LADIES' EXPRESS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 234, 30 December 1874, Page 2

LADIES' EXPRESS.

o £ The Etbtor will be ylart to give insertion to any local contribulioM from his lady frienao that, may be considered interesting in the family circle, or to the sex generally.]

o FEMININE NAMES AND THEIR MEANING.

Frances is truly fair, Bertha is purely bright, Clara is clear to see, Lucy is a star of light, Felicia is happy as happy cun be ; Catharine is pure, Barbara from afar, Mabie is very fair,

Henrietta is a star, Margaret, a pearl thrown up from the sea. Muriel is sweetest myrrh, Maria, is sincere, Martha is very good, Bridget is shining here, Matilda is a lady of honor true; Susan is a lily, •u Celia dim of sight, Jane a graceful willow, Beatrice gives delight; Elizabeth an oath, pure as morning dew. Sophia is wisdom, Letitia is a joy, Edcline is a princes, Julia a jewel joy. Rebecca is faithful as the-light of day; Constance is resolute, Grace is favor met, Charlotte is nobility, Harriet an odour sweet, Abigail is joyful as the Robin’s lag, Sarah is a lady, Isabel is fair, Lucinda is constant, Jemima sounds in air, Caroline is noble-spirited and brave ; Lydia is well, Judith a song of praise, Cornelia a harmony, Priscilla ancient of days, Selina a nightingale where branches wave.

Fashions.—There are two distinct classes of fashionables. Those who belong to the loud school, and cannot have robes too training, cuirasses too sparkling, and trimmings too expensive. The second class patronise a vigorous simplicity. The materials must be beautiful, but sombre, few ornaments, the cut irreproachable, and the toilette harmonious, so that the eye will be at once struck, and the verdict will spontaneously come to the lips —“ there’s a pretty dress.” Many costumes are to be met with, thus composed—jupon in black and white cross bar stuff, entirely covered with flounces in black taffeta, so placed in point of distance as to allow the jupe to be perceived at equal intervals ; black corsage cuirasse, with band in cross bar before and behind ; sleeves square with bands of black taffeta encircling the arm three times. This form equally applies to shades uniform and tender, associated with black, such as maize and black, pale blue and black ; the light color forming the jupon, the black the trimming ; the opposite is for the corsage. The polonaise after being dethroned has again become sovereign, thanks to the favor of thick tissues ; the form of the new polonaise is that of the princess, a little vague it must be avowed, the fronts crossing by two rows of fantastic buttons. The corsage cuirasse, lacing behind, moulds the figure admirably and elegantly, and when the lace is black or colored, zebranf the corsage and tuhliers, the fantasy is attractive and gives u fresh look to a robe. In one respect bats are nearly uniform in being in felt, but of various colors to match the toilette, however, the shape is genera ly altered by the milliner to suit the features, hence the form is elevated, diadem, rakish, turning up on one side, wish a cluster of fun-like velvet bows fulling from behind, with cock or ostrich feat, ers, heads of birds, an I even entire birds. Strings continue to be put ronised.