THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Paris Stylists' Spring Fashions Feature Lowered Hemline
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H A ROL D S. TRICK
711 NORTH UNIVERSITY'
Designers Restore Femininity,
Abandoning Abstract Conceptions
New Collections Mirror Former Fashions
As Stylists Adopt Victorian, Kimono Looks
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK-It'll be a great
spring for millions of American
women-and their admiring men
-who stand four-square in favor
of femininity in fashion.
Finally Paris designers have
caught up with them.
Pictures released of the spring-
summer collections of French
couturiers are studies in vindica-
tion: women who all along have
defiantly insisted on looking like
women will suddenly find them-
selves in the height of fashion.
But their triumph, while heady,
can't be classed as an all-out vic-
tory. .
French designers may have dis-
covered that most women aren't
shaped like rectangles or triangles,
but they haven't been able to re-
frain from a little Gallic lily-
gilding. Hence they've bared and
belted and beruffled in individual,
yet, all quite French, definitions
of femininity.
Generally, Paris clothes for
spring are more fitted and shaped
to the body. Tops are small, but
skirts run the gamut: square
shaped, controlled panel flare,
pleated, gored and circular.
As for the three B's, the pic-
ture is like this:
Bared: decolletage is pretty
sexy on occasion, with Nina Ric-
ci's plunging necklines the most
open to trans-Atlantic censorship.
Marc Bohan of Dior revives the
deep V neckline, while Yves St.
Laurent comes up with a bra-cut
front and completely bare back
for short evening dresses. Inven-
tively, Maggy Rouff shows a side
decolletage extending from under
the arm to the waist.
Belted: leather, buckled and
often wide belts cinch everything
-dresses, suits, coats-at almost
any place-from hip to under the
bosom. Sometimes they nip waists
to the vanishing point, where even
our antebellum belles would have
cried ouch.
Beruffled: the frilly Victorians
would look understated alongside
many of the frou-frou French
fashions. Ruffles riffle down backs,
wind around hems, rise from hem-
line to waist, float in tiers, frame
necklines.
And then there are these high-
lights:
Dresses: the two-piece-look, the
tunic and the little-nothing grown
a little tighter, predominate.
Coats and suits: redingotes, of-
ten high fitting, have new coat
popularity. Both slim coats and
suits have set-in sleevess; most
have collars and cuffs. Many are
belted. But while coats are fre-
quently fitted, short suit jackets
hand loosely over handsome soft
blouses. Widened shoulders by a
few influential designers may pre-
sage a future trend.
Fabrics: wools for suits, silks
and crisp, linen-like materials for
daytime dresses; chiffon, organ-
die for evening.
Colors: white, neutrals, blues
and most vividly, the ascorbic acid
accents: lemon and orange. Prints
are tropical florals, checks of all
denominations, polka dots and
black splotches on white.
London Cites
Tailored Look
London designers revealed their
new costumes early this year
which were typified by the tailor-
ed look.
Designers used suits as their
basic attraction and they ranged
in materials from Welsh tweeds
to silk. One designer came out
with a hip skirt worn with a long,
tuck-in pullover.
The skirt is mounted on an elas-
tic band, so it adjusts to the
wearer's figure. It is laced through
with a little fabric or leather tie.
Slim Jacket
In either the tweed material or
silk, the jacket is slim, fitted,
buttoning rather high.
A popular color with the London
fashion designers was yellow. One
showed a whole collection ralig-
ing from suits to ballgowns in
this color.
Suits were the main attraction,
however. The classic English suit
with set-in sleeves and an easy
skirt made its reappearance.
Tailored Gowns
Even evening gowns were tailor-
ed. Most of them had their own
little jackets, set and tailored just
like daytime suits. Underneath
were soft beaded and jeweled
overblouses.
Other suits had cutaway jackets
fastened with one button at the
neckline with over gored skirts.
Evening gowns were trimmed in
ostrich feathers. Others were long,
slinky sheaths in glittering ma-
terials. The colors were mostly
gold and green.
UNIVERSITY OF
MICHIGAN RINGS
PARIS WP) - Designers lowered
the hemlines this year so that
women's kneecaps will disappear.
The House of Dior had skirts
just covering the knees. Guy
Laroche, Pierre Cardin and Pierre
Balmain also featured longer
skirts. Laroche dropped skirts to
an inch below the knee; Cardin
to the top of the calf; Balmain
covered the knees completely.
Dior's collection featured extra
short skirts and low waists with
blouse-like tops and sculptured
shaped. Marc Bohan, head de-
signer, showed suits of heavy
tweed in masculine checks and
pinstripes, with loose blouses
reaching just below the waist and
straight skirts.
1930's Suits
The suits recalled the 1930's
while the dresses were from the
1920's.
The Laroche collection was typi-
fied by mannish, strictly tailored
suits with single-breasted jackets
and slightly flared skirts.
Kerchief-collared silk blouses in
brightly colored prints were worn
with the suits. Sleeveless summer
dresses in printed silk or chiffon
have bloused bodices to camou-
flage a slightly flared top.
Belted Coats
Cardin's collection featured
sashes for suit skirts and dresses,
belted coats and three-inch wide
to emphasize gathered skirts and
the narrow-shouldered look.
Suit jackets were longer and
many were of the buttonless
variety.
Pin tucking was Cardin's spe-
ciality for spring. He used it to
border yoke necklines and to sug-
gest corselet effects. Colors in-
clude bright orchid and prune
purple.
'Fan' Look
Jacques Heim offered the "fan"
silhouette with tiny nipped waist.
line and full, petticoated skirt.
Dress and jacket ensembles
featured bus boy boleros scissored
off just above the whitted waist-
line. Full swing skirts were either
umbrella-gored with smooth hip-
lines or box-pleated from the
waist. t
Slim coats were vented to the
waistline in back for easy walk-
ing.
One designer presented the "ber-
muda dress" which revealed the
knees in front and dropped to
midcalf length behind.
The "windblown" line, presented
by another designer, accentuated
bias-cut skirts, corselet belts and
coats with elbow-length kimono
sleeves.
Hubert de Givenchy displayed
high waisted suits, and big kimono
shoulders for day, then off the
shoulder cocktail dresses and a
lavish evening collection.
Suits tehded to have a short
waisted look, stooping just below
the waist in front and a little
lower in back. Skirts were extra
short, barely below the knee, in
wide easy pleats. Belts draped
wide and loose above the waist,
sometimes tying into bows of
leather. Others widened just at
the buckle into a square.
Huge wide coats had shoulders
paddedklike football players'. They
often looked shorter than they
actually were, by letting a tiny
piece of contrasting skirt peek
out from under the front which
was half an inch higher than the
back. Other coats followed the
big round shoulder line but mark-
ed the figure in a redingote sil-
houette.
The bust was seldom marked.
though some blouses cut a seam
just below the bust then hung
loosely to just below the waist.
Others were flat fronted in Eisen-
hower jacket style, blousing in
back.
Favorite daytime colors com-
bined all shades of ochre with
navy, adding pale blue, brown
and greys.
Givenchy's smooth kimono look
was jazzed up by a series of con-
servatively handled extravagances.
Pleats appeared in all over ac-
cordions for daytime in a pale
blue sheath, carried into a white
suit blouse, let loose in a two
tiered neon pink cocktail dress,
and went wild in a black crepe six
tiered pleated evening sheath.
Givenchy showed the lavish
evening clothes. A green sheath
looked fit for a mermaid. Ap-
pliqued all over with big green
flowers and streaks of silver se-
quins.
Others took up the harem look.
Short evening dresses marked the
waist as in one stunning number
with a white satin top and black
satin skirt. The same marked
waist reappeared in a ball dress
which looked like a colored cel-
lophane package.
Wildest touches came with tiny
pillbox hats which sat straight
on top of the head.
Sensuous Collection
Balenciaga's collection showed a
sensuous collection of day time and
evening dresses featuring both ki-
mono and 18th and 19th Century
looks.
For daytime he gave women
smooth wide shoulders, tiny high
busts and loose high waists. Pretty
legs could be seen in easy skirts
which stopped just below the knee.
Smooth straight dresses with
cap sleeves were topped by wide
straight coats sleek as narrow
cloaks.
For cocktail time and evening
Balenciaga allowed himself some
warm spring fancy, with capes,.
tight sheaths, and plenty of ruf-
fles which made models like 18th
and 19th Century period pieces.
Daytime suits had wide three-
quarter kimono sleeves, tracing the
form in front but leaving it loose
in back. Jackets tended to be
slightly longer in back than in
front, reaching just below the
waist. Often the tiny bust was un-
derlined by barely gathered seams.
Skirts were loose, often fuller In
front with a deep, wide unpressed
pleat, which gave the impression
of a double skirt.
Smooth suit lines were embel-
lished with details, such as pock-
ets, loose leather belts, and little
scarves often tied around the neck
like the bow you'd put on your fa-
vorite cat.
Narrower Coats
Rounded coats were narrower
than last year's but kept that Bal-
enciaga cloak look. Many were in-
set, preserving a kimono look by
its cut. They often stopped two
inches above the smooth straight
dress they topped.
Daytime colors mixed navy with
brown and black, removing the
bugaboo of matching accessories.
Shoes banished the needle heel, re-
placing it with a three-inch model
about half an inch-in diameter.
Afternoon dresses introduced
draped backs and bolero capes. For
cocktail dresses Balenciago loved
big sashes, one in black taffeta
which served as belt for a dress
under a kelly green coat and peek-
ed out at the waist. Another sash
started just above the bust in an
off shoulder black and could be
tossed over one shoulder.-
Rufled Capes
At first, ruffled capes came in
shy and short, in black lace
matched by a jabot tie loosely
knotted around the neck. The 18th
Century look turned 19th Century
can-can with a skin tight red taf-
feta draped sheath, whose wide
ruffles climbed up one side, then
were matched by a ruffled cape.
For late evenings, wBalenciaga
showed flowing sheaths of pink and
green prints whose long flowing
panels started at one strapless
shoulder. The panel could be wrap-
ped around the dress, making a
girl look like something wrapped
in a candy cane.
Paris in Ann Arbor
Says:
"turn to the
prettier look"
IALLERS
717 N. Univ. Near Hill Aud.
-Daily-Jerome Starr
LOCAL REFLECTION-This formal dress, modeled at a recent
fashion show here, reflects the Paris trend in formals this year
with its echos of fashions of past eras and emphasis on femininity.
Make your first step into
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