THE PARISIAN FASHIONS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5118, 18 August 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PARISIAN FASHIONS.

(From the Q,uccn.\ As the weather becomes warmer; the flowers in the bonnets seem to inereaso in quantity in proportion ; and yet, although this is the case, and the toprof a fashionable bonnet looks like a jardiniere, large flowers are discarded for small ones. Wreaths are made very hu;h in front, the ends , falling at tho back. They are composed of every variety of thorn, made with incredible delicacy, and are such close copies of nature that detection of any artificial element about them is well nigh impossible ; they are by no means effective, neither are they cheap, for three louis are often asked for a small one. All flowers with yellow green tints are sought after ; mignonette, cowslips, apple blossoms, hydrangeas, heaths, sweet peas, and mixed grasses are among the popular clusters. Foliage wreaths are tinted in the pale tilleul shades, in olive hues, and in deep myrtlegreens, and they are mounted on flexible stems with grasses and weeds of extreme naturalness. Hoses are made in all the new pink coral shades, in deep mandarin yellow, in pale tilleul, in Marshal Niel yellow, and in creamy white ; and largo buds not quite opened, together with fullblown crushed roses, are preferred. When a bunch of roses is used for trimming a bonnet, it is made up of three new Vesuvius red, pale coral, and tilleul, which is yellow green. The new striped satin gauzes are much used in making theatre and other evening bonnets, and they have all wide strings of the same material, which are tied in huge bows below the chin. All shades of yellow aro in vogue for these bonnets, from lemon to nasturtium ; these hues are quite spring-like, for crocuses, daffodils, primroses, wallflowers, buttercups, are all in bloom, at this time of year. They should always be used in conjunction with

black, for they do not look well with white; even white strings should be avoided when yellow flowers are used. In consequence of this, very little white lilac is to be seen ; as a rule it is tinged with pale green, and all other white flowers are tinted with either pink or yellow, which renders them more becoming and softer to the complexion than pure white. There are some gold bonnets, which are perhaps fashionable, but certainly not pretty; they are made of straw steeped in a bath of gold, by a process similar that of a Ruolz plate. This golden straw is trimmed with a large velvet bow and a humming bird on the curtain. Caroline Reboux places a bird of paradise across the curtain, without any other ornament save a small velvet bow at the back. If flowers are used, the bird should, as a matter of course, be omitted. The newest Tuscan bonnets have round the crown a rich feather, either to match in color or white, a bouquet of roses at the side, a bouillone" of velvet beneath the brim, and strings of dcru batiste In materials there is quite a change of fashion. China crepe" has gone out, and Lyons crepe" has come in ; the latter, so to speak, is a | crepe", or crinkled crepe". The new double Chambury gauze is also a success, in fact a visit to the Sauvage and the Boulevard des Italiens, where the newest materials are always to be found, is most interesting, for the stock of novelties this season is apparently inexhaustible. There are Lyons foulards, striped with the newest stripes, which in one light look self-colored ; others in small checks, particularly attractive in chesnut brown and white. Then there are vicugna cloths of the new dead turquoise shade, only found at the Sauvage, Batavian silks serges, &c. The new batistes, figured with damask designs, promise to be popular for summer dresses. They are chiefly in cream and dcru tints, with the ground covered with the damask, and are made up over silk, and trimmed with a new cream lace in Duchesse patterns. The peculiar shade of blue known as "robin's egg" is generally used in conjunction with dcru batistes ; it has a gray shade over it. For thin dresses the new cashmere gauzes are likely to be popular ; these are transparent, soft, silken gauzes, showing the rich colors of India shawls blended without any more fixed design than is seen in Oriental rugs. The warp is exceedingly fine, and in it are woven thickly knotted and tufted threads that make it substantial. One pattern shows a blending of tilleul with olive brown and Ve'suve red ; a second has blue, mandarin, rose, and tilleul in knotted threads, but no pattern ; a third has bayadere stripes of sky blue, with clusters of cashmere colors between, and myrtle green is also alternated with the rich India colors. ■ These are to be made up over siks of a solid color, trimmed with pinkedout ruches that contains silks of all the colors that are blended together.