Hoyden on Olympus

King Edward VII would have relished Mae West. Last week the salons of Paris couturiers were heavy with a nostalgia Edwardian or earlier. Sumptuously they ushered in winter modes inspired by the fun which a few ultrasmart Parisiennes have lately had dressing up like the opulent hoyden Miss West created on the stage as Diamond Lil, recreated on the screen as Lady Lou in She Done Him Wrong (TIME, Feb. 6).

Like so much featherbrained Paris fun which leads on to the fashion, the mode started with a Mae West Party given on the platform restaurant of the Eiffel Tower by Mrs. (not Mme.J Denys Trefusis. She is by birth one of those Keppels who keep up the tone of British aristocracy. Despite, or perhaps because of, their proud Dutch blood, the Keppels produced two grooms-in-waiting to Queen Victoria, an extra equerry to King Edward and a Master of the Household for King George --not to mention Mrs. Trefusis. To her Mae West party went the Prince of Wales's good friend, the Hon. Mrs. Reginald Fellowes, in a honey-colored broad cloth coat of her mother's, plumed hat and rhinestone-studded gloves. Equally of the period and all in big feathery hats, the Countess Jean de Polignac, the Duchess d'Harcourt and the Countess Jean de Vogue arrived from Paris' socialite Olympus to agree that only Mrs. Trefusis had transformed herself with complete success into "Diamond Lil" (see cut}. ''Of course I have ideas, but I don't tell them" is Mrs. Trefusis' drawling way of expressing delight that her Mae West party galvanized Paris stylists into swift, devastating action. After the openings last week alert buyers, repeating the new in cantation "Edwardian or earlier," ruffled through their style notebooks to report : P: Waistlines are definitely stabilized at the level of the "natural waist" which must and will be emphasized by corsets. Stylists and corsetmen agree that there will be no wasp-waist pinching but high-bosomed, hourglass effects achieved by elastic sheaths, tight perhaps but with few corset bones or lacings. P: Daytime necklines are either modest V's or 'tend high and round with variations such as mannish stocks and severe, up standing Chinese collars. Necklines for evening dip to bareback and bosom-molding levels. P: For afternoon and evening, sheaths of rich, soft materials (velvets, velours, sat ins, soft brocades) create the new "mermaid silhouet" or "sheath line" as far as the knee or even midcalf, below which ruffles, pleats, godets and full circular hems encrusted like a birthday cake with bows and shirrings facilitate locomotion. In lieu of fullness some of the tightest skirts are slit to the ankle or a little higher. P: Colors either match the opulence of curves with magenta, plum, Tommy Atkins red, petunia, rich blues and deep greens or turn innocently romantic in swirls of Edwardian pinks and blues. Frills and furbelows on skirts pop out in ruffled peplums and billowy bustles. P: Fripperies to complete the rich elegance of "Edwardian and earlier" include cameo brooches, heavy rhinestone trinkets, voluptuous oversize imitation pearls, exotic velvet shoulder flowers for evening and feathers of all kinds-- ostrich, bird and barnyard -- on boas, capes, muffs and epaulets which are snap-fastened to evening frocks. P: Hats concede only their trimmings (fur & feathers) to the Mae West furor and are mostly peaked berets, low-crowned sailors, draped turbans. Stylists noted particularly that : Maggy Rouff plumps for small Victorian basque waists flat in front and back but spreading shell-like from the hips, fur peplums on street jackets and huge pouch pockets which flap from the belts of sport jackets. Schiaparelli, reigning favorite of smart U. S. women, continues her narrow pencil-line dresses for daytime, rives a mandarin shape to her knee-length, tailored wool coats. Fur from head to heel is used by all couturiers but Helm swirls it most lavishly around throats, shoulders, hems, hats and capes. Jean Paton turns his peplums upside down to look like stiff upstanding coat tails and features long sleeves, no backs, huge under-chin bows for evening.

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