In country clothes, the emphasis is on brightly colored, sturdy fabrics. Although by next year, war industries may claim much of the dye now used in civilian clothes, there is no shortage apparent as yet. Warned by the War Production Board, however, retailers and designers have been careful not to promote any one color as the color of the season. One store, in showing its fall sports clothes, for instance, featured the following bright group: a green and gray knitted two-piece suit with bright red woolen bodice; beige corduroy slacks and jacket to be worn with a green flannel blouse; beige corduroy culottes with green woolen panels facing the inside of both legs; a blue wool shirtwaist dress with a big red felt pocket and a belt sewn into the dress; a solid-color plum suit with an extra contrasting tweed jacket.
 

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U.S. fall collection showed this purple jersey dress made from nylon threads which are a byproduct of a U.S. defense industry. The fabric is warm, can be washed with soap and water, does not crush or wrinkle. (Collection Shelby Stanton)

Last summer, it was hard to find an American woman wearing a hat. But with the first breath of cold air, heads which had been adorned only with bows took to cover. Unlike last year, when hats were designed to show off the popular "pompadour" hair-do, this year's toppers conceal the hair. Many women have adopted closely cropped curls in accord with war-plant regulations and wartime efficiency. Lily Dache, noted hat designer, included in her fall collection non-inflammable, porous turbans for factory workers; simple berets; high-crowned bright wool bonnets, and sleek fur hats (fur is unrationed). Other designers have likewise recognized the importance of the hat as the color or mood key to the whole wardrobe.  "Suitcase" hats – pliable turbans which can be folded like a handkerchief to fit into a traveling bag – have been popular.
 

Corduroy, a cotton material which is warm and serviceable, as well as unrestricted, has been used in many of this year’s coats and suits. This beige topcoat with matching hat has a casual air which makes it popular with school and college girls. (Collection Shelby Stanton)

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Dramatic touches appearing on classically styled clothes show that American women are not lacking in ingenuity. Spotted on New York's Fifth Avenue recently were such items as a rhinestone clip set off against a cockade of bright ribbon and worn on the lapel, chokers of lightweight wooden beads, plastic hatpins and earrings, simple pastel wool dresses dramatized by big, black sequin buttons. Under many fur coats appear bright cotton linings replacing the silk essential to the parachute industry.
 

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No vital metal went into this dress. The wrap around skirt ties at the back and eliminates the use of a zipper or buttons. The flowers at the neck may be removed and supplanted by beads, an ascot, a white collar or other accessories. Such basic dresses are the mainstay of the American woman’s wardrobe. (Collection Shelby Stanton)

When nylon and silk stockings became scarce last summer, U.S. women began to experiment with substitutes. Cotton mesh, lisle and rayon in new weaves are already widely used. In shoes, low heeled, sturdy, all-purpose models featured widely, relegating the frivolous shoe to evening wear exclusively
 

A shirtwaist dress in defense industry blue which has been chosen as the uniform for girls working at an airport in the southern state of Texas. The inexpensive garment has patch pockets, a simple gored shirt, a deep hem.  (Collection Shelby Stanton)

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Trim, leather oxfords designed for the American woman who is on her feet all day at home, in a factory or on a volunteer job. Two-toned shoes are restricted for the duration; dyes are needed for defense industries. (Collection Shelby Stanton)

Shoes typical of the low-heeled, all-purpose styles which are being worn almost exclusively by women in the U.S. for business or war industry work. (Collection Shelby Stanton)

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"It was only last spring that the fashion world was in a state of' confusion over the WPB edicts regulating skirt lengths and the width of hems in order to cut down on the use of fabric by the civilian population. Now, just six months later, the furor is so much a thing of the past that women exclaim exactly as they have always done, over the new fall clothes, as oblivious to the novel framework of regulations which governs their essentials as if it did not exist. By Christmas, they will look nonplussed if you so much as mention a zipper."

A prophecy, which bids fair to come true!