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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1954)
i Battalion PUBLISHED DAILY IN THE INTEREST OF A GREATER A&M COLLEGE COLLEGE STATION, (Aggieland) TEXAS, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1954 Page 9 Spring Fashion Forecast Cotton Steps Into Spring For Use in All Fashions Since fashions this spring have taken the thermometer+ as their guide, cotton steps more strongly into style than ever I before. Cotton is no longer the exception or the unusual in a cold- weather wardrobe. Meant for spring—for early, «hilly spring—are cotton : suits and ensembles with all the styling and cut of woolen j garments. + DRESSED AND READY—are Mrs. Mike Mistovich and Miss Dorothy Collier. Mrs. Mistovich wears a “Carlye” black cotton trimmed in velvet and lace with a tight-fit ting tucked bodice. Miss Collier’s dress is of navy silk trimmed with rinestone centered raisies. It is designed by “Emma Domb”. Collegiate shop. Dig Out Your Petticoats; They 're Back In Style Petticoats, which “went out” of j style last year with a swish heard [ ’round the world, are back with a tentative rustle. Most New York designers still stick to a basically slim line for next season. But there are several full-skirt fanciers notably Jerry Parnis and Hannah Troy who Went all out again, around the hips. Jerry (the designer who took Tottons out of the house dress cat- rgory 15 years ago) shows practic ally no slender shirts in his sum mer preview. Instead, there are Voluminous cottons held out not on ly by layers of petticoats but also by a new, netty under-lining called “Pormite.” They are even more gracefully belled-out than they were in 1952 when petticoat fever was disturb ingly high. Miss Troy is not quite so starchy in skirts. But the “feeling” in her collection is decidedly away from the slim ‘n’ corseted look. She even shows a revival of the gather-skirted suit—with its jack et peplum puffing curvaceously ov er the hip fullness in the skirt. Cotton is no longer a la carte; it’s on the regular fash ion menu. It needn’t be spec ially ordered or searched for— try and miss it. Suits, coats, sportswear, evening gowns — the spring silhouette can be worn in cotton. More Cotton for Spring A dele Simpson, the * designer who’s done much to pull cotton away from the washboard and into style, says she has used more cot ton in her spring collection this year than ever before — and she’s always used a lot. She’s designed cotton suits, cot ton costumes and cotton dresses to wear right now and next summer, too. These new styles do not resemble the house dress—but then, neither does the new cotton. It’s glossed and shined, woven and polished, and comes in weights and weaves which look like linen, wool or rich, silken fabrics. Used In Suits, Too Suit manufacturers here, who until recently didn’t know what the word “cotton” meant, now know very well the meaning of cotton. Last spring saw one or two cot ton suits in a collection. This spring many suit manufacturers have as many as ten cotton styles for buyers to choose from. And each suit has been given the same close attention, the same detailing and expert fitting of top quality woolen suits. The price, too, has risen to the occasion. This year’s Maid of Cotton, 20 year-bid Beverly Pack of El Paso, has been in New York for the last several weeks accumulating a cot ton wardrobe that can travel here or abroad. Miss Pack has a wardrobe of cotton costumes which have been selected from the collections of for ty-four outstanding American de signers. She will tour the United States and Canada. She arrived in Houston Tuesday. And whether she’s in Miami, Dallas, Chicago or Montreal, she (See COTTON, Page 13) Young Look Favored By Dallas Houses A younger, prettier ages is evidenced in LOOKING FOR TRENDS— in a fashion magazine is Mrs. C. H. Groneman, wear ing a black and white check ed by “Paul Sachs” with a red scarf at the neck. She carries out the red theme with a perky red straw hat trimmed in red velvet. Fashion shop. Dallas, look for all summer collections of Dallas’ fore most fashion houses now being shown to 50 fashion editors, rep resenting the nation’s foremost newspapers. Miss Marjorie Par son, Chronicle women’s editor, is attending the showing which lasts through Wednesday. Dallas designers have turned to men’s and boys’ shirts as a sou i ce of inspiration for summer dresses that are young and at the same time have the casual simplicity for which this market is known. Some shii't dresses are cut as a chemise and depend entirely upon belts to define the waistline; oth ers have trouser darts to give a suggestion of a peg top to the skirt. Interest In Collars Collar treatments, however, are the important point of interest. They are fused to permanently hold their stiffness and attached to a band as on a man’s shirt. A few are detachable, many are con vertible, and one buttons so high under the chin that it is known as the “stove pipe” collar. Sheers are used to biang about that picture of sweetness desired by all women with plans for the twilight hour and later. Cottons again predominate. There are pas tel voiles in colors as appetizing as an ice cream cone. One dress in an evening mood has an extremely full skirt made from panels different shades of blue and green, each panel in a different shade. Paris Designers Show New Ideas for Spring Elsa Schiaparelli fash- cue to SUITED FOR SPRING—are Mrs. John Mackin, Mrs. John A. Way, and Mrs. Charles Parrish. Mrs. Mackin wears a grey wool middy style suit by “Jaunty Junior” trim med with white pique. Her “Avalon” hat is of French imported braided straw. Mrs. Way shows is the glazed cotton lining of her silk shantung suit by “Lorch”. Her bon net shaped hat is is of black milan straw. Mrs. Parrish wears a navy wool suit by “Etta Gaines” with braid trim o nthe collar and pockets. Her white mialn straw pil- box hat is trimmed with blue velvet. WSD. Hats from Mrs. Greene Buchanan’s hat shop, Most people interested i ion look to Paris for their fashion. Following is a round-up of Paris designers and their collections for the spring and summer season. Christian Dior Wasp Waists, cinched with belts, are back in style by courtesy of Christian Dior. In his “Lily of the Valley” line he boasted that “the waistline has never looked smaller, or been less strangled.” To nobody’s surprise, he kept hemlines right where he put them with last season’s revolution, and presumably cut another notch in record of style battles won. The secret of the wee but un strangled waist was soon as clear as day: Dior does it by blousing the bodice and the skirt, and caving in the waistline. It’s the same old story: While other houses take up his princess line and work it to death, Dior has moved on to other things. Next to Paris blue—an intense blue-blue — and a profusion o ( white, purple in shades ranging . , from petunia to lilac was almost f | his favorite color. Lunch-to-dinner suits are Dior’s new secret weapon. They permit a woman a three-stage striptease, by the clock. Jackets come off in the early evening, and for dinner a big sailor collar is removed to un cover the shoulders. Dior does three kinds of skirts: Very slender, straight ones, full ones, and pleated ones. His necklines are wider than they are deep, but for variation there are some rounded-out keyholes. Sleeves generally stop at the el bow. The style dictator this time claims that he is “imposing noth ing on women except what is sug gested by her own coquetterie.” At last, somebody offers a sub stitute for those stoles that have been cluttering up evening dresses for ages. Dior’s new idea is a big chiffon scarf draped like a toga, and fastened on one shoulder with u jewel or flower. 8 f Da ■Mm 1 Wmmm ■ : 4%' f: mlmM mm m CM m TWICE AS LOVELY—is Mrs. Ed. Brush in a “Jackie Nimble” suit woven of navy silk wool. The suit, accented by a white linen collar, comes in junior sizes. The white straw hat is trimmed with a white veil and sprinkled with rhinestones. Collegiate shop. ‘Slipcovers’ Go on Dresses In New York Collections A one-woman rebellion against the new fashion trends was staged by Madame Elsa Schiaparelli. Keeping her skirts way down to mid-calf, she decreed “no belts, no buttons, no boning” in a shoi't skirt season rife with buttons, boning and belts. Likewise, says stubborn Chiap, no zippers and no hooks. How then, are you going to get in and out of the new Schiaparelli creation which she has named “Abacadabra ? ” Well, she invokes mystery and magicians, but tbe plain fact is that she uses a drawstring or elastic band in the back of the skirt waistline. With a sort of perverse pride, she avoids buttons like poison in places where they are really need ed and goes to all sorts of trouble doing it, only to plunk them on blouses where they’re not really useful at, all. e | l HubertdeGivenchy Fashion Designer Hubert de Giv enchy is in favor of happiness and good luck, and who can quarrel with that? His new spring clothes, beside being sprinkled with lucky em blems are so fresh and pretty that the women who wear them should be happy indeed. A nippy waisted, fluffy skirted silhouette shared honors with a slim sheathed one at the Divenchy j collection. The theme of happiness and good ; luck was carried out with four- j leaf clovers, wheat, fish, lily of the valley and totaises—all em blems sacred to Lady Luck in var- : ions countries.' The designer described his line i a “young, effervescent, and cares- j sing the body.” He gave his ere- ; ations such names as “Kiss Me”— i for a lipstick red suit with loose- i waisted middy top—and “Sweetie” I —for a gala-skirted strapless for- i (See DESIGNERS, Page 14^ New York.—It’s downright dif- + ficult to find a dress that doesn’t have its own “slip cover” this spring. Sometimes it’s a jacket dress. It looks like a suit, but when you remove the jacket, there is a full dress underneath. More often, howevex - , it will have a matching bolero, or a fxxll-lexxgth coat which x'epeats the dress’s print or color either in its outer suxface, or in its lining. Posh di'essmak- ers lump these di'csses-with-cover- ups under the all-inclusive, if vagxxe, term of costume, ensemble, or both. Since the fashion is now to be found in mox - e down-to-earth price xanges, the term costume and/or ensemble seems much too impos ing. The word “slip covex” seems more fitting, for the dictionary defines it as “a removable cover,” which certainly describes what I’m talking about. In itself, it is of course not a new fashion. But it’s sudden pre valence is. And it owes its vogue to two current silhouette factors that are both favorable to a vax - - iety of slip covers: The temporary (px-aise be) absence of belts, which removes any suggestion of bunchi- ness through the middle; and the (also temporary) prevalence of slim skills, for they strike xx har monious optical balance with a jacket no matter at what level it ends, and are often visually im proved by the contrast of the rela tive bulk ox - width at the top. IN TEEN SIZES —is this two-piece cotton worn by Sally Miller, daughter of Mr .and Mrs. Henry A. Mil ler. The biege top and grey skirt are set off by red trim. By “Cot-n-tween.” Teen-Tot shop. ^ t HE LINE—is featured in this dress worn by + 1 a" u a « a ^' s a grey silk and wool wor- r. rr U v with plaid taffeta trim, and plaid all eta lining in the jacket. She wears a matching grey straw hat. Lester’ smart shop.