BAGS, BELTS AND BUTTONHOLES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 214, 29 November 1927, Page 4

BAGS, BELTS AND BUTTONHOLES

TREMENDOUS TRIFLES By POPPY BACON From being a word which typified the unnecessary and expensive indulgences of a woman who spent all her time and money on clothes, “accessories” have become the keynote of all good dressing. In fact, it is by a subtle choice of these very odds and ends that we are judged. It is to Frenchwomen that we owe this considerable change in the principles of choosing one’s apparel. Until a year or two ago, it was the dress that mattered, what was worn or carried with it was of secondary importance. Now the bags and belts and buttonholes have first place in our thoughts; not, of course, that we don’t bother to consider our frocks. We do. But they are like the frame of a picture. Exclusive Taste We will suppose that a Parisienne with the reputation for exquisite good taste in clothes looked adventurously from her bedroom window on to the Bois de Boulogne one morning a few years ago, and taking the sunshine into consideration decided that she must create a sensation. She knew all her charms as any sensible, far-seeing woman should. “How delightful I shall look,” said she, “if I wear that simple little beige frock that I have just bought and with it wear a bright green leather belt and carry a bright green bag to match. Everybody else will be in their most frou-frou frocks and I shall stand alone.”

And so, out she went, and a para- ; graph writer, looking for copy, wrote in the last paragraph on his page: “I saw Mme. de B. in the Bois this morning looking more beautiful than ever. Unlike all the other women airing their most beautiful creations she was dressed in the simplest frock, which was given individuality with a bright green waist-belt and bag. The Comtesse de M., whom rumour will have is Madame’s arch enemy, walked behind her with a horrible frown on her i face . . .” Now everybody wears the simple : frock which can be garnished in a different manner daily. How smart buckles have become, especially the j geometrical silver ones. On one occasion a frock may be finished at the waist with a buckle, on another with a brilliant belt. The latest examples are fashioned of tinted skins, lace backed with suede, shimmering sequins, and plaited monkey skin. Buttonholes are as essential as a good seam, and they j cannot strictly call themselves acces- ] sories, but there are lingerie collars and cuffs in quantities, the latest of which are made of coloured, embroidered lace. Scarf handkerchiefs which tie in a hundred different ways are the latest novelty. And Economical “Such an economical idea,” says the woman with a genius for economising on her frocks and spending pounds on the accompanying odds and ends. “Last year I was able to do without half the frocks I usually require.” And taken into account in this complicating scheme must be shoes and hats and gloves. If they do not all match, and nobody need go to the ; length of such disintegrated dullness, they must create the more distinguished effect of holding together. One might choose another buckle on the hat for instance, to match one on a frock, or a subtle touch of snakeskin on a glove to match a belt. ITALIAN LAMPS Among the many lovely things that hail from Italy, quaint lamps must take a first place in artistic furnishings for the home. It is a lovely idea to have lamps carried out in glass filled will water, that can be t used—strange though it sounds!—for goldfish. The glass is Venetian, and some of it is fashioned like those exquisitely slender pitchers, with one handle, that were used in days of old for water-carrying. Then there are delightful lamps in the form of enormous wine glasses. All are fitted for electric light, and have attractive shades in pleated imitation vellum. These shades are tinted in the same wonderful hues as the Venetian glass itself.