FASHION NOTES FROM LONDON

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 104, 3 May 1911, Page 8

FASHION NOTES FROM LONDON

(From Our London Lady Correspondent)

STENCILLED SILK. It is a pity that girls who are clever enough to make their own gowns do not realize how simple stencilling—now very fashionable—is. Crepe de chine admits of many kinds of decoration, and takes stencil dyes very well. Dyes are washable, and a few trial strokes give a quickness and ease that works towards a. successful home decoration. In this way scarves can be decorated, blouses trimmed, and linings for spring and summer wraps made gay and colourful at small expense/ and entire borders applied to dresses.

THE FAIR OF FASHIONS, to be one of the attractions at the Crystal Palace daring the Festival of Empire, will open a new era in the English fashion world, for nev«r before have such efforts been made as we shall then see, to keep buyers of beautiful clothes in England. "Lircille," the famous dressmaker, is providing a veritable feast for lovers ot dress, and not only is showing magnificent creations, all of British manufacture, but is setting her scenes amid costly furniture and rare pictures, so that an artistic triumph should result;.

A STYLISH HAT that holds out interesting possibilities for the home milliner, is the straw bicorne now both popular and fashionable. It is turned back very sharply back and front, drooping slightly each side over the ears. The only trimming is grouped in the holloTr, where the back and front brims meet on the crown, and this is generally filled with bunches of bright flowers or billows of elaborate silk or ribbon. The model in this audacious shape is developed in black velvet with a packing of brilliant scarlet geraniums between the two brims, and another in wired "7hite lace filling up the hiatus with branches of nodding purple and ■white fiTA hloesom.

"Efet another is composed ofrose<)plonred. Manila etraw, with a eandwicfc,iog, Ot black satin. jqßboii. loopf

SQUARE WATCHES,

very thin and made of gold and enamel, are the newest things in the realms of jewellery. They are small, and are attached to neckchains oi- bracelets.

TO LOOK SPECIALLY ATTRACTIVE when dining out, a writer in the "Daily Mail" this week advocates rest with a cold bandage on your eyes from 6.30 to 7.30 o'clock or thereabouts. Dress leisurely. Wash your face and neck first in hot water softened with oatmeal, and then dash over with cold water mingled with a little eau de Cologne. At the last massage the face with orange-flower cream and powder it. Have everything ready to put on, to the very last detail, so that nothing frets you before you leave.

PROTEST AGAINST "HAREMS." At a meeting of the Nottingham Chamber of Commerce held on Tuesday, two trenchant questions were asked. Why do Englishwomen snbrnit to have the fashion dictated to them by irresponsible persons in Paris? "Why should not the leaders of English society, who in form and feature etand eomparisoned -with the whole -world, set the fashion for the women of England. It was moved, though the motion was lost, that the following resolution should be submitted at the meeting of the Associated Chambers in London: — That fancy and other textile trades ot this country are gravely injured by extravagant Ad grotesque vagaries of Paris fashions. And that it would conduce to greater stability and diminished losses in these trades if legitimate leaders of English society were to set fashions for English ladies' dresses instead of adopting those set by irresponsible persons in Paris. One of the speakers pointed out that thousands upon thousands of people in England were suffering serious injury threugh those fashions, and gave it as his opinion that where a sense of the grotesque is permitted to rule fashions it becomes a grave matter.

Nottingham trade has suffered very considerably by the fact that white petticoats, once so plentifully trimmed ■with lace, made in Nottingham, have now qmte disappeared from, the realm of ftuihrannUa-dtesgt -• *'

THE POPE greatly disapproves of the harem skirt, and has already indirectly denounced it in a recent inspired edStorial in the Vatican organ, "Osservatore Romano," wherein the harem skirt was defined as an ''exaggeration apt to diminish the wearer's self-respect and to abolish the distinction of the sexes." The "Osservatore Romano" concludes by saying that' the harem skirt is not only a caprice, but a daring attempt towards the triumph of female emancipation. If the harem skirt should he adopted the Cardinal Vicar orders all parish priests not to allow its wearers to enter the churches, and all bishops will follow his example and combat the new garment.

A TOILET HIST. Those who like to whiten the shoulders artificially for evening -wear should first wash them thoroughly in hot waiter, dry very rightly, and while the. skin is still moist should nib in a little glycerine and. rose water and then powder heavily with a good rice powder. This should be left to sink in for some few moments, and finally the shoulders should ibe polished lightly with a chamois lea/ther, which will remove the superfluous powder and leave the skin white and smooth.

BEAD EMBROIDERY. The popufeirity of this embroidery is extraordinary, and dresses, blouses, hat ■trimmings, and, in short, anything that .vrill admit of its erabellishraerit, show it somewhere, if possible, co that my readers may be glad to kn<rw how tiey may make" it for themselves—or, rather, haw they may emlbroider lace already in their possession in order to make it thoroughly up-to-date.

It is not alt all a difficult business, 'but -wants plenty of time and a capacity for adapting designs. "He pattern should not be too elaborate and ■Hie ground not too light and fine. The ■whole of the pattern may be covered ■with, beads and sequins until it is quitr hidden, and the beads chosen may be ail of one colour or may be of varied tinte. A good effect is gained -with porcelain, clear glass '"beads, and those with metallic iustre. With the dear beads a quaint shot effect may be gained J>y eewing them on with a contracting enade <rf silk. Coral heads hn«t» -beautif uJLeffect on an? evening dfessi ~ Tγ-