
CLEAN COUNTRY SWEEP
There hasn't been such a harvest of sports clothes since casual fashion first got its tweedy leg up in the English country life of the '90s. Last month fragile mannequins shouldered shooting sticks as they strode, high-hooted, through the ateliers of Paris, just as their counterparts had done in New York in June. It was even suggested by some designers that women should clomp, all tweedy, down city streets. But smart American women will wear this bounty where it belongs—in the country—as shown here. The shooting coat (left) is designed by Bill Blass to be worn over corduroy, and the parka (right) is made by Bonnie Cashin in hair seal.
Scottish district checks, once worn only by Highland lairds and their gillies, became favorite patterns for sportsmen everywhere after Edward VII, while Prince of Wales, adapted them for shooting wear at Sandringham. One of the most colorful of district checks, the Prince of Wales, was named for him. Here it is shown (left) in a sports jacket from Chipp. Stella Sloat put together the country combination of bold-plaid waistcoat, linen shirt and classic, pleated herringbone skirt. Glenurquhart, most popular of all district checks, forms the pattern of Bonnie Cashins dramatic, back-fastened coat at right. The hood, mittens and boots complete Cashins country look.
The piped blazer he wore as a schoolboy in England inspired John Weitz to design this contemporary blazer costume (left). The bulky, baggy turtleneck and the uncreased stovepipe trousers also contribute to the boyish silhouette of a girl photographed in the glow of the twilight of late summer. The belted Norfolk shooting jacket (right) turns up this season in adaptations for both men and women. Vera Maxwell's suit has a sleeveless jacket and is of Lovat tweed. It is worn over a cablestitch turtleneck and a paneled walking skirt. The man's Norfolk of Shetland hopsacking, by Arthur M. Rosenberg, represents a trend to more country like sports jackets.
Saturday and Sunday afternoons in a football stadium anywhere above the 35th parallel call for coverings as warm and as waterproof as these trench coats and boots. Muskrat lines the lady's coat, by Style-Street; alpaca the man's, by Driway. Country suits by Gordon-Ford and Ellen Brooke (right) appear in camel, a revival as welcome as a fireside after the game.
WHERE TO BUY
SIX PHOTOS
JAY MAISEL
TWO ILLUSTRATIONS