Evening star., 1934-03-25

ticability OF the ensemble idea mas
definitely been recognized.
The trimness of the hip-length, tai
lored jacket with the straight-line
skirt is outstanding for business wear.
and the silk and woolen suit for after
noon affairs is new and has an air
of chic heretofore undeveloped in this
field. For sports or spectator pur-
poses, the suit of soft tweed or nubby
woolen fabrics is most certainly
fashion first, and for the. all-day
jaunt, when the costume must do for
shopping, for luncheon and afternoon
tea party, the lightweight wooden. in
subdued colors, will be the well-dressed
womans' delight.
At no time has suit designing re-
ceived the careful attention that it
has this season. It's Importance has
been growing steadily in America for
several years. To be sure, the French
couturiers have always given suits a
certain place in their collections, but
in the recent openings nearly every
frock was accompanied by a jacket of
some sort, which means that the haute
couture has come to recognize the de-
mand for the ensemble.
There is something in the air of
Springtime in America which demands
that women shall wear suits. And
the reason women obey this demand
is that they know the f1attery of a
suit. The completeness of any costume
Is its charm and its versatility. What
part of a wardrobe better possesses
these requisites? Ensembled, the suit
is ready for wear at any time and BE-
a change of blouse, and perhaps a
different belt. it takes on a new air.
A S SPRING advances and days be-
come warmer the all-silk suit
promises to be popular. Many of the
French establishments featured it
along with the woolen models. Taffeta
will be the first choice of many smart
women and navy blue and black will
be the colors most frequently seen in
this medium. Every type of blouse,
from soft colorful stripes, and plaids
and flower printed silks to plain pas
tel silks. will be seen. Organdy and
net both printed and plain, are al
ready being shown, made up in ruf-
fed blouses. and embroidered voiles
and lace make many Of the dressier
types.
The greater number of these early
taffeta suits are cut along fitted lines.
and it is altogether likely that this
silhouette will be continued as the
season advances. There is something
about taffeta that lends itself to we'll
defined curves. Suits of f1imsier tex
ture are designed with straight coats
which hang from the shoulder and
vary in length from hip to three
quarters and seven-eighths. A trend
which is particularly new this season
is to line sheer silk and woolen suit
jackets with silk in vivid contrasting
color, bringing the lining to the outer
most edge of the coat. both down the
front opening and at the hemline.
Where this mode is introduced, the
blouse accompanying the suit is gen.
orally the same as the lining. It's
gay idea and worthy of being run
ner-up in the fashion race.
QUITS featuring jackets with cape
lines introduced are very much in
evidence, and some of the houses show
suits consisting Of skirts, blouses and
canes. While there are some restau-
rant ensembles and many evening cos
tunes designed with matching capes,
the majority of the cape suits are
shown as sports models.
Maggy Rouff displays cape suit for
sports wear, designed in blue alpaca,
striped in black. The cape has fitted
shoulder yoke in black jersey, and the
blouse is of black jersey.
Many of the Spring suits are de-
veloped in contrasting materials and
colors. Printed frocks with plain
coats are favored at the moment, but,
for more Summery wear, there are
models developed with plain frocks
and printed jackets. A material con-
trast, which promises to be a fashion
leader. is linen and silk. And in en-
sembles of this combination the dress
is usually of linen in solid color and
the coat Of silk in small printed de-
signs. Outstanding, perhaps, are the
suits of white linen combined with
dark silks, polka-dotted in white.
Sheer ensembles are featuring the
three-quarters swagger coat. accom-
panied by the sheerest of lacey frocks.
Some of these coats are belted, but
the flowing models have style prefer
ence. And while on the subject of
suits for Summer, let us not forget
the washable crepes that make ideal
costumes for weather wear.
These are designed with every pos
sible length coat and along every pos
sible line. Swagger, fitted, belted, bo-
lero, any of which are smart, may be
your choice. In pastels, they are just
the thing for resort and country club
wear.
TOR some unexplainable reason de-
eigners very infrequently apply
the term suit to evening attire. AL
ways the evening costume is referred
to as an ensemble. But bear in mind,
regardless of what the evening outfit
Is named, 1t must follow the trend of
the season and be just as definitely
related to coat and jacket as is the
daytime suit So If the dress budget
will permit only one evening wrap. do,
by all means, select one that can be
the center of the evening wardrobe
that is, have it subdued enough in
color and simple enough in line so
that several gowns may be worn with
1t. Some of the new evening en-
sembles are distinctly Oriental in
feeling. Goats are Chinese in cut,
with small standing collars, straight
sleeves and boxy lines in back. Sev-
eral are displayed in white. One
costume, with white Chinese coat
worn over a black and white print
gown, made fashion picture which
would delight any woman with high
style sense.
With suits in the foreground Of
the Spring fashion picture, naturally
much attention has been given to
blouses. Cotton, silks, woolens of
soft and novelty weaves all play an
important role in this fashion. Taf-
feta blouses are designed to lend
gay and perky air to the Spring