Kilted skirts are still fashionable.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 23, 19 February 1881, Page 232

Kilted skirts are still fashionable.

— Fur capes -will be worn this winter. — Miss I. 8., a Remuera belle, is causing no little envy now slie wears that costume of dark brown. — Alsatian bows for the hair are in favour again. — Straw trimming is again being used for the brims of hats. Very wide strings are now used for " holding bonnets on." —The old-fashioned fichu and sleeve are again noticeable at evening parties. — Miss N., of City West, has gone in for a Jersey and Tarn o' Shanter get up. — Dust coats on girls are masculine and most objectionable. — Cord and tassels are now worn on the sleeves of dresses. — Miss W. has a new pale blue Jersey costume. — The International ulster has a very large cape and Russian hood.

—The jacket known as the "Balzac" is a plain tailor-make, with broad collar. —Mrs. B.s dress of brown and cream, made a la princess robe with pointed lace, suits her admirably. — Large pockets are now worn on the outside of dresses. They shoxild be tightly sewed on. —Miss F. has a steel grey silk, with trimmings of satin of a similar shade. It is very nice indeed. —Miss M. has a pretty dress of dark green sateen, "done xxp" with moonlight blue. It looks very effective by gaslight. —A kilted skirt, deep sask and pointed basque is a most becoming style of costume for a young lady. —"Joe " shows good taste when he expresses his admiration of Miss S.s new black cashmere dress and Tarn o' Shanter. —The neatest way to fix the shoes is to have them caught together over the instep with two straps, so as to show the stockings. —A very pretty muff can be made of cashmere decorated with lace and a large bow of ribbon, —Miss TV. came out in a pink and white dress, and a green hat with wreath of leaves, last week. — A very nice seaside or yachting costume consists of a kilted skirt and Garibaldi bodice, adorned with bands of some lively colour. —The best and prettiest collar for the Jersey costume is a linen one fastened in front with a stud. —Stamped velveteen seems likely to be quite as much worn this season as the plain article. Amongst the new shades dark brown promises to come to the front.

— Miss. J., of Nelson-street, Avas seen in Hobson-street on Sunday week in a handsome striped Line silk, trimmed with grey Japanese. It looked exceedingly pretty. — An elegant costume seen in Queen-street one day last week, consisted of a cream lustre done up with ruby velvet, . and a princess robe with drawn sashes. — Miss A. looks well in a creme sateen, with navy blue bands, and I nmsn't forget to notice her cardinal stockings, which are very artistically displayed. — Miss B. wore a toque hat last Sunday, with a brim of cream sateen and a crown of pompadour. A long feather was also a very prominent feature. — Miss K. I. has got another new costume. It consists of a dashing white with a brocaded sash and a black velvet Tarn o' Shanter, with cardinal rosette on the top. —Mrs. L., of Ponsonby, may well be proud of her family, as they all dress very neatly. The two girls in pink and white, on Sunday, looked very pretty. —Since Mrs. J.s great hit at the Ponsonby fancy dress ball, the Duchess of Edinburgh hat has been in great favour. Mrs. Q. had a black one on, last Sunday, with a large white feather. — The most uncommon Tarn o' Shanter I have yet seen on a young lady, is one made of cream plush, with a wine-coloured cross in the crown, a cascade of lace at the side, and a long cream feather falling on to the hair. — Mrs. J. B. It. has a neAV fawn and dark brown princess robe, trimmed with kiltings of the same material. It is a very pretty dress. This lady has also a nice heliotrope bonnet, with dark" violet front and lace strings. —Ladies have hit upon the plan of turning a walking-dress into a drawing-room costume by means of a detached train, which is fastened on to the short skirt by buttons placed under the lowest ilounce or kilting.

— The Duchess of Westminister's death will (says an English society print) create much regret in English society, of which she has been for some years, so far as it was possible in these latter days, the Queen. Society, nowadays, is very republican in tone, and has recognized reluctantly any sovereign since Lady Palmerston's death. Lady Westminster had rank, gentle graciousness of manner and a soft, resplendent Saxon beauty. She Avas but nineteen when she was wedded. The young bridal pair — for Lord Westminster was only twentyseven — were the iirst to make the long walks, for which the Princess Louise now shows such fondness, fashionable. They discarded every species of equipage, and might be seen together of a morning, in heavy shoes, speeding along the pleasant lanes round Kensington. Since illness compelled Her Grace to retire from society, the Duchess of Manchester is said to aspire to the position of iirst lady. She is brilliant, still beautiful, and has won and still retains the devotion both of Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Hartington. But the leader of fashion since Georgiana Duchess of DeA Tonshire's day has always been from one of the great Whig houses, and Her Grace of Manchester has not sufficient fortune to stand the expenses.

A few months ago a Mrs. C. went o\it to Epsom to reside for a time, letting her neatly furnished house to a clergyman of this City. At the back of the house was a garden, on which the owner had spent much care and attention, and which contained some really choice plants, in flourishing condition. The parson possessed a horse and a goat, which he regularly turned adrift in this garden. Of course the result was the total destruction of Mrs. C.'s plants, and the conversion of the nice little garden into a common stable yard, and a very filthy one too. Well, a week or so since, the wife of the parson sent a note to Mrs. C, in which she said that "they had made up their minds to leave , they really could not stay in the house any longer, as they had lately discovered no less than two fleas in the bedroom." Rather good this, after the horse and goat business, wasn't it ?