Mun Hayim Speaks: On Winter Fashions

A while ago the winter season began, with its storms and its cold, and its pleasant evening invitations abounding in elegant and beautiful clothes. Yet the woman among us, for all her care to economize in dress and not to squander beyond the capacity of her budget, remains inclined to appear always elegant and charming, informed of the newest directions of fashion for every season, drawing her knowledge from the most famous fashion houses of Paris — the homeland of women's dress in the world.

In deference to that insistent wish on woman's part, here we convey to you, dear reader, the most important observations on this season's fashions.

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The fashion designers for this winter are careful, in all their principal lines, to bring out the full femininity of a woman's body. This tendency shows itself in several respects: among them the shortening of the dress, so that its height from the floor ranges between 35 and 37 centimeters; the shortening of the bodice; and the skirt's slipping up above the waistline, after wrapping itself close about the hips in a sweet curve.

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A woman's femininity shows in this winter's fashions in the rounded neckline that opens upon a narrow chest, and a somewhat puffed back ending in sleeves that are puffed as well.

As for the skirt, it is narrow compared with last fall, and it rarely widens into a rich flare, as it did last winter; and if fullness there must be, it is confined to a narrow, bell-shaped flare.

And this narrow skirt, which slips up in front toward the top of the bodice, rarely marks off the waist with a visible seam, contenting itself for the most part with a light, imaginary line merely showing where the waist lies.

As for the fabrics, they are all woven of wool and silk together, and this winter they are distinguished by being printed with pictures of wild animals, or showing certain rare and precious metals, which most often give the cloth the look of a fur suggesting leopard skin — while velvet or tweed is adorned with designs of mother-of-pearl or tortoiseshell and suchlike strange, wild things.

Black keeps first place among the colors this winter, followed by green... and red the color of wild cherry, and brown... and steel blue, and gray, and beige.

Among the features of winter fashions, too, are puffed sleeves in the shape of a half-moon, low rounded necklines shaped like a basket, and small collars turned down.

With the tailleur the elegant lady wears openwork scarves of organza, or of other fine, transparent silks, or of damask threaded with gold or silver.

Most of this winter's coats are without a belt at the waist, contenting themselves with a few unpressed pleats falling from the waist to complete its roundness.

As for the tailleur, it is generally egg-shaped at the top — the shoulders are not padded vertically, as usual, but horizontally, to keep them from rising and to suggest their roundness — and in this costume a woman looks like a basket of flowers...

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On these principles, Madam, the fashion designers of Paris are proceeding, to carry women's dress to the summit of perfection, in answer to the demands of refined elegance and taste.