon folds are good and mark some of the most up-t0-date frocks. One good looking dress seen recently was of silk crepe in one of those unusual weaves that hide under an alluring trade name and must be seen to really ap. preciate their novelty and charm Now, this dress was very narrow and straight, with six-inch flare at the hemline. Its sole trimming was . heavy strip of reversible ribbon, gray on one side and black on the other that draped around in neckline and continued scarf fashion from one shoulder to the bottom of the dress It was caught at the hip with cut steel ornament. Like the dress in the picture, this was another example oi the practical black frock lifted out Oi the ordinary by striking contrast oi trimming.