WOMAN’S WORLD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5474, 13 September 1929, Page 1

WOMAN’S WORLD.

By ANTOINETTE for the “ Hauraki Plains Gazette.”

FASHION.

Frocks this summer are to be as gay and cheerful as a Victorian posy. The season has issued a command for fresh, clear colours, and the manufacturers have replied with an almost bewildering variety of beautiful fabrics. British artificial silks are now on the market, and their dyes are delightful and the designs both distinctive and original.

For summer evening wear the straight gown with knee flounce is one of the best silhouettes.

Each year the bathing suit assumes more importance in fashion. This year the swimming suit itself will be in one piece cut low at the neck and short on the thighs, but there are many and varied extra garments to be slipped on as soon as one comes out of the water, as, for example, a short skirt which just buttons around the hips and a cape effect which slips over the shoulders.

Felt hats are being designed for the summer to be worn with chiffon frocks. Straw hats are often made of two - different kinds of straw, sometimes even in different colourings. Trimmings are either carrying ’out the two-colour effect or three coloiifs of grosgrain ribbon. So-called “Baby” colours are "featuring blue, grey, pale green, smoke grey, and such shades that are becoming to the sun tan. In Paris they are carrying big chiffon handkerchiefs of prints to match the evening frock. ! Summer costumes are very simple, but the accessories need much thought and careful choosing.

NOVELTIES FOR TRAVELLERS.

The hopeless problem of trying to introduce a dozen pairs of shoes in a crammed box has also been solved by a good-sized leather case the interior of which is divided into f, shoe-shaped sections allowing for a sensible packing of footwear. Special sections have been managed for cream and shoe polish accessories. Another travelling novelty allows for the easy transport of books. It is built like a u*ual bookshelf with a detachable lid. Once at the hotel, it can be fixed on the wall and thus contrived into a kind of ambulating bibliotheque.

A rug and cushion case made of box calf with a zipper fastening belongs to the indispensable features of a proper travelling trousseau, and to the vanity case for toilet accessories has' been added a new feature : a dwarf umbrella with hardly a handle at all. BATH SPLASHERS. There is a new .idea for protecting the bathroom wall. A strip of linen or holland slipped on a rod, curtain fashion, and placed on the wall which gets most splashed. Amusing and unique patterns can be worked to give a bright and dainty effect against the white bathroom. One I saw had three Chinese figures appliqued in blue and white material, worked around with black, and the features and pigtail painted with marking-ink. BARE DINING TABLES. Overcrowded dining-tables are a thing of the past, and the correct thing now is to have just the barest necessities on the table for meals. Whether this is due to the practical and hurried age we live in 1 cannot 'say, but the fact remains that the less there is on our dinner-tables nowadays the better. Gone are the stupid thin silver flower vases that required endless cleaning, and toppled over almost—if looked at; gone the huge centrepiece, the, odd bits of silk and lace that adorned the middle of the table, and in their place a single bowl of flowers or fruit. STANDARDS OF BEAUTY. Standards of beauty differ all over the world, and, as the modern Western woman knows to her cost, with every decade. ' In Morocco a bride is deliberately fattened up with all sorts of “beau’y foods,” mostly cereals, milk, and dates ; in New Ireland, in the South Seas, they will keep a girl literally years to make her plump enough for loveliness according to the local standard. I have seen “fat” beauties in the Near East, and tee utterly flat, unfeminine-locking womanhood of China, where curves are not in evidence. APRIL. . April, April, Laugh thy girlish laughter ; Then, the moment after, Weep thy girlish tears ! April, that mine ears Like a lover greetest, If I tell thee, sweetest, All my hopes and fears. April, April, Laugh they golden laughter, But, the moment after, Weep thy golden tears ! —WILLIAM WATSON. WHY ? REASONS FOR FAILURES. Why does a new casserole crack the first time of using ?—Because it was not soaked first and then heated too quickly. Why are scrambled eggs rough and tough ? —Because they aie ovei.cooked. Heat slowly until a cieamy soft mass, then turn out at once or. to a slice of toast.