There's a new shape in women this season, and a new color in men.

The fashion experts tell us that women will have a balloon-shape for formal occasions, and a subtly sexy shape in their afternoon dresses. Men are turning to olive-green for their casual clothes.

It may be all right for the college student to remain in a green book bag during the school term, but as Christmas vacation nears, it's time to see how the other half of the world dresses.

Ladies first!

Mademoiselle calls it a "shift" in shape, Glamour terms it the "middy-look," Vogue announces the "chemise." By any name, the newest fashion in women's dresses evokes memories of what our mothers wore in the Roaring Twenties.

The new line shoots like a falling sputnik past the waist, tightens at the hips, and tapers slimly to the hem. "In a word, sexy," Mademoiselle reports. But if the new look is sexy, it's subtle sex.

No one can tell a woman's exact waist measurements in a chemise dress. But when she walks, it's evident she has a waistline. Similarly the bosom should be "just rounded." Too much of it "can ruin that fine, languid line," the fashion experts say. The attempt is undoubtedly to show that the wearer has a shape underneath her chemise dress, but to do it subtly.

Red's a Stopper

The chemise look is a many-splendored thing. It comes in the one-piece dress, in two-pieces dresses, and in one-piece dresses that look like two. The new subtle shape is available in knitted dresses which pull over the head like a sweater --all in one piece. These have joined the ranks of increasingly-popular knit dresses of all kinds.

Women have copied St. Nick and the traffic departments in picking bright red as the color stopper of the season. Royal blue, kelly green, and black are prominent too. White is always a Christmas favorite, but pastels have somewhat faded out of the picture this year.

Wool jersey matching seperates are naturals for the middy-look. Slim or pleated skirts are mated with jersey overblouses, some hanging loosely at the hips, others elasticized at the hipline. The girl with exotic tastes can even find a mix-match set whose jersey overblouse resembles a Navajo Indian blanket. The blouse has a horizontal design of red, gold and white on a background of loden green, and the skirt is loden green wool. The outfit is manufactured by Dorothy Kerby.

Skirt and sweater novelty sets become more novel every year. Bellciano, Inc., has decorated a black cashmere cardigan with 86 tiny grey buttons. The co-ordinate tweed skirt has 138 of the same little buttons on the front panel. In addition, there are 11 regular buttons and buttonholes to fasten the sweater. The skirt closes with a hook and eye!

Dressy skirts are always popular for the holiday season. There are full skirts of permanently pleated white nylon with bands of black velvet. There are circular wool skirts with embroidered designs. But slim skirts too have taken on the festive spirit. One sees straight velvet skirts, slim tweed skirts bejewelled with a scattering of rhinestones, tweeds with a raised knitted design.

If you have a beau who invites you to cotillions at West Point or Annapolis, or if you have a yen to go back once again to your old school Christmas ball, you had better take a look at what the designer big-brains have done to formals this year If you think the chemise is eytreme. . .

Oriental Harem