SHOPPING WITH A NOTEBOOK

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 104, 26 January 1935, Page 16

SHOPPING WITH A NOTEBOOK

Felicity Sees Things

(By

Betty H.)

“Everyone is looking depressed,” remarked Felicity. “To-day I walked all the way from the top of Cuba Street to Lambton Quay, and there was only one person smiling in the town—and it was a pretty luke-warm smile at that 1” , ~ “It’s the weather, sard someone. “Nobody has the energy to smile!” Felicity thought about this for a few seconds. “No,” she decided. “It’s simply that after-holiday depression. Well, nevermind, because I’ve found some news that will make everybody cheerful!” Ask Felicity. A number of Felicity’s readers have been writing to her for information on where to go for this and that; so she has decided to invite everyone to ask her advice when they are in doubt where to obtain the best service. All replies will be found in her column. Nature’s Way to Health-. . Bring your health problems to the Therapeutic Treatment Rooms of the Wedgwood Health Institute. Ailments treated in the natural way by diet, herbal remedies, and modern electric treatment. Patients also treated in their own homes. 208 a Cuba Street. After the Holiday Festivities— Don’t despair at the state of your carpet. Dial 43-631 and let the Carpet Sewing Co., A. J. B. Foote, 57 Cuba Street, clean or repair it at reasonable cost. Shop at the Modern Meat Shop. The Eatox, Cuba Street, is the most up-to-date butcher’s shop in the city—everything spotlessly clean and fresh. Give it a trial this week-end—the low prices will surprise you! Advice for Warm Weather. How are your feet standing up to strenuous exercise in hot weather? If you are suffering from fallen arches, corns, bunions, swollen joints, etc., let me suggest a consultation with J. O. Jorgenson, 1.5.T.M., London, 131 Willis Street, for expert advice on all matters relating to painful feet. Call or telephone 50-596 for an appointment. Wash the “Ideal’’ Way! Life is too short to be worried with the burden of the family washing every week. Dial 63-000 to-day and give the Ideal Bag Wash a trial—collecting, washing, ironing, delivery, all for 6/-. Four Course Meal for a Shilling! Dine to-day at The Barn, Lambton Quay—a splendid four-course meal, excellently served, is only 1/-! A Beauty Hint For Women. The latest aid to the modern girl’s beauty is the Velvet Mitten which removes all superfluous hair safely and simply in a few minutes. Price, 2/3, all chemists. HISTORY OF VELVETS Originally Asiatic At long last it seems that women are to have a truly uncrushaible velvet, writes “C” in the “Manchester Guardian.” It is a noteworthy triumph of the textile craft. Expensive at present, the material will in all probability 'be brought before long within the range of the woman who cannot allow herself to be extravagant in dress. I seem to remember when the material known as “miroir” velvet, with its surprising lightness,' pliability, and sheen, was first introduced as a luxury to our astonished eyes, whereas today it is the stuff of a 1000 cheap little dresses that can be bought off stalls in the open street markets, and the newer, more expensive velvet, though equally fine, is entirely sheenless. Originally an Asiatic product, velvet was apparently not known among the ancient Greeks, and was introduced to Rome at the time of the Emperors. Hence it may be regarded as one of those super-luxuries which marked the Roman Decline and Fall. During the Middle Ages some manufacturers of velvet were established at Constantinople and in one or two other towns of the Eastern Empire. Always associated with royal splendour and with reckless expenditure, the fabric later penetrated to Venice and was made there and in Genoa as well as elsewhere in Italy before the industry was imported to France by two Genoese weavers under the patronage of Francis I. in 1536. These set up in Lyons, making Lyons velvets famous throughout Europe and setting velvet above all other iissues in England for ceremonial occasions and ornament, for the decoration of sumptuous rooms, and, ultimately, for the best clothes of the middle classes. The later invention of cotton velvet or “velveteen” made the stuff at last democratic. It is not always realised how closely bound up together are textile invention and social history.