EVE'S VANITY CASE

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12615, 27 November 1926, Page 15

EVE'S VANITY CASE

Trills and Turbelows

THE LATEST FROM PARIS By PAULINE COURLANDER All Rights Reserved

If you were to wander quietly down ono of the broad, white stretes of I’aris, where the great designers do congregate, you would notice that displays of dainty accessories hare temporarily taken the place of the ‘•creations’’ in the windows. For this is the time when the true Purisienne, awaiting the last word iu new season’s modes, amuses tierself by buying collar-and-euff sets, horthes, jabots, sequin and ribbon trimmings, flowers, and the hundred and one dainty trifles which help to make her wardrobe the eminently satisfactory thing it is. COATEES AND BOLEROS There are also dainty transparent coatees and boleros to tempt tlio acquisitive temperament! Slipped over a last season’s frock of georgette, chiffon or crepe, a little bolero or coatee makes that game frock look like a perfectly up-to-date model just home from the salon 1 Either sleeveless, or with long, rather loose sleeves, the bolero which reaches only to the normal waistline, is a real and very charming friend to the woman who must make a frock last at least two seasons 1 The longer coatees, reaching to theliips, are useful for evening wear, and will completely transform a dance frock that has seen better days! Sparkling with sequin or bead embroideries; or made of three or four tiers of chiffon, each tier in a different shade of a colour, the coatees look quaint and appealing enough to please the most exigent, TWO SHADE SCHEMES The two-colour scheme is still popular—or perhaps one should call it the ‘•two-shade scheme.” For in all these alliances the one shade is chosen so carefully to harmonise with the other that the variation is in tone rather than in colour. The green that has something of gold in its make-up is used with a bronze-gold that has more than a little of green in it; the misty blue with a suggestion of mauve is combined with a mauve that dimly hints at an underlying blue tone, while the rose and wine shades are hosts in themselves for creating delicate and delightful shade schemes. A SEQUIN SEASON Sequins trim most of the nicest dance frocks. Sometimes they are worked in a sun-ray design all over the gown; sometimes they cascade down the front and back only, and look like giant cobwebs shimmering with dewdrops; or again they may he sewn closely together to form a deep ceinture round the hips, a conventional design in front of tli9 skirt, and broad shoulder straps on the bodice. In whatever manner these pretty trimmings are employed, they look

alluring, elusive, ephemeral as a iirefly on a summer night 1 And ephemeral they are! For this season, it is wise to avoid a sequin gown if you cannot afford more than one or two danco toilettes. Nob only would you grow rather weary of the constant scintillation, but these dainty confectibns are built merely to satisfy a whim of tho moment; not for hard wear! MODES FOR MATRONS If tho debutante is receiving her meed of attention this year, so also is tho matron. At lnr* designers are waking up to the fa' that the older woman requires as many clothes as her daughter, and that she is equally eager to obtain the best in life so far ns her wardrobe is concerned. With the result that this season sonic exquisito models have been designed lo appeal exclusively to the matron.. .She is not bidden to wear

black or grey or dark blue, and nothing but black or grey or dark bluet On the contrary, she looks charmiiyg in an old rose georgette frock sewn with beads and bugles, with a niisty-mauvey-grey tulla scarf wound round her shoulders, the scarf terminating each end with a gigantic pink velvet rose. She looks well, too, in her frock of gold and rich blue metallic cloth, or in one of broclio georgette, in which half a dozen wonderful shades aro blended into a perfect poem of colour 1 But the black toilette is not over-

looked—not by any means. For, young or old. the woman with a good skin, good eyes and beautiful liair, looks better in black than in anything else. And for the matron is a lovely gown of black satin ekarmeuse, cut with a slim, rather short skirt and a slightly flared tunic. This tunic may be bordered with closely-sewn opalescent sequins forming a three-inch hem; it may have a fur border if this appeals; or it may be left quite plain, with a thick roll hem giving it just the firmness it needs. The sleeveless arms are discreetly and beautifully veiled by the deep-pointed cape of fine black lace, which falls to the hem of the skirt at the back.

“COME TO DESSERT”! A CHARMING FRiNCH CUSTOM (By Dor con Dawson.) On© of the everyday experiences 1 niost enjoy on my periodic visits to Franc© is the delightfully informal invitation from hospitable souls, not always overblessed with this world’s goods: “Come to dessert!” It is issued as naturally as the Englishwoman’s “Com© and have a cup of tea!” And is regarded as the same pleasant opportunity for congenial forgatherings and cosy chat—sans ceremonies “Dessert” in France is indeed very much the same sort of thing ns afternoon tea in England, save that coffee takes the place of the universal brew, and the hour is the evening instead of the afternoon. But the fancy cakes are there,. and the big cream-Slled gateau as piece de resistance; or, in the case of a humbler menage, the beauti-iully-baked fruit tart made in the “tortiere” that is part of every French household equipment, have to behold one of those tarts to believe it! Its dimensions shout hospitality as it is borne to the table—

great masses of juicy fruit in a thin ease of miraculously light and flaky patisserie. In France, the coffee-drinking is usually preceded, unless funds are very, very short, by a glass of white wine and a biscuit; and when funds are good, it is followed by a liqueur. SOME DECORATIVE NOTES Dress fastenings offer a certain variety; the high-necked models affording scope for all manner of smart and pretty conceits in jabots, bows, and chio little straight collars held by two decorative buttons. Pour changer, there are the frocks that open to a V shaped over a plastron or waistcoat.

ON CHANGINGONE’S MIND (By Philippa Kendrick.) Do you know the type of “superior” person who simply will not let you change your mind—not even in the most trivial direction —without making a song about it? >, She thinks it is highly moral and frightfully clever to put you in the stocks —especially in public—by quoting what you said last week, in flat contradiction to your utterance of tho moment. Word for word, she reproduces your lightly-uttered sentiments ; and is shocked or annoyed, according to temperament, when you as lightly dismiss them with a casual: “Did I really say that? Well, you see, I’ve changed my mind.” Tho simple statement reduces your would-be mentor and tormentor to injured silence. You know what she is thinking. She is probably summing you uj> as one of those chameleon intelligences incapable of any but the most shallow superficiality of thought and outlook. it is quite beyond her line of vision that you may regard ideas as things to bo played with as well as pondered over; as danger-sig-nals no less than signposts; and that when you discover “t’other from which,” so to speak, you naturally abandon the false track and take another turning.

Your type who prides herself on never changing her mind not only misses the far horizons, but a whole lot of the landscape close around; and nearly all the real fun of the fair. To appreciate that, your mind must have a myriad eyes, and they must be looking in umpteen directions at ouce. Stolid consistency is the death of mental adventure! As for that ancient well where Truth lies a-hiding, no human mind has yet changed often enough and fast enough to grasp that elusive entity!

Don’t Ipt yourself be bullied out of. a virtue because some shortsighted critic of your capacity to change your mind infers that it is a vice. The still pool, you know, can be both shallow and stagnant. But the darting river, swift-moving on its changing course, gathers depth and clarity as it flows onward to the open sea. Changing one’s mind can rid it, wholesomely and progressively, of those clogged-up prejudices that only the really shallow people interpret as a staunch adherence to unchanging principles. Principles are one thing; ideas another. Stick to your principles nobly; but do occasionally play bubbles with your ideas; so often, in that flashing, ever-changing iridescence, beauty and light are revealed. SOME FAMOUS DUNCES A WORD OF COMPORT TO MOTHERS. (By Phyllis Monkman.) “You oare for nothing but ratcatching, dogs, and shooting, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and your family.” Mr Darwin chastised his son Charles with these words, and there seems little doubt that the boy merited the rebuke. Yet years afterwards the name of Charles Darwin was world-famous 1 “A stupid, heavy blockhead.” Oliver Goldsmith’s old schoolmaster, who looked upon the famous writer as one of the biggest dunces he had ever had to teach, thus denounced his pupil. Yet Goldsmith wrote the poem “The Deserted Village,” tho novel “The Vicar of Wakefield,” and the comedy “She Stoops to Conquer,” and his name will be revered wherever English literature is found. Notable instances of great national heroes who were dullards at school are Nelson and the Duke of Wellington. Robert Clive, known as the “Maker of India,” was the dunce of every school

he attended, and he was educated at four. He was pneked off to India to get him out of the way. Strange that in this distant land he discovered his latent genius. | The late W. P. Frith, R.A.. the painter of the famous picture, “Derby | Day,” was by no means brilliant at I school. Carlyle also tells a good story | of two of his schoolfellows at the Edinburgh High School, One was an utter dunce, the other was a, sharp lad. The second lived to be “plain John Hunter,” says Carlyle, “whilst the other became Sir Walter Scott.” Sir Isaac Nowton, the great scientist, was always at the bottom of the class, and it is said that Dickens showed no great gift for learning as a boy. Mothers need never despair if their sons and daughters do not show great brillianco at sohool 1 The men and women who have made names for themselves in business, art, science, and even politics, were amongst the steady scholars, whose hard work and persistent application gained for them ultimate success. The mushroom genius, flashing brilliantly through school and college, rarely gains a great, place in the world of mcu. apd affairsl