(Press)

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 214, 3 April 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

( Press )

New autumn drts-e- >m> made in sftiped bengaline, with hordvriuif*, whioh an deftly applied nn triinmintrN. M"Ht of thf skirts show straight f.i'lin/ folds cut up here and there to disjiliv por'ion* of richormaterial. A costume of tine cloth had bro id horizontal ntripL'3 of braid round th<> skirt, th» drapery buinjr cut in a V-shapo at the wde, like th* Mdt>lei>< gowns of the thirteenth centnry, showing the braidings there ; tho bodice had double rovers, with a bmidod vent, »ud doutilf cuffs, like one sli-eve ov^r th» other, at tho wrist. A dinner trow a with ahi ick Hatin train had a pettico.it of bin k nnd white striped AHtin, plaited and veiled with black lice, thenoilmeeds/ed with j»-t. and a row of l.ir<re bc<idn itt the u> ck Astrach.io will be an OKtihlNhnd f.i«hioii during the winter; so will shawls con veited into dtessoa. A good example was a green shawl with a brown border, which with its fiin^e had been utilised for a front pointed tunic, and formed revers ou the full bodice, a plain velvet piece being arranged trair.wise at thf back. Most of the bodices came to tho waist in a point, and were there boidcred with cross way bands of velvet more or less wide, forming a short basque. Some of the interwoven bordering were of Astrachan. not with close loops together, but scattered a little. Another novelty was a cleth dress, the skirt of which was composed of half-inch braid interplaited like the canework of a chair, red velvet showing through the circular hole* here and there ; a waistcoat to rratch ; it would wear well, and was new and stylish. A handsome class of dress was a rich corded faille of grass green, having three pentet of velvet o tripod ia #ola, green, and cardinal, enrh ctripe embooxed in a different pattern of an arabesque nature ; the silk opened at the side* to show plaits of velvet, and there was velvet of n darker shade at the back. The skirt are decidedly fuller, and more fulne«« i* brought towards the front. The term " knicker-bocker," which meant a kno: on the surface in weaving, has given place to "bouole," and n feature in the new material for autumn and winter is the boucle or curled introductions interwoven in the cloth. Some of theso show an oriental chintz colouring; other, ag-ain. have Astrachnu stripe* find many tirran mixtures. The newest nun's veiling Mrall striped. Gro* d" Pnm i« a mixturof silk and wool, with metallic colouring A novrlty in furnish in if lace \< tftiipuii worked in wool *nd tinsel. Some hmid some new blank luce shnvs the old wire ground, one of the hand-<ome-<t featurpi. in the lace of the past. In white lace the mile grounds and the reproductions of Mechlin aro worthy »f notice. This is certainly a velvet jreur, and trY days of brocades are numbered. Plain •tuff* find favour, intermixed with yen elaborate *tripe«. Wf have not as ye' come to plain glace, though we no doub ahull. The silks of the season are al> more or less corded, but «how — th' most costly, at lea-t — velvet and plu h atripen. The one particular novelty of the yeai is pentes. If you look in the die tionary, you will see th*t, bi'ins trans lated, pente mean* "declivity," " valance," the "sides of an awning, 1 ' so that only in a roundabout way does the word express what is meant; viz., a breadth oi silk one metre and a sixteenth long, in tended to be placed on the front of the skirb or at the sides. Occasionally three are employed, but only on very expensive gowns ; one is thought enough as a rul v , and they are all specially ornamented For example, some are worked in » Gothio pattern in tambour, inter mixed with French embroidery, all, of course, wrouurht in mlk and blended with metallic • cad*. Otheix have graduated stripes, interwoven with plush, the widest at the ba«e. and goirn across the duff— a revival of the ol« Bayadere stripes, which they are util called. A third and moro contiy kind again, has an interwoven fringe lilt* plush in different lengths below the lowest stripes ; this ix called faille velou^ fourrure. Occasionally these pentes have perpendicular velvet -tripea, terminating in tabs of ouch fringe, and another kind has narrow perpendicular stripes of twi> colouring formed into a pattern at the base, such as two shoit utripes, one lon>r, two small, »nd soon. A happy combination is brown and ret-cda on a dark brown ground. " Faille nouvelle "' i* tho newest clanof corded silk, both in black and ordinary colours, and it has the. trreut merit <*t beinir pure t-ilk and M>ft. but po inter knotted in the we»iv ; ng that it will no' pull out al tho xeutus ov under any strain An attempt had been mude last year t> obtain such a result,, but omnplcte suaceshas crowntd this seanon's effort-.