WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 91, 19 April 1933, Page 10

WOMEN'S FORUM.

THE ART OF DISPLAY. Auckland has been very liappy in ■some of its displays in the shop windows, and in the case of some displays by a designer now passed away the ■windows touched a very high standard indeed. 11l Sydney this form of advertising the goods in shop windows has also reached great heights of harmony of line and beauty of colouring. In London it is also being carried out in amusing detail by Miss Martha Harris, an American woman, who is one of the best known publicity writers and window design producers there. In private life she is the wife of Mr. Lan Coster, formerly.'an Auckland journalist. After she took a degree at Harvard she studied to be a playwright under George Pierce Baker, who has trained so many American writers in the art of the theatre. She has loved stagecraft from ■her earliest years and < learnt much about stage settings from her father, whose hobby was carpentry, and they used to work together oil miniature stage sets in his workshop., Now she has turned all her energies and art on to the shops, where she is busy making pictures ■in the windows. A series of country life tableaux in which she displayed spring modes depict all the fun and poetry of a delicious nonsense rhyme. Gaily absurd papier inache ladies with copper dress buttons for eyes and complexions of exaggerated out-of-door tan, wear the latest country clothes in country settings, and the sliowcards make their announcements in puns. In one window a card announces, "Call Inn," and the scene depicts a thatched inn made of whitewashed tweed, surrounded by beds of daffodils and crocuses and a pathway of crazy paving stones. In an "interior," where a log fire looks bright in the open fireplace, a framed card on the tea table tells you, "Nicbll clothes suit you to a tea, well-bread, finely cut, come in and lettuce show you round." WOMAN ARCHITECT.

Miss Nell Edeson, A.R.V.1.A., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. W. Edeson, of Denbigh Road, Armadale, is one of Melbourne's qualified women architects. She left recently .on the Orsova for further experience abroad. This is not her first visit to England, as she left in 1927 and, during her two years' absence, was fortunate enough to be taken on the staff of Sir John Burnet, AJt.A., R.S.A., one of London's most famous architects. She had six months' valuable experience with this firm, and then did a Mediterranean cruise. On this visit Miss Edeson intends concentrating in particular on English design, and she will also visit Spain to study Moorish architecture, which makes a special appeal to her as suitable for the Australian climate. Miss F. Ccderholm, B.Sc., will be another member of the party, also Miss E. p'Dwyer, who is a solicitor. Miss Cederholm had a brilliant career at the Melbourne University, where she was considered one of the cleverest science students to pass through the school. These three professional women are going abroad to increase their business training. REHEARSALS FOR WEDDINGS. Public weddings of a certain type are becoming more and more like stage displays instead of reverent ceremonies, and now rehearsals are being held. The wedding was celebrated recently at the Brompton Oratory of Miss Margaret Whigham, called "The prettiest girl in London." The day before the wedding Miss Whigham had a "rehearsal lunch," at which her own parents, the bridegroom's parents, her nine bridesmaids, the best man and. the 16 ushers were present. After lungh the group went to a rehearsal of the wedding pageant at the oratory. Before the luncheon party a small circle of friends had the pleasure of seeing in the home circle the brideelect as she would appear in all her wedding finery. Miss Whigham's —now Mrs. Charles Sweeney—charm and beauty captivated London when she was presented two years ago. Last November, a leading London store featured a special series of fashion parades, each one organised by a society leader to demonstrate how to dress smartly and economically. Miss Whigham was one of the mannequins who demonstrated how this j could be done.