Diamonds and Dresses.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 241, 13 October 1886, Page 4

Diamonds and Dresses.

At tho entertainment given by the membors of the Lyric Club at the Prince's Hall, London tbere was an immense crowd. In the way of dross the most noticeable featuro was the display of diamonds. There were a few good dresses, that worn by Miss Louise Phillips being one of the best. The potticoat was white, also tbe waistcoat ami elbowsleeves, while the bodice and demi train, made in, and so shaped as to have the appearance of a redingoto, were of bronzo brown plush. It was very simple, and yet extremely elegant. Madame Desterro, seemingly the lighthearted of contraitoe, waa dressed in white, with low neck and short sleeves; a spray of red and white flowers arranged on tho left side of tho bodice, a bunch of the same on the right shoulder, and a white aigrette in her hair. Madame Marie Rose was magnificently arrayed in gold and white brocade, draped upon white satin, and edged with hanging chestnuts in silver and whito. She wore some very fine diamonds and a magnificent bouquet of pink roses.

Ono of the most remarkable figures wa? that of Mrs Barrymore, the American actress, who had a strong savour of Sarah Bernhardtism both in her manner and in her manner of dressing. Her costume, made of golden-green silk nnd claretcoloured plush, with a tablior containing all tho colours of the rainbow, was of tho magnificence which one seldom sees except upon the stage. An extremely effective and well-made dress had a black velvet bodice, with a pointed waist, and a cream coloured skitt, the front being of lace, draped, and the back of silk in straight folds; thero was a large cluster of cream-coloured feathers on the left shoulder, and some in the hair. It looked very like a Court dress without a train. A pretty dress of bronze-brown eilk had a mass of yellow buttercup, coming from the left shoulder to the frost of the bodice, which was cut open In a point; a cluster of roses was placed on the hair, very muoh to the front, and looking well above a piquant face. But I think by far the handsomest dress in the room was ihat worn by a lady no longer in hor first youth, but very handsome ; she wore a redingote of claretcoloured plush, and a petticoat of really rich cream-coloured lace over heliotrope silk; the dark plush set off her fair skin and light hair admirably. There wore quite a number of very positive crimson and scarlet dresses, which seem to be much in favour just now ; to my mind their ohlef value lies in their serving to make more delicate dresses look better by contrast. It is seldom, indeed, that they do this good turn to their wearers. I noticed an unfortunate characteristic of middle-class ladies: the younger ones " make up " their laces now not wisely nor too well, but a great deal too much. One can tolerate a moderate amount of rouge and powder when tbe bloom of youth is gone, but on a quite young girl these artihcialitie are out of place. It must be a great comfort to be possessed of a magnificent plump creamy neck and bust; tha lady thus favoured need only wear a low black dress—the simpler the drees the better —she has but to show her neck and she is drossed. I noticed an excellent example of this style of dressing; the bodice was simply one of those masses of jet which always remind me of a ehirt of mail, and which should never be placed against any but tho most perfect of skins. The hair, in this instance, was a'ao done in a very simple manner; turned quito back from the forehead, with a diamond star placed right in front, so low down as to be almost on the forehead itself, and another star in the plait behind. This looked well; but surveying the many heads in a great gathering like this, one cannot but notice an unhappy vagueness in the way many of them are pressed.—" World."