FOR WOMEN FOLK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 221, 25 February 1915, Page 2

FOR WOMEN FOLK.

SS'BY EILEEN/

"Eileen "■ will be glad to receive items of interest and ©• value ta women for publication or reference in this column.

Pretty neckwear is the rule rather than tlie exception nowadays, what with the dainty jabots, the new collars, and the quaint little stocks, and the var-1 ious waist-coat in linen and silk. It is easier to- give a dress or a costume a characteristic note with any of these little accessories than to evade the vogue, for the blouses of the season are distinctly less decollete "for street wearat any rate, and require a finish of come sort. A fresh bit of neckwear 'vill often give an entirely new touch to a dress or <suit of which one has grown a bit tired of wearing. It also serves two other purposes: in the first olace ( to bring- a touch of white near the face when the costume is of sombre coloring—and white has a freshening- effect on all complexions—and. in the second place, to carry the shade of tlie skirt "P into the blouse' by combination with a ribbon bow or a fancy stripe, the same color as the skirt, which always adds a smart touch to tUc- eostume.

Tn selecting a' piece of neckwear to go ■ with any dress, try standing at some • distance from the mirror, and you will ' find that certain shades harmonise bet- : te r with some dresses than with others, while a few only look well when worn with a coat. But yon cannot see tha effect unless you stand well awav from the glass. 'As a general rule, the woiniMi who is inclined to bo stout will find the plain blouse accessories, like waistcoats and jabots of silk and velvet or lace, more becoming, while one of ( the opposite tendency can wear the dainty fussy things of kilted muslin and chiffon and lace to the greatest advantage. The Medici collar >can usually (>e°taken to look well on all tvpes. Silk bows arc not in good taste with the majority of the modeni-shaped collars, but there are all sorts of ways to introduce that witching and necessary little touch of color. A clever ■rirl I know always wears a kvrge '"■rooeh.to harmonise with some, part of her costume; sometimes it is a big cameo, sometimes a quaint creation of amber and at other times again you Bee her wearing a beautifully wrought metal arrangement, but always in some color which brings out the lovely lights .if the stuff that interpret her gowns. I mav also mention in this connection the tiny little flower brooches of silk 'hat are now worn; they arc as useful, as their effect is striking. FOR HOME DEFENCE. THE WOMAN'S PART. At a meeting held in Wellington oil Friday, in connection with the National Reserve ('which has for its object the. defence of hearth and home), the Mayor paid a line tribute to the woman's part in this national crisis. .Speaking of the way in which the sons of the Empire had responded to the call, he said that the enthusiasm was not limited to men, but the women of Now Zaeianu had done their part, anil, done it nobly. The Government had received permission from the Imperial authorities to send a; few nurses-to the front, but since that permission had been received, hundreds of young girls, all carefully brought up, and living in comfort, had come forward, prepared to sacrifice everything ' for the sake of the sick and wounded soldiers, their only reeom-

pense being the knowledge that they had done their duty and part when the war shall have come to an end. Thousands of women had worked with enthusiasm for long hours, not only in the equipment of the men who had gone to the front, but in providing for those left behind by tho men who were at the front. Women had come to him flogging him to take their sons, that they might fight in the ranks of the New Zealand forces. lie told of a

woman who had arrived from Lyttelton too late to say good-bye to her boy. This is what she sent him by wireless — and it was a characteristic message from a New Zealand mother to a New Zealand son:— "He brave. Do your duty. Kia Ora." That was what was felt throughout Sew Zealand at the present time, and it was a feeling that they had every reason to bo proud of.

i SKIRT ETIQUETE. "Skirt etiquette" as one writer expressed herself, entails perfect cut as ' the first consideration. Then the skirt «'inii|rl be neat, and that means giving attention to details. Some of the bes; ndels are slit up a short way at the centre or back; some have slits either side of front, which command "pockets." '- ; rts arc cither plain or ornate. Belwee.n the two are as many links as you will find in a fob chain. There is the skirt with the pleats on side fronts, the skirt with an arched under turn in front at about a tunic level, and from this come drapings or not. The ends ; of the arches always opens out softly, and soon lose themselves. Then there is the skirt with the front cross-over effect, generally with draped sides, and always with a curved "V" opening over foot. Again, there is the skirt with the tunic miner section —legion—and no two ever alike unless you want it so. Sometimes the tunic is unbroken, sometimes otherwise, and when the latter the. panel that does the breaking may b" plain, or dispensed with for clever gathering of suspender-like folds. Touching this there is the skirt that is built on curtaining lines; it seems to have been draped on the figure, and the material drawn up to the girdle. Tliere are various little tricks indulg■ml in to make the suggestion more emphatic. Finally, there are dresses that owe something of their charm to hut-

i>s, styles 171111 cross-over seams that run one way to the. knee level, and then another to the foot, the opposite front- being gathered to the position the buttons occupy; And so on. and so on as you can take a note of a hundred skirts, and note an individualistic touch in all.

' for hor beautiful white hair, and liev | old lady dresses—she happens to be one who takes kindly to the wearing of fichus—she is everything that conventionally an older woman should not be. " summer.tilne, her white head, crowned with its snow-white cap," is i-hvays to be /bund at her favorite window, and in winter she sits by the fire, with her feet upon a hassock, busy with her work, whatever it is. Children always know where to find her, and she is aluys glad when they come. No matter , -hat happens, the dear old grandmother is always ready to bear about the youngsters' joys and condole with, them in their troubles. Perhaps it is the fault of the children of to-day that the real old grandmother has disappeared. NURSES' BADGES. Designs are being asked for by the Government fo r badges for the nursea leaving for the front—the badge chosen to be the permanent device of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service. Jt must not be larger than a florin, must have on it the letters N.Z.A.N.S., may- be in silver or som c other metal, and must not exceed in cost ss, or £25 a hundred. Suggested designs must reach Miss MacLean, Matron-in-Chief of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service, Health Department, Wellington, not, later than March h ENGLISHWOMEN "ALIENS."

' Acute distress has been caused among I'ni'hsh wives of German and Austrian residents in England by the wholesale ft:rests of their husbaivli. The injustice of the nationalisation law is doubly felt when -war comes and classes British born women as enemies because they have married foreigners. The Englishman, on the other hand, who marries a foreign wife, suffers no disability. A great deal of sympathy has bees none «'l 'out in the press on behalf of these unjustly-treated wives, over 2000 of whom have applied for help to two societies in London alone. The suffrage societies are. foremost in giving practical aid to these victims of state laws, forthe International Women's Suffrage Alliance was the first fo come ionrard for this purpose, and under the name if the International Women's Relief Committee, ia rendering vahmWo assistanco to them.

TRUE LINES. ta.ly Duff-Gordon writes instructively on "true lines." Thus:—"l have been asked, "What are the true lines of fashion J Are there indeed any true lines?' 1! answer: 'To doubt it is like doubting there is anything like harmony." Tint, they say, this year there is one fashion in linos, last year there was another, next year there will be still another, and,each will be different. All of these cannot be true lines. What one is right? Then I know that those who ask really have in mind the hideous bustles, the spreading crinolines, tile atrocious shoulder pnffs, «n<? so on, of other days. But these were excrescences, false leads, nightnnTj develop■rnents. which soon met t' lo "' end. The true lines of fashion are very, very old ones. The Greeks knew them. The women of the Orient have known them tor ages. Their secret is simple. They :-.re lines that will truly and best bring out the natural and inherent beauty of the perfect figure. Tliey are the. lines that will hide or disguise, any departure from tlie right mould of Nature. They are not the lines that add the faintest grotesnueric or exaggeration to the figure. Th c 'body itself, the perfect body, '■an never be in ba<l taste. And so, therefore, the fashion which harmonises and conforms to the lines of that' body cannot be in bad taste. Rut anything that departs from it runs at once' the risk of falsitv and ugliness. The true lines of fashion must have been, then—naturalness; second, simplicity. And dress that conforms to these iwo things is a good dress; correct fashion —no matter by whom it is made, or of what period."

THE SWEET 01.1) f.-ADTES ■Nowadays, one often looks round for sweet old la die? like our grandmothers. There do not, seem to be any old ladies any more; thev seem to hare sionn out of fashion, lik,.' the pretty caps they used to wear (remarks a- writer in an exchange). Sometimes, very randy, we -■vet a beauliful old. ladv.'without her interest, in life beiuu abated, and, what is far rarer, without, her desire to be ui> and doiiv,' beinir in any deny di- j Wished bv aire's infirm-ties. She lias perhaps a more transparent look than ;'!,■ had some twenty years ago. but she. I is still erect «s a girl. Except for looks,

THE NEW NECKWEAR.