From Apricot to Oyster

One sensational model was the "Merry Widow'': a sophisticated cocktail dress in heavy black crepe, with a short clinging skirt, a pink rose to punctuate the waist. It is worn with a black halo hat trailing a waist-length floating black lace scarf. Then there was an evening gown--33 yards of chiffon shading from deep apricot to pale oyster. At these and 46 other fripperies, in the ballroom of the West End's swank Mayfair Hotel, women buyers gasped with pent-up pleasure. It was London's first "non-austerity" style show in six years.

The evening dresses disclosed two silhouette trends: the slinky and the frilly. There were pencil-slim skirts, tunic-length jackets, hip draperies, towering hats, fantastic turbans, flowing Grecian folds, bows, bustles, Tudor sleeves. For day wear, there were misty Scotch tweeds in soft blues, green-greys, yellows, reds. The most fetching suit style had waist-length lapels and waistline tucks giving a blouse effect in the back.

The show was put on by the enterprising Guild of British Creative Designers, an association of twelve wholesale gown manufacturers, which has its eye on postwar trade, would like to grab some Parisian prestige. But for the uniformed and utility-clothed British girl the show was a frustration. The Board of Trade does not yet permit, for domestic use, such luxury items as were shown last week. All 48 of the models displayed were earmarked: Down Under--for export to Australia.

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