NOTES FOR THE LADIES. (SPECIALLY SELECTED BY OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.)

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 66, 6 September 1884, Page 5

NOTES FOR THE LADIES. (SPECIALLY SELECTED BY OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT. )

Flounces are reserved almost entirely for skirts made of lace or of shot silk ; for other costumes the skirt is either tucked, pleated, or plain.

Many of the newest French bonnets of lace are made of the very fashionable guipure de Genes, of so serviceable a nature as to bear re-arranging many times, either for bonnets or mantles.

The striped voiles and mottsselines de lame, the soft embroidered voiles in lovely colours and equally lovely designs, are all fascinating, and will make most charming toilettes,

Now that plain skirts are becoming fashionable, mohair, too stiff a material to drape well, is again coming to the iore. Well made up, it is a serviceable and durable material, and makes excellent walking and travelling costumes.

A new tight-fitting jacket is of black jetted fabric, with the exception of the waistcoat and the back, which are of ottoman bordered with bretelles of black velvet, about three inches wide, diminishing at the waist, and then continued down the basque to end in handsome jet pendants.

Capotes are so small that they are often little more than a pretext or foundation for the rosettes, flowers, grasses, and insects that compose their ornaments, rising in many instances to an excessive height ; even pendant flowers, such as sprays of white lilac, for instance, are arranged as aigrettes.

The choice of light fabrics is unusually large and varied this season, especially amongst washing materials, such as fine embroided or printed lawns, the cambrics, themuslins, printed or embroidered like the lawns, and the laces and embroideries pure and simple.

Black lace dresses continue to be very popular ; the corsage is of lace or of black brocade with a raised design in coloured velvet ; the front is ornamented with a black lace plastron over a coloured lining, and bows of ribbon, in the same shade as the lining and as the velvet design, are nestled amongst the flounces and folds of the dress.

Many of the washing dresses for young girls are made with polonaises ; a pretty costume of plain and flowered sateen, more pretty than practical perhaps, has the skirt in panels of the flowered sateen divided by accordion pleats of plain sateen. The polonaise is of the flowered sateen, and draped high on one side with a flot bow of satin ribbon ; a full plastron of plain sateen ends under the drapery of the tablier, which is folded across the front as if it covered the edge of the corsage.

The principal spring shades in materials of all kinds will be reseda— verdigris, peacock-green, China red, greys of blue or pink tendencies, ash grey, dove gery, wallflower, Turkish maize, mastic tint, and light grenat. The shades known as "mastic" are those of the crayons used in chalk drawings ; mastic green, especially, is a lovely tint; pistache green, that of the bean of that name, is also a great favourite in'velvet, satin, or rich silks, and is found to' blend with several others most harmoniously.

Two new materials that have lately appeared may be added to the already lengthy list of fabrics for summer toilettes. One pi these is Ninghia examine, a rather rough and even coarse-looking tissue, but exceedingly light, and, what will be a very great advantage in the eyes of most ladies, not likely to become too popular and common. It is woven in one colour only, or in two colours to produce a shot effect. Leia faspe is a closer and rather thicker fabric of a similar description, and equally original and uncommon. Both these are usually employed for the polonaise or tunic and corsage, over a tucked skirtfof shot silk.

In coloured materials for useful costumes the variety is endless ; for cold or rainydays fancy cloths in checks or stripes, or with raised spots in imitation ot the chenille spotted cashmere. These cloths are made up into neat skirts such as we have described, with or without draperies, and worn with smart little jackets plainly made of the same cloth. Nothing can be neater or more ladylike than this style of dress for morning walks or shopping expeditions. A small close-shaped hat or bonnet of straw matching the dre3B in colour should be worn to complete the neat appearance of the costume.

Capotes are worn extremely small, hor)| dered all round with a full gathered border of velvet, which is further trimmed with a fall of some fancy lace, or a sort of network of small flowers, and a cluster of the same is posed on the left side. Beige velvet is much employed, as it is a neutral kind of colour, with which almost any flower combines. Besides capotes, there are still some bonnets made in the Recamier and Chapeau Empire style, as some ladies find these shapes more becoming, and consequently prefer them to any other. Manilla straw is mostly employed for these, as it can so easily be bent to any desired curve to suit, the face, and milliners arrange it on the head as will be most becoming.

The new heavy-ribbed ottoman silk, generally reserved for mantles, is now employed as panels and artistic draperies in conjunction with soft woollen or silken goods, with excellent effect. Very handsome are the redingotes of this black ottoman silk, worn over satin skirts, the front covered with a series of lace flounces ; these redingotes, as we have before mentioned, extend almost to the edge of the dress, so that the skirts should be made expressly to wear with them, and require only a full flounce at the foot all round, and the remainder of the trimming carried up the front. Quite a fashonable style of skirt for young girls is the deep kilt very finely pleated in imitation of the acco:dian, and extending the entire length of the skirt, no draperies, and worn with short basquebodico or the new embroidered jersey. Another similar style of skirt has box-pleats instead of kilts, on the upper fold of each pleat a set of fine braid macooons graduated in size towards the top of the skirt.

The Bach monument at Eisenbach will be unveiled on the 28th September. There will be a series of concerts in connection with the event, at one of which the B minor mass by John Sebastian Bach will be conducted by Professor Joachim. The committee for the erection of a Mozart monument at Vienna has as yet in its hands only 50,000 florins. More than 100,000 florins, however, are required. Hence an appeal is made to natives and. foreigners for contributions,