A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 141, 16 June 1928, Page 4 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN. POPULAR WOMAN ARTIST. (From Our London Lnrty Correspondent.) Small picture shows arc the pleasantand "lie can depend on the Redfern ♦ Sallcry for ;in interesting one. Women :ire well to the front, in its present exhibition, Ktliel Walker showing some of her characteristic studies of the sea (she lias a cottage at Robin Hood's Bay) as ■well as some arresting portraits. Clara K linghoffer lias a very expressive picture of an old Troubadour, and Beatrice Bland shows her strangely ethereal and attractive work. But the outstanding woman artist is Lueicn Pissarro's daughter, Orovida. who has a small room full of uniipie etchings. Eastern in spirit, they are distinctly individual and full of j expression, and are selling rapidly, somel bearing already as many as 35 red "sold" tickets. A large painting on silk, exe-' cuted with marvellous delicacy, is similarj to one of hers in the Tate Gallery, which has just cscaped serious injury in the Hood. What of Mary? a social gathering in a May fair abode the other day, someone was remarking that it seems odd, with film producers roaming the whole world of classical literature for cinema purposes, that not one of them should yet have given epic thought to the adequate •presentation of the Odyssey. Since then I hear that, some two years ago, Douglas Fairbanks mentioned to Mr. Robert Nichol his ambition to exploit the role of Ulysses, of which the famous film actor sketched a vividly imaginative .outline. So we may yet see him in what, should prove one of the most arresting parts ever seen on the "silent stage." But, as a famous society lady and expert film "fan" pointed out, where would Mary figure in such a picture? How would that schoolgirl naivete shape as the immortal Helen of the thousand keels? Mayfair Belles. It has long been the fashion for the chic hennas to choose her gowns in harmonj with her house-decoration scheme*. A more recent development ifi the iixtsir.iion of her maids in the same sarto •»1 theme. The old conventional white p and apron and black gown is no longer the sacrosanct uniform of .Belgravian service. In its stead charming little frocks in silk popfin and ■filpaca/s are made to conform to carpet and curtain colourings. Modish shades of petunia, periwinkle-blue, and almond green are some of the attractive tints I have met on the stairs in West End houses where the maids fit alluringly into the hostess' mise-en-scene.

The Princes' Call. All the members of the Royal Family have a great capacity for tha)-oughly enjoying themselves when they are "off duty." Not one of them takes his occasional periods of leave more joyously than Prince George, though probably because, as the King's youngest son, he has fewer responsibilities than his brothers. I heard last week that he anjl the Prince of Wales were taken one night, at their own request, to a very simple private party in the rooms 6f a young graduate .who is right outside London's social circles. The host was inclined to be shy with his Royal guests, but the Prince bf Wales put him at his ease at oncc, and this party of fourteen young men spent practically the whole evening sitting round the fire and exchanging experiences of life at the University and in the Army and Navy. Charm of the Harpsichord. No one who has heard a recital of Old En'glis'h music on the harpsichord can wonder at the hold this fascinating instrument is gaining on mu9ic-lovere. Experts like Carl Dolmetseh and Violet Gordon Woodhouse have shown how delicately lovely its fairy-like tones ca,n be, and how they can waft an audience into the leisured, graceful atmosphere of the paet. Another talented professional exponent of t'he harpsichord is Nellie Chaplin, whose playing is much in demand at drawing-room concerts. Several well-known amateurs have attained considerable skill in playing it, the Duchess of York, who i« fond of music, being one of them. Lord Berners, who is quite a harpsichord "fan," can also perform on the spinet.

A New Decolletage A new decoll»tage appearing on evening gowns shows the left shoulder traversed only by a band of strass, while the gown is cut on an angle, to the right shoulder, covering a good deal o>f the back, but leaving a good deal of the left-shoulder silhouette visible. "V" necks and yoCes are still much in vogue, and a use of two colours in the decolletage, such as black and white, or coral •nd black, the Bame being repeated ir the flounces. Fluid evenings, and afternoon dresses in layer workings of diaphanous silks and tulles, evening gowns, beaded ir unusual designs, are one of the novelties of the season An evening gown mad( of three layers of chiffon, pale rose magenta pink, and flame colour, is s wonder of the season. Day ensembles eombining pale mauve and navy blue or some other "off" colour, with a solic tone, is another. Under One Roof. Somebody was trying to count, th< other day, the .number of well-knowm in society who act as lnndlords to house less son's arid daughters. There is i popular and wealthy Duke among them the third floor of whose Mayfair man sion is rented to his son and heir. Th< latter and his wife and small famil? use it when they are in town. Marrie< daughters who have turned the mew of parental houses into flats are added t< every week, and there is a pretty heiresi who had one of the smartest wedding of the season last year and who share with her husband a self-contained fla in her mother's home. She has s separate lift, and a latch-key to her owi front door. The Crinoline. Xo one denies that the crinoline —ai any rntu when worn by someone elselias a strange attractiveness. At fancy dress balls it always more than holds iti own witli every other type of costume; on the stage it is irresistible. Much oi the pleasure one feel:- i:i that simple tender, and altogether ; ppealing littl< play of "Marigold" comes from thi delightful pictures made by the daintj crinolined girl and her be-liooped companions. And yet one cannot argue thai the crinoline is artistic, or natural, 01 even sensible in its lines. It has curves certainly, plenty of them; perhaps thai is why it pleases the eye. At any rate »t does please. When Edna Thomas, the °f Negro Spirituals, swims on tc WKU -' ' n '"' m y billows of black anc / with a red rose at her breast, she *i— *, .* her audience at once intc f or her plaintive touching