Topics and Trifles

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 318, 31 March 1928, Page 21

Topics and Trifles

Sinister Complexions . . . Tinkly-Tonk . . . Clox on Our Knees . . . And Muddy Legs

PARISIENNES IN PURPLE A friend in Paris sends me word that certain smart women are using purple lipstick, blue dust for the eyes, and a curious mother-of-pearl powder that makes their complexions gleam in a very odd and rather sinister manner. So I should think I “ADIO, ADIO” I hear that the familiar expression, “Cheerio,” which started in war time and has been sent down the telephone and wafted from doorways ever since, is to be dropped. Its successor comes, like many new things, from America, and goes under the ridiculous name of “Tinkley-Tonk.” It seems to have a distinctly wineglassy flavour about it. HATS ARE HATTINGS! We borrowed a masculinism a short while ago and referred to our coats and skirts as *suits.” Only country cousins spoke of “costumes.” Then we changed it to “suitings.” and it was considered very smart to \sk, “What do you think of my n'iw suitings?” Now, hats are “battings.” Don’t ask me why. It is just the fashion. THE PERFECT PIPE Many of us would admit to a hobby of some kind, but I have seldom heard of a man devoting his leisure hours to pipes. However, I hear of a wonderful pipe which a business man has invented in his spare hours. He has aimed at making it perfect from the first draw, so that his pipe needs no breaking in. It has two bores instead of the usual one, thus allowing the smoke to cool before it reaches the mouth. TALLBOYS RETURN For a long while we have waged war upon washstands in our rooms, ami these rather dull pieces of furniture have suffered a temporary banishment. An American authoress has recently had a really cute idea, for she has had the marble top of her washstand removed and her chest of drawers fixed to the top of it. The v. uous match, of course, as both pieces belong to a suite, and thq result is a really charming looking tallboy. “COUP DE VENT” If we asked our hairdreuser to give

us a “coup de vent” he'd be surprised, wouldn’t he? But this is the name given to the newest coiffure adopted by the smart women in London and Paris. The waves are put in so that they run from one side of the head to the other, and the effect is as though you w-ere standing in a draught and the wind had blown your hair that way. There is something awfully piquant about this hairdressing, but I hope they won’t go one better and make us adopt a hair-standing-on-end mode. SLIMMER LEGS Talking of stockings I hear that they are making some siiper black ones in Paris with the embroidered “clox” starting from the top. extending halfway down the leg and pointing downwards. All these new stockings have a little triangle at the back instead of a square piece, which is, of course, infinitely more slimming to the ankle. Trust the French for thinking of that. Oh, dear, I hope someone will have the bright idea of putting half a dozen of these new models into my Easter egg! WHEN MUD MEETS MUD How many of us, when invited out to tea, take one swift backward look at our legs to see if there are any mud splashes? Grubby stockings ruin the prettiest and smartest toilette. Why not give in to the inevitable and wear mud-coloured stockings? Ever so many smart people are wearing this new colour, which is a very attractive one, and rather a relief after all the pink and yellow legs we’ve seen lately. I always wear mud-coloured stockings now—they go so well with a brown outfit —and no one sees me giving that backward look on my hostess’s doorstep. "... BEFORE A FALL” Recently I heard of another new dance called the Slip-Step. It is at present gaining great applause at London night clubs. Its investor, happily to relate. is an Englishman who thought of this dance while in Paris, where it is also becoming very irjpuThe Slip-Step is composed of long, sliding steps which are, I am told by one who knows, not so easy as they look. “In fact,” he added, “one has to be very careful not to Slip One, Fall One.”