VELVET FOR FROCKS.

POPULARITY OF RUBY RED

HANDBAGS AND FLOWERS

There is no fabric that can eclipse ring velvet for becomingness and for the glowing satisfaction which a gown of it imparts. The wearer knows that she is well-dressed and that in a well-cut velvet she looks her best. Brilliant ruby red is one of the season's rich tones; sealingwax red is brighter, but it lacks the elusive depth of ruby, writes the London correspondent of a North Island exchange. We still have dresses made in the deeper and still more elusive shades which include mulberry, black knight, purple, raisin, and a marvellous golden brown. The demand for velvet will extend well beyond the winter, for peeresses must have it in crimson for the mantle and robe which they will wear at the Coronation, made according to rank. Other lovely shades now available include midnight blue and bottle ! green. This beautiful fabric is never trimmed, but depends upon line and > cut for its success. A sleeveless dress probably has a little coatee to match, in the form of a basqued I jacket-bodice, or one of waist-length made with an open front and finished [with a tie at the waist in front. EVENING COATS AND WRAPS.

I Evening coats and wraps of velvet are lined with velvet. This dual use ensures great warmth and lightness, and the lining is always a colour contrast to the exterior. It is important that the lining should be of quality equal to the exterior. The crease-resisting virtues of the best velvet are everywhere apparent. With velvet dinner dresses and evening dresses the most successful shoe is of gold or silver lame, but effective, too, is the plain sandal of satin. Velvet makes the most exquisite handbags, generously gathered into their frames mounted with pearls or marqueterie, but otherwise completely without adornment save for a diamante clasp. With a velvet dress, a bag- of gold or silver lame to correspond with the shoes is a good choice. Scented sprays of velvet flowers are lovely, including lilies in many varieties, orchids of different hues, and roses, some of which are quite alien to the garden roses but are nevertheless very captivating. Floral sprays of dyed stiffened lace are pretty, but they are extravagant. Painted chiffon is responsible for many of the most beautiful floral I sprays—this material is transparent and fragile in appearance, and is perhaps an extravagance, too. All dress sprays are ephemeral, but they are too alluring to be passed by. DRESSMAKERS' CHOICES. Fashionable dressmakers have varying ideas about the flowers they like and the way in which they like them used. One artist in dress is using loose bunches of herbaceous borders and gaillardias; another one has a preference - for long-stemmed roses set at the throat and waistline; and another man who leads fashions is using flowers made of rubber, , a material which is most effective as posies for tailor-mades. So fragile in appearance that a gentle puff might blow them a mile away, are sprays of orchids in white and delicate tints, made of very fine plumage that looks like chiffon. Each bloom is perfectly shaped and the sprays are graceful in their delicious daintiness. They are backed with leaves of asparagus fern.