LADIES COLUMN.

Waipawa Mail, Volume I, Issue 11, 19 October 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES COLUMN.

LATEST FASHIONS BY THE MAIL. The order of the day is of course, for seaside and country toilettes, and great variety, both of make and material, has been displayed in their arrangement. There is no radical change in the faeons of the toilettes, the robes princesses lose the plainness of their lines under elegant scarf draperies, tuniques, tabliers, traines superposees, or are accompanied by plastrons and panneaux. The long polonaises show very little of the under-skirt, which is is either simulated by a portion representing the edge of the skirt, sewn in under the polonaise border ; or, if the other dress admits of being worn with two or three different skirts, these are made separate from it, in which case they are made upon a fausse jupe of some inexpensive material of the same colour. The polonaise itself is but slightly draped, and a little pulled at the back. The skirts separated from the bodices are trimmed in a variety of manners, but the most fashionable have some species of tunic, tablier, or echarpe. Gilets are more worn than ever with basque bodices, cuirasses, and coat habits ; with washing materials they are sometimes of white jean or drill, or, if the dress is of pattern material—such as sateen with a coloured design—the waistcoat is of plain sateen, to correspond with the pattern. The laveuse tunics, turned up with the same material as the gilet, are a very elegant finish, and the skirt cut in dents over a plisse of colour has also a most elegant effect. Waistbands are very fashionably worn, not only with round bodices, but with “Princesse” dresses and polonaises. Some of the buckles used to fasten them are very elaborate, and give great scope for artistic design. Chatelaines, with pendants, are also worn with these bands, and form a very elegant addition. All bodices are made open in some way in the front, either cut square or en cceur, or merely turned back when required. The former is by far the better plan, and the plastrons worn underneath are most easily adjusted.

Some of the basque bodices are very long, and open over a shorter waistcoat of the colour of the trimmings. The short skirts are gaining in favour. For seaside and country outdoor wear they will be almost universal in the fashionable world.

Ribbons are more worn than ever, but the loops of different colours are becoming a little ovejrdope, and require great taste as to arrangement. Buttons are excessively fashionable, and worn in great profusion. Many ladies of artistic talent paint their own buttons, with small designs of flowers, heads, &c., on china, or even silk. The

buttons of gold and silver and precious stones are, of course, very expensive, but have a v ery rich effect.

The demand for lace, either forming portions of dresses, such as tunics, scarves, panneaux, &c. , or employed as trimmings only, is still on the increase, and a great quantity of black is now worn, especially in the Chantilly and Spanish styles. The shade known as mastic is very generally adopted, and among greens, willow, resdea, Autumn moss, vert naiade, and vert crystal, are the favourite tints. White, cream, gomme, and tiileul are much worn by the leaders of La Mode ; the brighter colours, such as mauve, rose, rose corail, bleu de lac, bleu turquoise, bleu Sevres, being kept for under-skirts or trimmings. The bonnets are small, some of the most fashionable being trimmed very high, and there is a decided tendency to wear them backwarder than of late, to display more of the hair. The hats, on the contrary, are large, and worn forward.

POISONOUS VIOLET POWDER. Ladies who still persist in tu v/i 44 violet powder” will perhaps deem it a rather dangerous article of domestic use and decide that such a beautifier must for ever be banished from the nursery and the toilet-table, when they read the following extract from the London Times of July 3 : 44 H. J. King, a wholesale chemist, surrendered to his recognizances at the Epping Petty Sessions, on Friday, to answer the charge of having feloniously killed a child named Eliza Sears, and of having endangered the lives of several children by the sale of poisonous violet powders containing a large quantity of arsenic. A number of married women, residing principally in the village of Lqugliton, were called as witnesses, their evidence tending to show' that the deaths of many children had been caused by the use of the prisoner’s powders, while other children had become seriously ill by its application. Dr. Dupre, of Westminster Hospital, who had analysed several of the packets, stated that the percentage of arsenic found in them ranged from fifteen to twenty-one ! A detective dej>osed that he seized a quantity of the prisoner’s powders at a shop in Cambridge Road, on the Monday previous, and these on analysis had been shown to contain a very large percentage of arsenic. The case was again adjourned for a week. The prisoner was admitted to bail.” (Common starch, powdered, is recommended by the best authorities as a safe and efficient substitute for violet powder.)