Evening star., 1925-03-01
Two-Piece Suits and Ensembles in the Latest Fashions
BY MARY MARSHALL.

~ ONE of the celebrated French
dressmakers have not shown
a single two-piece suit in their
- Spring collections. Never
since the shirt waist" de-
veloped as an article of apparel for
women and consequently brought into
existence the two-piece suit, some
time in the nineties of the last CEN
tury, has such state of affairs ex-
listed.
A few years ago the two-piece suit
for women seemed as well established
as the conventional three-piece suit
for men. There seemed about as
much chance for one to pass out as
for the other. And, of course, the
two-piece suit has not passed--not
by very long chance. The situa-
tion only is that among certain
French dressmakers there seems TO
be little use for 1t. The ensemble
costume has so completely taken pos
session of the fancy of women
French women especially-that there
really is good reason for this atti
tude.
On the other hand, several of the
smartest of French dressmakers and
tailors have made the two-piece suit
quite important. Cyber has many of
them, consisting of short, straight
little skirts and boyish- jackets of hip
length, some of them belted and
others left as straight as a mans
sack coat. To go with them there
are neat little overblouses that fit
tight around the hips. The suits are
of the lighter woolens-more plant
than the English tweeds that seem
10 have become suddenly quite strong
in Paris in some quarters. Cyber
chooses, rather, soft poplins and fine
twills
Almost always the two-piece suit
is hip length, the longer coats or
Jackets being reserved for the enSem-
bile costume. Madeleine ct Madeleine
fAnna have been showing little suits
consisting of hip-Iength jackets with
Peter Pan collars, worn with flowing
ties and pleated skirts.
O'Rossen. the tailor in Paris whose
name is most often quoted in connec-
tton with the strict tailleur. shows
knee-length jackets as well as the
hip-lensth sort. The preference for
the hip length is undoubtedly due
TO the fact that this conforms to the
proportions of the masculine contour
There are little belted suit Jackets
closley resembling the masculine
Norfolk. and several smart tailors
have been making tailored suits con-
Ssting of black cloth Jackets over
skirts of dark gray striped cloth. talk
ing inspiration from the afternoon
SUIT OIL the IdSnlOnaDIe FrenChndn.
!: X x
INTERESTINGLY enough, O'Rossen
has taken for the model of one of
his most successful tailored suits, the
loose knickerbocker suit affected by
the American college boy. This self
same knicker suit when worn by
American tourists last Summer
caused no little amusement and poll e
smiles-now the leading French
woman's tailor has found in il in
spiration for one of his most success
full products.
Martial ct Armand's contribution
to the tailored suit situation is a
combination of a short, fiat jacket Of
solid color, worn with a short, rather
scant pleaded skirt, and Jean Mangin
has given his customers trim, gentle
manly tailored suits of tobacco-col-
ored rough wool and light gray.
Meantime, here in America the
woman who has made up her mind
on wearing two-piece suit for
Spring is not without interesting
models to select from. Probably the
strictly tailored are the smartest, for
the more ornate treatment better ac-
cords with the long-coated ensemble
costume. The tailored type that
seems to have found highest favor
with the we'll dressed American girl
this Spring is really mannish as well
as tailored. No Disgusting or
ornamenting the flat. notched collar
or the straight, close-fftting sleeves.
The skirt that is both comfortable
and decidedly smart follows the rule
OF the Spring that all fullness must
be concelaed. In this case the trick