NOTES FOR WOMEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 326, 7 January 1911, Page 3

NOTES FOR WOMEN.

V.i.|i!clic an.i toilet. Wiitc. ;;i" |n-ciui»-n;. Hi. .':lvi' of I'r.i.- ntV'.|

Wellington. Tuesday. I)ea v IsoLe 1, -- We ha vest ar tcd i 1) e New Year with the usual rejoicing and general congratulations, but so far I lvave entirely failed to discover anything new in town except the year ■ —ami we can'i possibly wear that.! Just at present the I'ashion world seems to be more or less at a standstill; we may desire, or even require

more light summer frocks, but we very seldom yet them as late as this. Dame Fashion longs ago decided on the modes that we were to wear and now that worthy lady appears to be taking a nap, after the exertion of creating all the extraordinary styles i of the last few months, and before turning her thoughts seriously to i autumn gowns. About the one and ' only novelty that has come my way ; lately is the lace edged hat, not the ; lace frilled variety of painful memory, : but one with a plain straight downi turned band of fine insertion, usually | about an inch and a half wide around I the edge of the brim. That it dues j not sound attractive I will freely ad- | mit, but smart it most certainly is, i and new withal. On a large black ! chip or Tagel model with the pretty I (and becoming) bend in front a fine black Chantilly insertion would look charming and really softens the out- ! line immensely for anyone who find a dark hat too trying for the complexion. Of course it is a style that is liable to be over-done very easily, and probably it will be, but by that time : we shall have some other little fad or : foible to occupy our attention, and so ' will not protest at the number of hats with "valances" on them that we may

see about the town. Some of the very high class corset makers in London have brought out delightful little camisole-bust suppoi ters for wearing under the fashionable neglige blouses of thin or transparent fabrics, and I think it is a notion that ■ could be taken up with advantage j much more widely than at present, ! especially by those inclined to pluinpi These dainty little bodices are I made after the style of a tight-fitted lining, and are of lace, Swiss embroidery, net, or fine cambric trimmed with j lace and insertion, and are carefully i boned to give support and trimness to i the figure. As iar as I know tney j are not to be had anywhere in New ] Zealand yet, but it would be a very I simple matter to make them one's i self with a good pattern and care in arranging the bones so that they will ! not show in ridges through the blouse. ! If the bodice is to be worn as a caisole ! it should be long enough to reach i exaclly to the waist line, but several ! of the styles I saw were designed for ; support only, in which case they only I came to a few inches below the ton : of the corset, just sufficiently long to | lit smoothly, without wrinkling up ! over the bust. The last-mentioned | style was usually developed in all over i embroidery or lace. Whenever lace i and insertion was used it was carried round both the upper and the lower edge as well as round the close fitting arm-hole. : Skirts are certainly getting wider ! and longer, so I expect that by next j winter we shall be entirely free from the terrible "hobble" skirts. Nearly | all the elaborate dresses from London ; and Paris are draped, or have tunics, but somehow, there are so few opportunities cf wearing gowns of this ' class here that very few people have adopted the modp, except the fortunate tew who can afford to import a ball gown and wear it perhaps twice in the season and then consider it done! I i have seen some pretty skirts' from j Paris, where the "hobble" has been I extinct for months, made fairly wide j but without any unnecessary fullness, i simply trimmed with wide "nun tuck" ' bands of satin or silk put on quite I iiatly round the lower edge. If there I was more than one of these bands they were arranged at intervals of a few ; inches from the hem of the skirt to j about the knee. Materials such as voile or caehemire look well dona up this way, as the bright sheen of the satin bands lightens up the duller surface of the former fabric. The deep hems that are so much worn this season are getting even deeper, and I have iieen models where the "hem" 1 extended almost up to the waist--if I hem 3 they could be called, when they i were really more than half the skiit. With these skirts the blouse is often Magyar in shape, with the entire upper part and the sleeves of the same material as the Of course a costume such as this is apt i to be a little conspicuous if the contrast between the two fahyics is strongly marked, and unless {he wearer is tall and slim the result is sure to lie disastrous in the extreme. The high Empire waists that \ foretold some time ago are becoming more pronounced as the season advances, ami near!v all the latest French gowns have decidedly high waistlines. If tin' frock is 'of some transparent material tlx- t ll'cct is beautiful, (.■specially it' it it; heavily jewelled, almost a!I the new gavvns are, but in iu-avier mulerials the style is not si] pnutel'u! ar> it v/a3 when v.'e voi'o it last. They are not so well "shaped" to the lie,lice this limi*. and I an; ni'i'Vul that there art! few women who can really wear the "straight lip and down" lines of the Empire frock as wotp it(• Use time cf tin: sirst Empire and atiii look graceful, unless they are of very slender figure, j- 'Hie immensely long arid wide i rever;: of which I wrote he fere, are,

like the koni:< ; h.-iU i'u t:be ami popularity. 1 saw a wonderful ! model wrap with wide revers lately, intended l'or wearin;; at a liijj reception, of thick sole black cln'mieuso line i.l with v. kitu eluwnu use, and cleverly was th»3 clyal* constructed Hi at ii couli! l.u worn a;- either « black cloak with white revers or a:y a white . cloai. with revcr;; oi blaei,. iiu\v it was clone is more than I can tell, but I thought that it vvaa really one of ; the most useful garments that a girl 1 i with a small allowance and a largo

visit!a£* iit;t could possibly have, and the n.c kl wr.s one that could be copied in a less expensive material without losing any of its charm or novelty. Fine faced clotli of mauve and grey, kingfisher blue and cerise, or Gobelin blue and dull river green with pipings of coppery Ha me colour; eachemire in brown and gold or some of the hundred and one varieties of silk and woo! fabrics lined with the cloth of the contrasting shade would all look delightfully stylish, and yet be far less expensive than the usual satin or velvet evening cloak which can really only be used as such, while the wrap I have suggested could be worn almost any where, from a race meeting to a wedding, and still do yeoman service as a theatre cloak. —Yours faithfully, PATRICIA.