PARISIAN NOVELTIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 179, 29 July 1903, Page 3 (Supplement)

PARISIAN NOVELTIES.

GLASS SUPERSEDES CHINA AT FIVE

O'CLOCK TEA.

Tive o'clock" tea served in enps of china, no matter how beautifully ornamented they may be, would argue a lack of modernity of which the smart Parisian hostess would not dream of being guilty.

Her cups and saucers, plates, cream jug, sugar bowl, and lemon dish for drinkers of .Russian tea, are all of fine glass t either plain or with a bordering rim of gold. The cake knives and patisserie servers are of glass too, but no metal is allowed to support these, and often when fhe whole equipage is rich with beautiful rays of colour the knives, both blades and handles,, are severely plain. GJass trays also appertain to the set, and are as plain in design as are the flat, open bowl-shaped cups. A border and handles of gold set with dull though precious stones are acknowledged as being very chic, but bright, glistening silver in its place would be condemned. Indeed, silver has alnioafc disappeared from the Parisian tea table. The tea kettle, spirit lamp, and other appurtenances, if they at all resemble silver, are sure to be made of one of the new duller toned metals, and will have some glorious design in the art nouveau style to justify its intrusion.

It is not only in the saloon either that glass has superseded china, for in milady's boudoir there are great vases, boxes, plaques, and hanging flowers, all of a rough-faced glass that glints with many colours, while inset into the glass itself comes a trail of yellow flowers or a flight of birds. When daylight fadea none of the beauty of this glassware ia lost, for into each object is dropped a globe of electric light, before which the ordinary fittings for illumination fade into insignificance. Novelty is indeed a craze with the Parisienne. It induces hex to have wide Egyptian embroideries bordering her luncheon cloths and as a table centre an Egyptian idol holding a dozen fine strings at the ends of which are attached scarabaeus. It persuades her to order the finest white linen napery with field flowers embroidered on it in coloured silks for lier select dinners, and in her jewellery and small belongings it leads her to still greater extravagances.

To carry her purse of silk, or it may be drawn-thread linen, a large loop of diamonds to go over the wrist is found necessary, and iier new chatelaine of cloth to match her gown will have the back of each little toilet article, or the case that encloses it, set with a huge emerald or ruby on which is engraved her monogram or coronet.

Her slippers of gold thread may be unadorned, but the front of her silk hose will be glistening with fine jewels, while the bracelet and massive wrist ring that can carry gigantic gems is her latest toy. Some of these new pieces of jewellery are so arranged that each large stone Bet in the centre of a big link can be raised to show some tiny miniature delicately painted on fine glass.

As the gems in the latter-day jewellery grow larger it would seem that the setting for each one gets smaller, for with the massive rings, both those of the brilliant and the dull green stones that are so very fashionable, only the very finest line of setting is visible, and the merest string will connect a dozen apparently isolated stones which make up a new neck ornament suspended from a thread of gold round the throat.

But while everything Egyptian appeals to the Parisienne as a decoration for herself and her home, she regales her men relatives with gifts of the new and fashionable Spanish work, to wit, gold tracing in fine and beautiful designs o& pcunmetal.