BONNETS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4802, 12 August 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

BONNETS.

A notable change is taking place in bonnets, although to the inexperienced eye this change may not he at first observable, as the bonnets are still worn either quite at the hack of the head, or over the nose as hitherto. But take one of these bonnets in tho hand and analyse it. It has a high “ Restoration _ crown, a “cabriolet” brim, which is growing higher and higher every season, and a curtain, which grows deeper and deeper as the front hr m grows higher. Then the interior of the brim is filled in with a full cap of fluted tulle. The exterior of the crown is covered with featneis, which fall over it in all directions, whilst a bow with very long ends hangs down the back from under the curtain. Sometimes a tutt ot seasonable flowers is also added to the interior of the back curtain. But there are not any flowers mixed in the front cap. This is one new bonnet. But there are as many new shapes and styles as there are months in the year, and each one is pretty and becoming, so that if a lady looks plain now really is "because she wishes to do so. The first requisite for a bonnet or hat to lit well is to have the hair dressed for it. High chi"nons are quite impossible with the presen styfe of head-dress. Most ladies wear their hair in long nets at the back. With this style it is rare that a hat or bonnet does not fit well and comfortably to the head. The “ baby” shape, like its sisters, has gone through a change. The crown is uo longer puffed as it used to be. It is quite flat at the back, like a Highlander's cap. It is pleated round the brim, in order to fit closely round the head, but the pleating is so small that it can be scarcely seen. The brim itself, wmc-i lies flat on the forehead, is drawn like the brims of the old-fashioned drawn bonnets. The exterior is surrounded by a rouleau of ribbon, which falls at the back in long streamers. Emerging from the back is a tuft of three feathers, falling partly over the crown and partly over the neck. The interior of the hnrn is edged with a pleating of white tulle. I Jus bonnet is generally made of the color and material of the dress itself. , Our old friend “ sailor” is also re-appeanug in new trim. The crown is wide, but flat, and the brim very high and straight. It is made of black straw. The brim is lined with black velvet, as also is the band, which serves as head-piece under the brim. This foundation is trimmed with two rows of lace placed reversed ways. The inner edges of this meet in the centre, and their juncture is concealed by a wreath of seasonable flowers, with foliage and buds, hanging like a fringe over the forehead. The back, or exterior of this hat, has not any trimming whatever. All the trimming is within the brim. But I have seen another “ sailor” hat just the reverse, with all the trimming on the exterior, and I think that this is even most becoming for young girls and children, for whom, indeed, “ sailor” hats are chiefly intended. This latter, also of black staw, with very wide and high brim, was lined within with “ sailor’ blue silk—nothing else. The back, or crown, was encircled with a wide ribbon of “ sailor blue silk, and a gold anchor, with other seamen’s implements, were attached to the bow at the back. Such a hat must have a corresponding costume, otherwise it would lose all its chic , Then, again, we have the round toque , which appears to be the hat par excellence for general wear. It is perfectly round, like “a pork pie.” The brim is covered with fiat feathers, either of solophore, mid duck, peacock, grebe, &c. The crown is equally surrounded by a band of the same feathers ; while from a bird’s head in front issue two wings of the bird, whatever it may be, which entirely cover the crown. The hair is worn in a net with this hat, which comes from the best millinery establisment in Paris, and is seen on the most aristocratic heads that now daily frequent the Bois.

I have not yet done, I come to our “Flora” bonnets. These are a mass of flowers. All that is seen of them is a wreath of flowers surrounding the head. From this wreath falls a long fringe of foliage over the back of the hair, and from this again issue two long sprays at each side, which are brought forward under tho chin where they are loosely tied together iu guise of strings. These flower strings are now universally appended to every bonnet on which there is a flower for trimming.— Lady’s Treasury.