Evening star., 1932-12-11
Clothes on a Limited Budget
Taste and Money
Take Their Place
In Clothes Realm
BY RAQUIN.

BY hAQUtN.
~HERE are couturiers who believe
that taste and not money makes
elegance, and that woman,
once she is possessed OF the
right instinct for dressing
charmingly and smartly, can go fcrtn
with a lean purse and come oack re-
spiendent in fashions foremost crea-
tons. These same couturiers now spon-
sor what is called the robe mixte !;
that is to say. the field Of action CT a
dress has been expanded so that there
Is no longer. strictly speaking, what you
would call a dress for lunch, for thea
ter. for dinner, etc. Such name seems
to limit its usefulness, and there IS no
longer any limitation for model, they
will say.
NV own viewpoint is just the opposite,
and know it is not shared by many OF
nv co-workers in the dreSSmaking pro-
fession. hold the firm view that to be
smartly dressed requires lots of money,
and / do not believe that any woman
who is cramped financially can begin to
compete with those ladies whose purses
are more favored and more richly lined.
There are three classes of women,
speaking from the standpoint of dress
the smart ones, the horrors who do
not even make an attempt to dress
decently and the great class, the ma
jority, that is situated between these
two extremes. Most couturier5 think
about that majority just as the the
atrical producer thinks about the box
office, and prefer 10 averaged persons
to one immortal member of the French
Academy, although from the viewpoint
of the author it is more f1attering and
satisfying to know one real intellectual
has been attracted by his work,
MY establishment has always held
AsA the view that only the costly was
worth going to pains to design. we De-
lieve that a dress should be so spe-
cifically designed for the purpose for
which it is to be worn that it could not,
without a tremendous erring Of taste
and at the risk of looking grotesque, be
worn en- any other occasion. An after
noon dress should loo. cut of place
before noon and after Z. an evening
dress should have just as sharply de-
fined a character and be restricted in
the same formal manner, and so with
every ether type of dress.
Each customer has a certain 1ndi-
Fidual touch to her clothes. Those sew
Ing girls who have already made dresses
for Nine So and So may never have
seen her, very likely never have, but
without seeing her name attached TO
the labels giving instructions for the
sewing atliers they recognize her gar
ments by the personal touch. AS soon
as we agree with client on the fashion
that best suits her figure, we set about
finding a special little touch that she
must have to make it her own exclu-
siyely, and it is by this little touch that
the sewing girls are able to make the
recognition I have mentioned.
Only by an clement of eXclusivenes5
In her dress can woman b. gro-med
in the grand manner that has given
Paris women their international reputa-
ton for smartness. Once they have
achieved this, they are sure to be ad-
mired indefinitely.
VXyOMEN must remember the features
w that give the slender line most
desired above everything nowadays
shaped necks and simple styles, neither
too full nor too tight Beware OF curves
If you are already plump or tending
toward undue plumpness, also round
necks, very high waist lines and very
tight or very full dresses
II you are so made that you can not
head these suggestions, then you must
talk tle matter over with your couturier
seriously, Just as you would discuss a
certain pathological problem with the
family physician or specialist, and
solution will be found.
But make UP your mind in which CT
the three classes of women referred to
at the beginning of these remarks you
will be, and do not make the most
tragic of all mistakes in trying to be-
long to one if you really are destined
to belong to the other. You must be
smart, near smart, or not smart at all,
and I repeat that to keep pace with the
elegant Parisienne who makes fashions
you must be rich CT have source OF
richness to draw upon. Sables and
ermines and pear-shaped diamonds and
specially brocadsd velvets are costly.
and nobody in his right mind is going
to believe that beside these astra1han
and shaved lamb and necklaces OF
strung glass and burlap are going to
compare favorably.