The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-15
F ashion s Trend In aris Is
 Unchanged
BY JULIA HOYT.

HAVE been asked to prophecy, in
 view of my recent visit to Paris, 2 the trend of autumn styles. l think that the differences between the clothes of thiss summer and those ot the coming autumn will be slight, as they have been every season for the last few years.
 It has been proven during the last few years that fashion is really in the hands of the wearers rather than the designers. The first thought nowadays in every woman's mind with regard to clothes is comfort. Women abso- lutely refuse to be made uncomfortable, hard as some of the Parisian design CTS try to make them so. This refusal ito be made uncomfortable limits very much the possibility of any decided change in dress. Most women refuse to wear corsets or, if they do, they wear a little soft belt that IS not very lm- portant. In consequence, as most wom- en have not the perfect form of the heroine of the romantic novel, and as dresses must be made for the average and not for the heroine, the straight line and indefinite waistline will con tinue to hold sway.
 I must digress for a moment from the subject purely of fashion to say that even thoughtful as fashions today are for women, there are many women who, in my opinion and the opinion Of many dressmakers, would do much better for themselves with regard to appearance It they would sacrifice a little of their comfort and return to wearing at least fl slightly boned corset. If they really refuse to do this, then I think cam paign should be started to induce wom- en to take systematic and hardening exercises.
 To return, however, to the subject of dress, it is quite evident that the short skirt is again in to stay and am very glad of it. 1 do not mean the exaggerated short skirt that Tn the past few years has been worn by few people, but the skirts about nine to ten inches from the ground. As l compared the races this year in Paris to those of last year, l was convinced that the reasonably short skirt IS a great deal more graceful and becoming than the very long one worn a year or so ago.
 Clothes are extremely simple; in fact, they could not be much more so. The only part about dressing today which is not simple is the enormous amount of jewelry, both imitation and real, which is worn. In my opinion, the very general use of false pearls, for instance, is a great pity. The few . women in Paris who did not bedeck themselves in the Chanel or the Molly neux pearls, with which most people were hung, stood out with charm and distinction.
 The hats were almost devoid of trimming, even the large ones-and there were many large ones worn this summer. The conventional tailored suit which was so done to death over here was entirely unseen in Paris except on few Americans. The only suit that was worn was one with a three-quar- ter length coat and this, of course, pefrnitted much more variation than the uniform which was worn over here.
 Though small felt hats are still be- ing worn and bought they are rarely cfoche. Shoes are going through re- actionary phase also and are becoming much more simple and more shoe than sandel. One did not see many absolute ly plain skirts, but many finely pleated ones and many plain in the back and full at the bottom of the front.