Ladies' Express.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 941, 7 May 1881, Page 2 (Supplement)

Ladies' Express.

MY BIGHTS. “ Yes, God has made me a woman, And I am content to be Just what Be meant, not reaching out For other things, since He Who knows me best and loves me most has ordered this for me. “ A woman, to live my life out In quiet, womanly ways, Hearing the far off battle, Seeing as through a haze The crowding, struggling world of men, fight through their busy days. “ I am not Strong nor valiant, 1 would not join the fight Or jostle with crowds in the highways To sully my garments white ; But I have rigiits as a woman, and here I claim my right. “ The right of a rose to bloom In its own sweet, separate way, With none to question the perfumed pink And none to utter a nay, If it reaches a root or points a thorn, as even a rosetree may. “ The right of the lady-birch to grow, To grow as the Lord shall please, By never a sturdy oak rebuked, Denied not sun nor breeze, For all its pliant slenderness, kin to the stronger trees. “ The right to a life of my own— Not merely a casual bit Of somebody else’s life, flung out That, taking hold of it, I may stand as a cipher does after a numeral writ. _ * • U " The right to gather and glean * What food I need and can From the garnered store of knowledge, Which man has heaped for man, Taking with free hands freely, and after an ordered plan. “ The right! ah, best and sweetest! I . To stand all undismayed Whenever sorrow or want or sin Call for a woman’s aid, With none to cavil or question, by never a look gainsaid. “ I do not ask for a ballot; Though very life were at stake, I would beg for the. nobler justice That men for manhood’s sake Should give ungrudgingly, nor withhold till I must fight and take. “ The fleet foot and the feeble foot Both seek the self-same goal, The weakest soldier’s name is writ On the great army-roll, And God, who made man’s body strong, made the woman’s soul.” —Susan Coolidge.

An abominable practice, says the Th times Advertiser, is, we are sorry to notice, coming ‘into vogue amongst the fashionable young ladies of the Thames in the shape of a new style of hair dressing. The beautiful flowing tresses which almost every maiden possesses are cut off, and the hair worn quite short. The appearance of the head of a young lady who has adopted this fashion is anything but becoming, and we are sure if she could see herself as others see her, she would pot care about making herself present such a masculine appearance, We wonder what the next fashion will be like ? PARIS FASHIONS. (From the Queen J) Worth is now making both long and short dresses in the form of antique peplums, and embroidering them with beads that match exactly the material in color. The bodice is almost roundwaisted, and there is a pouf at the I

back. The waistband, that commences under the arms, falls somewhat on the hips, instead of encircling the waist.

I have visited Mme. Roger’s salon, 49 Boulevard Haussman, in search of novelties. This maison has a distinctive style of make, seeking rather to dress its clientele well and in good taste, without troubling after the very latest novelties; and it frequently turns out most stylish dresses unlike any others. Mme. Roger is now making many coat bodices which can be worn with a variety of skirts, and which will look fashionable for some time to come. Our model was a Louis XV. casaque in thick silk gauze with woven stripes of jet; it had a long round basque in front, the back had a small pouf in which ribbon and black lace were intermixed. The front is trimmed with black and white lace. Another coat bodice, made for the Duchess d’Ossupa (the wife of the ambassador at Berlin), is of black velvet, embroidered by hand most delicately with gold and steel beads, and it opens ' over an old-gold waistcoat. The skirt is satin de Chine, the tablier dentel’e de soie trimmed with bows, terminating with gold siguillettes. The train is of fine satin killings mixed With lace. Mme. Roger uses French jet beads of all colors for trimming—old-gold, silver, steel, red, prune, blue and white beads, and a quantity of white embroidery, as well as gold and silver lace. Steel will be much relied on for producing new effects ‘during the spring. A network of it is used for trimming bonnets and hats, and so is steel lace ; and steel is woven in combination with silk, so as to produce any novel fabrics, which combine well with the sheen of satin. Shaded or ombre effects will be another feature in spring fashions; shaded feathers, shaded flowers, and shaded ribbons are already plentiful. The new mantles I have as yet seen are variations of the Mother Hubbard, but the variations are often far removed from the original motif-, yet there are gatherings round the throat and gatherings round the sleeves nowadays, of even mantelets, and these gatherings were a prominent feature in the Mother Hubbards when first introduced. The new 7 mantles are large —dressmakers complain that dresses can be dispensed with—and linings are a great and conspicuous feature in them. Black mantles are lined with colored plush or witfr striped satin of gay tints, and black Spanish/ lace mantles are lined with light flesh-colored and ruby sat in — those of —v iur uregsy occasions. Then there are light Sicilienne mantles shot with a bright colot, and the satin or plush lining, as the case may be, matches the shot effect in color—as, for example, grey Sicilienne shot with golden brown would have a golden brown plush lining. The cashmere shawd is very useful at this season of the year, as a transition between winter and summer toilets. Many ladies wear it very prettily draped plaid fashion, finding it too difficult to wear in all its simplicity straight down the back. Others have very handsome visites made out or them ; a collar and facings of velvet or plush are sometimes added. It is a pretty garment for the demi-saison. y lth ball-toilets round necklets of ribbon covered with flowers are worn. Lockets, crosses, and pendants are suspended from a wide black velvet rather than from a gold chain. Artificial flowers are’scented with the perfume preferred by the wearer. The bodice has a deep basque clinging oyer the hips; it is also of Bayadere tussore; the basque is slit open at the back to show a fanpleated gore of the ecru tussore. Pleated draperies of the same, commencing from the shoulders, come down on either side and meet at the waist-line under a bow- of the same. The sleeve is shirred over the shoulder, then firmly pleated down to the elbow, shirred again, and finished with a double fluting of the material and one of whne lace. The neck is finished with a small standing-up collar, bow, and lace Touching. Most walking costumes are made the basque waist, and either a double skirt or a single skirt trimmed with draperies or with such elaborate garnitures that the foundation material almost entirely disappears. It frequently happens that lining or any light but sufficiently firm and stiff fabric is used by way of foundation, over which one, two, or more kinds of material are pleated, shirred or draped. There are a number of different ways i

of doing this. We will describe one of the latest models. First place a skirt-front of figured material, framed in on each side with a drapery, the pleats of which are lengthwise, of the self-colored fabric. Next comes, on each side, a similar drapery of figured tissue ; and lastly, the back widths, self-colored, draped up into a tournure. The bodice is also self-colored, but opens over a pleated plastron of the figured material; the trimmings upon the elbow-sleeves are also figured ; flutings from two to five in number are put on round the foot of the skirt upon the foundation material, so as to simulate an under-skirt, while the draperies appear to form a tunic or second skirt. Short costumes with round skirts are the only ones worn for walking this spring, and are, as a rule, of comparatively sober style, although here and there enlivened by a dash of red in the trimmings, pipings, and other accessories of the costume. Fashion still favors a combination of figured with self-colored materials. Patterns of every style are fashionable; dots, stripes, pompadour flowrets, printed or brocaded, are all to be seen upon the new fabrics introduced for the summer.