NOTES FOR WOMEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 317, 3 December 1910, Page 6

NOTES FOR WOMEN.

[" Patricia " will be pleased to give advice to readers in all matters concerning dress, house-keeping, cti:[uette and the toilet. Write, giving pseudonym, care of this office.]

Wellington, Tuesday

Dear Isobel, —Since writing last week I have discovered several things of interest in the realms of fashion, and have also come to the conclusion that either very few women possess full length mirrors, or else very many of them are slightly blind. Under no , other circumstance could they possibly dress 33 they do. The monster extinguisher known as the "cloche" hat is upon us., in all its awfulness, and of the most immoderate size. The hats that have been fashionable lately are, on the whole, quite pretty, and in many cases quite becoming, but to see an ordinary woman wearing one of these huge flower-pot arrangements coming down to the level of her nose in front and almost resting on her ; shoulders behind, reminds one of nothing so much as a child's doll dressed up in a big tea cup. If the front view is ugly tbs view from the back baffle 3 description, as they succeed in completely hiding every scrap of hair that may have been allowed to us in the enormous "flower garden" hats worn worn recently. Some of the least exaggerated of the "bell" hats are decidedly pretty as well as quite useful in shape for travelling or general hard wear. I saw a good serviceable model of rough coloured straw trimmed with large loops of stiff black ribbon upstanding at the left side. There was no other trimming on the hat except the two large pins used to fix it on with, the ribbon used for the bow not being continued round thu crown as is usually the case. Although the brief reign of the hobble skirt was ended in England by the sudden death of the King and the consequent general mourning, it seems to be accepted as the height of fashion in Wellington, and every time I go out I see more and more of these ungainly garments. To say rhe very least of it, the way that some of the tighter shapes of the new skirts, hobbled and otherwise, outline the figure is far from elegant, and they do not seem to me to be much improvement on the much talked about directoire gowna worn a short time ago. As these /rowns were adapted from the famed. Tanagra statuettes they were naturally extremely tight fitting, but in drapery and style they were at least artistic, which is more than can be said for the present tight skirts. Following the craze for having every detail to correspond in colour and texture (as far as possible) I have seen some stockings and shoes of siik and suede respectively that were really perfect in their way. One lovely set of gloves, stockings, shoes and belt was of pah? dove grey, the shoes being cut wtih the long Louis tongues and with big oval buckles of cut steel to give the neces-p-ary touch of brilliancy. The belt had also a buckle and slides of steel, while the stockings were embroidered up the sides with fine silk of a slightly lighter shade. The mention of slides reminds me of the many beautiful diamond slides that are being worn on bands of black velvet round the throat. These have come in again this season with greater force than ever, and I sincerely hope they will long remain with us, as I am sure there is nothing more becoming to old and young than the simple touch of black at the neck. On a young neck it accents the soft curves of the throat and chin, and for an older woman, especially if she be fortunate enough to possess white hair, the little black band gives an almost regal air to the simplest afternoon or evening frock. Another pretty article of jewellery that has come to us again cut of the past is the fiat round plaque seen everywhere in England at present. They are usually of diamonds and platinum of extremely fine workmanship and design, but I have seen some lovely specimens set with peridot, which were said to have been the favourite stones of the late King, and with sapphires and emeralds, as well as the ruby that is "beyond price," as the poet tells U3. Wide flounces and frills on all kinds of light frocks are coining into fashion again-, and I have seen quite a number elaborately trimmed with both wide and narrow frills of lac j . and embroidery. Some recent French models had wide flounces of lace applied in flat bands at about the level of the knees. This has rather a quaint old world effect, but on the whole I prefer the less extreme, but far more graceful, flounce at the lower edge of the skirt. Some extremely pretty white dresses are made with a well shaped semi - princess upper part, which comes down to about the knees, to which, is attached either a drawn, pleated or circular flounce of the material. One smart little frock had the top part of fine Swiss embroidered mus]in, and the frill of an

equally fine plain muslin. Of course the sleeves were of the former material and ths yoke and cuffs (if any) may be of Irish crochet or Valencienne lace. A frock made like this is really far more economical than it sounds, as a whole dress of embroidery soon gets rather "raggy" at the hem, which a good plain muslin does not. If an all-embroidery aress is desired the lower flounce can be used as a foundation for a pleated or drawn frill of wide embroidered flouncing, which can be had in many lovely designs and at quite a mpderate cost. Hair dressing remains about the same, with the exception that the turban chignons are going: out, their place being taken by a classical arrangement of curls and unrolled bands of hair. The general tendency of the day is towards the Egyptian, and many of the most successful dressings have an unbroken outline from the forehead to the nape of the neck. Many tiny curls are being used, but in these days when curls can be bought so cheap at so much the card, it is advisable for the woman with much hair of her own to do it in some simpler style, with bands and rolls of well brushed glossy hair, which will both show it off to its greatest advantage and place her far above the suspicion of wearing the despised "false nair" —which nearly everyone does wear, if the truth were only known! An excellent wash for fair hair can be easily made up at home from the juice of two lemons well shaken up wth a tablespoonful of salts of tartar. This is most decidedly not a dye, and does not bleach the hair,' but will help to keep it bright and in good condition. It will also help to prevent it getting darker, a3 some hair has a na3ty way of doing. Fair hair should always be dried out in the sunshine, while a dark haired woman should always dry hers in the shade, the reason being that the sun's rays bleach the colour out of the hair to a certain extent, and will leave an ugly streaky look in dark hair that should always be avoided when possible. I saw a number of dainty belts in town recently which I was rather taken with. Some were of soft chiffon taffeta in a great variety of shades, lined with white satin and bound all round with silk braid of the same shades. They were fastened with fancy metal buckles and had eyelet holes worked in silk instead of the usual metal holes to fix the buckle with. Which remark reminds me of some pretty imitation enamel belt buckles I was shown in one of the big shops here lately. They are manufactured by some new process which gives them the appearance of being finely inlaid with Mother o' pearl shell and enamel on chased gold, all at a very small cost. One charm- ! ing clasp was in the shape of a Dragon fly with "inlaid" wings of pearl shell and much beautiful "enamel" work round the edge. As far as I can .remember the price was about half a crown, which does not seem ruinous considering the delicate appearance and colouring of the delightful little fraud ! —Yours faithfully, PATRICIA.