Ladies' Column.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 8 September 1904, Page 2

Ladies' Column.

LATEST LONDON AND PARIS FASHIONS. BY MISS ADA MELLEE, [All Eights Reserved.] LINEN frocks have become a serious consideration, and many are the tempting things in this way that are on all sides provided by those who minister to the needs of the wardrobe. Never were linen frocks prettier than in this present year of grace, when art in matters of the wardrobe has advanced by leaps and bounds. Everywhere we hear that it is a had time for artists'—painters, I mean—but the same cannot be said of artists in dress, for their work has multiplied considerably and there is always a market for their goods. The thought, care, and labour bestowed on dress to-day are matters for wonder. Even the simplest material, such as linen, is beautified past recognition, and rendered valuable by the tremendous amount of stitching, insertion, application, embroidery, etc., put upon it. Some of the most expensive linen dresses are inserted all over with rich embroidery and washing lace, or are decorated with a much-raised embroidery in silk flax, the design straying up the skirt and almost covering the front of the bodice. Simpler styles are the linen frocks trimmed with wide insertions, of torchon lace or imitation Irish lace. lib. any case, the lace used for a linen dress must be fairly stout, to stand the ordeal of the wash-tub. For serviceable wear, the dress of crash linen is triumphant, for it resists crushing better than ordinary linen. We see. it woven in holland-colour and white with strapped seams—the strappings being of.plain white linen—in which aspect it is smart and admirable, for the straps add to the firmness of the material and help to keep the dress in shape. Cheap as may be the simple linen frock, there is always the expense of the laundry to add to it's original price, therefore in the end it is hardly as economical as the dress of cheap crepe or voile that go.es through the summer without any 'getting up.' Nevertheless, it is pleasant to wear cool linen on hot days. The coarser qualities last fresh longer than the finer ones, but are only suitable, of course, for morning wear; whereas a deu

cprative frock of fairly fine linen is fit fo r a garden party or other-summer fete., A SWISS EMBROIDERED MUSLIN FROCK. One full-length sketch this week shows U pretty style for fine linen or musfin, nun's veiling. The blouse is full tucked and trimmed with Swiss embroidery frilled with lace (which might bo replaced by lace motifs), and the skirts repeats the embroidery on the lower part, while above it is arranged in very fine tucks, ironed down as fiat as possible and graduating in length. A dress of soft srope made in this way would be useful and pretty. The finer the tucks from the waist the prettier will be the effect of the dress. Some womon cling to tucks in preference to

gauging, on account of the more slender influence on the figure of the former mode of decoration. Gauging, however, when well done, need not'thicken' the figure unbecomingly. The fault of the local dressmaker when undertaking gauging is that she is not careful or skilful enough to avoid an over-amount of puffiness. If gauging is nicely and evenly done, kept fairly flat and the drawing thread tightened just as it ought to be, it is ono of the prettiest methods of arranging fulness of material. There are, of course, certain fabrics that lend themselves better than others to this mode of decoration. Among them is crepe de chine, espoeially the heavier qualities, the weight of the material helping to keep down the gauging to a becoming flatness. Voile, on the contrary, being lighter and more buoyant, requires greater care in the arrangement of gauging, otherwise it is inclined to puff-up too much. Well handled, however, it is a material that. gives admirable results when gauged.

-TWO PRETTY BLOUSES. The blouse is so charming and varied in its ways that columns might be written on the topic of summer blouses alone. The more dressy of their kind are masses of fine tucks and lace insertions, and there is a strong inclination to impart to them, as well as to simple blouses, a suggestion of** the 1830 period. So much, indeed, are w< being reminded of the fashions that were famous in the young days of Queen Victoria, that we are in danger ofbeing surfeited with them, for occasionally even the most trustworthy, dressmaker oversteps the boundary of discretion, and lets her fancy run riot in the pleasures of providing something ' original.' Early Victorian modes in moderation, and tempted by discreet taste, are charming and simple, but

we want no exaggerations of ■ at best had no very strong claims to beauty^' / Apart from avowed early Victorian blouses, ■**!* there are many that display a perfectly" simple shoulder line, without suggestingin any other detail the modes of the past. - One of the blouses sketched is of this kind. The original is of palest green crepe de chine, with a pointed yoke of ivorycoloured guipure, and below it a broad band of fine lace—composed of rows of narrow Valenciennes lace insertion, united one to

another by hairpin stitching. The sleeves are inlet on the inner sides with bands of Valenciennes to match, and the cuffs are en suite, while the crepe de chine is gauged on the bodice and upper part of the sleeves. The original of the second blouse sketched is of embroidered white lawn, and the same design is copied, in hand-embroi-dered Irish linen. It is a smart, simple style for asummer washing blouse.