Evening star., 1936-01-19

platinum'd, furred. jeweled, she
revolved expertly on the slim
- high heels of fragile shoes If you
looked at her one way, you saw Just a blonde
mannequin posed against hangings of pastel
velvet
But if you looked from another angle, the
velvet curtains dissolved into smoky land
scape thunderous with smelters and mills.
machine shops and the giant retorts of chem
ical plants, all backed by tremendous fields
and ranches, enormous mines, huge forests,
and the seas of the world beyond them all.
And then one saw that this girl was COM
posite portrait of everywoman - scores of
millions of her - COOL smiling. conscious of
being Model 1896 from hat tilt to shoe tip:
the scene behind her was a glimpse of the
billion-dolar industries that work night and
day to keep her up to the minute in style
As we came thoughtfully away from the
fashion show said to my companion: II see
one thing emerging from this turmoil of satins
silks. curls and Cuteness. Any woman who
appears in 1896 with 1885 look is going to
feel like Lady Godiva without her hair or Eve
without her fig leaf. This change in fashion is
going to cost men five billion dollars for men
pay 80 per cent of womens dress and beau
tilyng bills"
She smiled increduously Nevertheless, the
estimate is on the conservative side A chang
ing female silhouette is jOr world economic
phenomenon. 1t is of more immediate i'm
portance to world business than the clash of
empires in Asia and Africa. 1t is a vast indus
trial. commercial and financial proposition In
fact, using advertising and publicity expen-
diture as yardstick. it is the worlds biggest
industry. And now the world rhythm of
fashion is being stepped up.
A AstatistiCian has estimated that last yes r in
the two biggest markets, America and Britain,
around $2.OOO,OOOOOO worth of dresses be-
came obsolete That amount had to be spent
on renewals.
Expenditure on Identification constantly
rises. Beauty parlors are increasing Satura-
ton point in the neutrality-suspicious. market
is decades off. Five years hence, a 1884 world
expenditure of $lOOO,O0O,O0O for powder.
cold cream perfumes. lipsticks and other aids
to female attractions will look like a depres-
sion figure.
Today we are in the midst of fashion
revolution The Lords of Style. realizing that
they must move with the times or pass into
extinction with the mastodon are linking up
withthe masters of mass production machines
thereby enabling the small income woman to
buy copy of an authentic model frock, coat
hat or scarf bearing magic fashion makers
name which formerly was available only to
those women with large sums of money at
their disposal.
Last year Queen Mary sponsored fashion
movement in cotton fabrics. 1t was not openly
linked to any propaganda to aid the depressed
cotton industry. Nevertheless. sales of Lam
cashire cotton goods in the home market rose
100000 yards in four months.
When Mussolini not long ago announced
that fashion, is more powerful than dictators,"
and that regime which seeks to dictate or to
repress fashions is only making itself ridicu-
lous. he was acknowledging heavy defeat
as we'll as registering protest against Nazi
anti-fashion drive calculated to damage ex-
port sales of Italian powder, cosmetics. etc.