A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON. Feminine Facts, Fancies, and Frivolities. By Elise. London, July 24th.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 69, 27 September 1884, Page 5

A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON. Feminine Facts, Fancies, and Frivolities. By Elise. London, July 24th.

Dhvk Mk. Editor, — The great question " Wliei*© shall we go this autumn ?" w lricl: invariably begins to agitate all well-con-ducted households about the middle of July, has been settled for us by an unexpected invitation to join a yachting party who propose to spend August and September exploring the fiords of Norway. I look forward to enjoying the trip intensely. Redfern has> received orders for three "shipshape" costumes, wheh arc to be waterproof as well as picturesque; and for headgear I shall fall back upon the homely "Glengarry.' 1 We start immediately after Goodwood, which promiseto be gayer than usual this year. Tue Prince and Princes:? of Wales patronise the " Ducal " meeting, and all the " lions "' of the season (save perhaps your o\yn Taw hiao) will follow their lead. Even tl.e Maoris could foregather in the Duke of .Richmond's Park if the3 r cho-e. Mr Edwin Hopkins, who, it may be x'emembered, played ha\ocj amongst the pretty girls of Auckland a few years ago, proposed to conduct them to the races, and initiate them into the mysteries of "backing 1 t he favourite," but neither Taw hiao nor Te TVheoro jumped at the ofiei. If the weatliei keeps line, the *how of dresses; on the law n at Gaodw ood w ill far outshine Ascot or Henley. Under favourable circumstance-, the Eton and Hairow match would ha\e been the gicat "dress day "' of the season ; but on the eventful afternoon rain descended in torrents, and the fair sex stayed at home. Of course you have heard all about the Maori- reception at Demeter Hou-e. The invitations w ere sent out in a most extraordinary form. Many people must have wondeied who they came from, for no name was given. We simply got a card with :—: — " The pleasure of your company is requested at Demeter House on the afternoon of July 9, to meet the King of the Maoris and his chiefs." Mrs St. Bury (or Saintsbury as she is indifferently called), the mistress of the mansion in Montague Place, is the widow of a clerk in the Bi nk of England. She has influential friend?, and must not be confounded with the ordinary boarding-house keeper. A livelier, friendliei, more busi-ness-like little w oman I never met. Her house is the model of what such an establishment should be. Everything bright, fresh, and clean as a new pin. Colonists coming home on a visit could not do better than take up their quarters at Demeter House. Apart from the economy of the proceeding, Mrs St. Bury is just the person to put a stranger in the right path. She understands town and town w ays thoroughly, knows not only what to do, but how to do it in a distingvt yet inexpensive fashion. You fhould hear Mr Ve.sey Stewart .-ing her praises. The question, "Where to stay ':" i« nearly always a puzzle to the returning colonist who doesn't happen to have friends in London. For a few nights I should recommend'the Grand Hotel at Charing Cross, or the First Avenue in Holburn. A great many Australians go to Morley's in Trafalgar Square, but it is an uncomfortable old house, long pa?t its day, and very expensive. Spiers and Pond's, Holboin Viaduct, is a tolerable " second-class '' hotel. Since the Chinese Court at the Health Exhibition was opened, it has been the correct thing to "do " a unch there. Tom took Mary and my&elf last Thursday. We had birds'-nestft soup, sea-slug pie, and several other delicaces of doubtful composition. I tried my best to enjoy the Celestial dainties, but truth compels me to state the experiment did not yield unalloyed pleasure. We rose from the table fetill hungry and " made tracks " (as Cousin Bob would say) for the model dairies, where you can now obtain British Queen strawberries with most delicious clotted cream. During the afternoon the band of the First French Engineers played in the gardens. It is, in my opinion, incomparably the best of the foreign orche-tras th.it have visited South Kensington this season. The Bismarck Cuirassiers are fine brass instuimentalists, but they haven't the brilliancy and ihui of their Parisian brethren. We enjoyed the overture to " Tru Urouilo;" BiOger's mazurka, "Un Ruve ;"' and that old and popular French w alt/, " Indiana." The evening fOtes at the Healtherics have grown extraordinarily popular. On Wednesdays, when the fountains play, one can with difficulty move about in the gardens, which ; iast year used to be merely &piinkled with visitors. Certainly there ha- never been anything like the fountain display seen before. The reason is that the electric light is here for the first time, utilised for the illumination of water. The large central lake in the centre of the grounds lies just in front of a statue of the late Prince Consort. At the base of the statue the water pours over from a large marble ba&in, so as to make a waterfall into the lake. Great green artificial leaves and water-lilies float on tbe bosom of this large sheet of water, while all over its .surface fountain pipes rise up shaped to imitate bulrushes. The central fountain is elevated on rock-work, from under which men manipulate the electric light, a powerful beam — now one colour, now another — which is shot up through the centre of each column of water, whilst another strong line of light is cast athwart the whole from a distant clock tower. The effect of the varied shades of colour illumi nating the countless jets of water (which change in shape and form momentarily) is inexpressibly beautiful. People dress very well at these Wednesday fetes. My friend "Filomena," who goes frequently, says the newest ideas in promenade costumes and in hair - dressing are always to be seen there. The style of dressmaking is undoubtedly completely changing. By far the majority of notably stylish gowns last Wednesday had the skirts made plain, without a particle of drapery. They are gathered into a band with a little fulness all round ; but, of course, more at the back than the front, and they are made wide enough to be worn over big tournures. In the.se latter there is no diminution. A Paris friend of "FiloincnaV declares " improvers " are even larger there than here, which scarcely seems possible. They cannot, however, be going out of fashion at present. As to the bodies worn with such skirts, they are of all kinds, coattails, pointed bodices, and very short ones with tabs all round, being till worn. But the newest bodices are made a little full in the front and often in the back too ; that is to say they are gathered at neck or belt, or else laid in flat pleats from the neck to the waist, whey are, of course, put into a band. The bands of the bodies and skirts then have to be concealed either by a broad ribbon belt or by a Swiss belt of velvet or satin. The Swiss belts are, of course, diamond shaped in the middle, back, and front, narrowing to under the arms, and are laced up with a cord, generally at the back, They

are extremely fashionable. As to the materials, gowns of this sort do not seeir to bo made much in sateen, but are most common in muslin, and in the varieties ol voile and cotton velvety substances which have a soft rather than glazed surface. We ha\o long been -wearing thick furniture fabrics in our ovening dresses; tablicrs, waistcoats, and trims have been made of the brocaded satin and velvets, which the manufacturers design for coveiing chairs or hanging up at windows as curtains. Now the thin summer walking dresses arc being- largely made of all those new kinds of muslin, plain and coloured, which have been introduced within the last few years for summer curtain?. Madras muslin, that thick muslin with a rough raised kind of flower upon it in various colours, pale pink, blue, or yellow, is one of the most fashionable materials for promenade dresses. The extreme heat makes such attire very acceptable. As a last illustration of how completely the make of skirts is changing, I may mention that a good many of the dresses at the Exhibition had positively three or four tucks run round them just above the hem. Ido not like the fashion of tucks run round a skirt, which breaks the line from the waist to the ground ; and, moreover, if used in a thick material, adds most unnecessarily to the drag of a skirt. I have been in the way of seeing many pretty boating dresses lately, dresses that may be utilised for te«nis equally well. A charming frock of this character was made of white flannel, the skirt excessively full, very short hip drapery, full bodice, white satin belt, and jockey cap of w lute serge to match. A pale pink ilannol was similarly made, but the hat was of -white straw, trimmed with folds of pink mi rah. A pretty change can be made by substituting for bodice of corresponding material a Garibaldi .^kirt of striped flannel ; claret and white may be woi*n above blue or over white llannel. Ribbon bous of the combined colours should be arranged to give an air of connection. Two of the prettiest dresses worn at Henley Regatta had skiits of white flannel very full, with tucked Gniibaldi bodice of pale green silk. My friend Madge gives the following description of a new kind of jacket tor evening wear at the seaside : — "The jacket, of giey or blue, is tight-fitting with dark velvet collar and cults. Very smart jackets of the same kind are made in w Into cloth with chestnut velvet collar and cuffs and gold buttons. For very slender figures their are pretty Hungarian vests, short and tight, and covered with gold lace. The oldfashioned cache poussiere is now quite exploded, and is replaced by the Grand Duchess redingote or pelisse of a light grey material covered with embroidery of the same colour, and as long as the dress. At Vichy's, Lily saw, the other elay, several blue and many red dresses of some light material trimmed with Bulgarian scarves of batiste, embroidered with gold thread, forming impo&sible varieties of flowers." One of the mor-t notable marriages of the present season was celebrated last week, when the Hon. Robert Lyttleton, sixth son of the late Lord Lyttleton, married Edith, daughterof Mr Santley,thepopular baritone. The fashionable and aristocratic crowd at the ceremony included Mr and Mrs Gladstone, the Premier presenting the bride with a diamond bracelet. The latter (I of course mean the bride, not the bracelet) looked exceedingly well in ivory brocaded terry velvet and satin, diaped with old j>oint lace. Her pearl* and diamonds were " consummate." By-the-by, have you seen " Orange Blossom?," the new society weekly paper consecrated to descriptions of weddings, &c. ? It is really very nicely got up, and much more readable than you would suppose. For the last ten years there have never been so few theatres open in London as theie are now. We went the other evening to see Mr Augustin Daly's American Company, who mean to occupy Toole's Theatre during the recess. They play milk-and-water comedies of a most depressing character. We had laughed heartily over "Featherbrain" at the Ciiterion the previous night, so the contrast was specially marked. Tom declares he will never patronise an American show again. I'm delighted to hear " Diplomacy " v ill be 1 cvived^at the Ilaymarket in the autumn; also "New Men and Old Acres," at the Court. An American comedy, "Young Mrs Winthrop" (which ran IS months at the Madison Square Theatre, New York), will follow Tom Taylors comedy at the latter house.