WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 31, 31 July 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). FASHION NOTES FROM HOME London, June 0,

There is jtist. a suggestion that modified "bustles" may eome into favor shortly—and how great a transformation would that be after the scant proportions of last year's styles and tbis year's liardly less scant designs! A new model among summer confections has an overdress of painted muslin caught at the back half-way between the hem and the waist, and bundled together in almost bustle form. Another variation that it is said is going to be exceedingly popular for summer dresses this year is one having the folds caught up, either in front or at the sides, and held in place with a rosette, bow or buckle. For this skirt only the very softest and most "drapablo" material should be chosen, and the corsage should show a certain picturesqueness of style. An effective frock shown in this way was of biscuitcolored chiffon, patterned with delicate little flowers, with loaves in deep pink, blue and green. The skirt was caught up in front over an overdress of black satin, and fastened with a big rosette of black eatin. The corsage was Empire, with high waist, short sleeves did graceful fichu. The fichu was of the same material, the ends crossing in front, with large cameo buttons. A deep band of black satin formed the waist belt, which was folded over a quaint little frill of chiffon. NEW UNDERSKIRTS.

Many of the new summer underskirts are being made in Chinese silk, with laceedged frills; others are in fairly thick silk voile, embroidered high from the feet, or in printed voile, with pelisse flounce, threaded at the top with a. ribbon. The new .petticoats possess not one inch of superfluous material, for the narrow lines of the outer dress must he preserved. ■ Black and white striped satin is to be much used for underskirts, and those models rely for their trimming'; upon the novel arrangements of the stripes.

STRANGE HOSIERY. Some of the newest silk stockings are embroidered with little sprigs of blossom executed in silk and the narrowest possible ribbons. The latest craze is for button trimmings! Tiny little but-j tons covered with black velvet are used, and the devices employed for their manifestation,are the graceful "clocks" usually developed in silk, and the instep patterns as a rule interpreted by means of lace or embroidery. Others" are decorated with wreaths of tiny French satin roses. But undoubtedly the most weird and ungraceful of the many new varieties of hosiery are the stockings that show little frills of lace round the ankTe, suggestive of the trimmings of the long pantaloons women wore in early Victorian days! Others show side cascades oE lace!

SHOES AND SLIPPERS. J Shoes and boudoir slippers are also] rising to giddy heights of elegance. Some have coquettish rosettes or silk flowers silghtly to one aide of the instep, instead of in front, as usual. Others of j bright satin, black satin and gold, have tiny clusters or wreaths of roroco silk roses in place of a buckle. VEILS AND SCARVES. Bordered veils of net or lace, with a lace edging, are again in fashion, and lace scarves piped with narrow velvet make cool-looking trimmings for shady hats in the long spell of sunshine that we are enjoying. Some of these scarves I —but not nearly as many as when the fashion was last with us—have ends gracefully hanging down over the brim of the hat at the back. THE HAREM AT LAW. The question as to whether a harem skirt can legally be worn in Ottawa has come up in'that city, »nd it appears that! a leading K.C., who was approached, said that there was certainly one scars j on which it was illegal to wear a harem i skirt. There was a law which forbade any person doing anything to "attract a crowd or precipitate a riot," and the wearer of a harem skirt had already been arrested in Toronto on the strength' of this. The K.C., a plodding fellow,] opining that there might be another reason for its illegality, began searching through a shelf full of law books for the sections which might refer to the wearing of hobbles. He was unsuccessful in finding what, he was after, for ho threw down the volume in despair. "I believe that there is a law against a lady masquerading in gentlemen's clothes," he said, but whether that would exclude flic harem I don't know, It depends on whether the law specified what men's clothes shall be, and whether divided or not below the waist." Mr. W. P. Lett, clerk of the Ottawa Police Court, confirmed the statement that there was a law against women wearing men's cloth-, ing, but upon whether the harem skirt could he styled as men's clothing he declined to attempt to pronounce. The clerk of the peace "could not find any law that barred the harem skirt," except the law relating to the causing of crowds or riot. It is, perhaps, no subject for levity, but the thought of a group 'of legal lights searching their musty records for the solution of so weighty and unusual a problem is certainly tickling.

A 200-GUTNEA HAT. Tlie latest and most stupendous thing in millinery was on show at the Maison Lewis, Regent street, yesterday. Exhibited in a glass case, it was described as the most expensive hat in the world, its price being 200 guineas. This hat has been specially designed for the Maihesco de Bucharest. Its foundation is of black straw, and its superstructure is a huge mass of osprey plumes, the whole thing being some sft in circumference and about 2ft in height. " PLEUREUSE " PLUMES. There seems to be for very smart afternoon wear a perfect furore—for those who can afford them (for the prices are truly fabulous)—for the long pleureuse feather. There was a rumor at the beginning of the season that these were to pass out of favor, hut, on the contrary, they seem to have successfully resisted all attempts at dethronement, and are more popular than ever. And not only more popular, but more expen-

sive than ever, too, for the fronds which compose them must be of tremendous length to be very smart. This length: is obtained by means of several fronds being attached to one another. Formerly a pleureuse was obtained by means of two fronds knotted together. Now it is necessary to have two, or even three, lengths of fronds knotted one to another, thus forming an immensely long plume that nods and waves like some supple pennon in every breeze. These are often of one color, or again of several colors. Sometimes the end fronds are black, ami the two fronds nearer the stem are of some contrasting tint.

NECK MIRRORS. Saith the preacher: "All is vanity." I That was in olden days—what of today? One of the very newest ideas for woman's toilet is a vanity mirror suspended round the, neck by a slender black velvet ribbon, which often reaches almost to the knees. In fact, the longer the velvet the more chic is the fashion deemed to me. The newest vanity mirrors are round, and the eases open like a medallion. Sometimes these trinkets are framed in mother-of-pearl with a fine thread round the rim of rubies or sapphires, or they may be mere circlets of gold with the owner's name or initials set in pearls. Some women have recently been carrying these mirrors sus- ' pended from a chain slung with two rings that are affixed respectively U I the thumb and little finger, but the long velvet ribbon chains are still newer, and i one sees them, not only in the parks, but [also worn at the theatre with decollette frocks.

AFTERNOON, CALLS. Miss Cicely Hamilton, who is known as the author of "Diana of Dobson's," attacks the time-honored custom of afternoon calls in an article in the London Daily Mail . "The custom of afternoon calling had never any meaning in it," she says; "was never, so far as anyone can see, anything more than a pretence at occupation on the part of persons who had no duties wherewith to fill out the long and lazy hours that stretch between dinner and luncheon, and who set to work to invent a colorable substitute for such duties. There was never any real spirit of social intercourse about the custom; no fellowship, no gaiety, no impetus of argument or differing points of view. It was a custom insipid, restricted and petty—a mere habit of putting in an appearance at certain stated hours in certain stated houses.

"Nothing came of it, either good or bad. What woman has ever left an afternoon tea party the richer for a newly-caught idea,'the merrier for a deft thought deftly worded? For the most part all she does carry away with her is an impression of dullness and general insignificance of thought. I have'heard women—many women—talk to each other with energy, with animation, with intelligence, when they had anything to say that needed saying. Why they are the reverse of animated, intelligent and energetic in speech and thought when they pay formal visits and collect round afternoon tea tables is because women of the class that collect round afternoon tea tables have usually little that matters to say, not because they are less gifted than other classes, but because they are still (as they have always been) hedged about with restrictions on the subject matter of their conversation. Men—clumsier talkers, as a rule—are left free to deal with what they will in speech. In a smoking-room all heaven and earth are .open to discussion. In the drawing room, on the other hand, the rule "has always been that conversation shall , merely skim the surface of life and the world. It is against the drawing-room convention of deadly dullness and restructcd speech that—often unconsciously—the modern woman revolts."