CURRENT NOTES

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25271, 25 August 1947, Page 2

CURRENT NOTES

A recent fashion dispatch from America, received by the New Zealand Wool Board, lists the following colours which will be popular- in woollen materials 'for spring, 1948: Sahara rose, barbary blue, oasis green,

exotic orchid, desert turquoise, moresque red from Morocco. From Paris comes gauguin red, monet mauve and degas blue. Frosted mocha and radar grey are two other newly-named shades.

One of the few surviving experts at hand-weaving tartans, Mr Norman Macmillan, of Kilmuir, Skye, is at present working on the tartan for the King’s new kilt, states a message received recently from the New Zealand Wool Board. Mr Macmillan may now claim the Royal Family as his regular customers. On a recent visit to Edinburgh, the Queen was so pleased with the quality of Kilmuir hand-woven rugs that she ordered several. The ingenuity of the Frenchwoman, in time of shortages, helped her to appear well dressed, according to Mrs Jeanne Biddulph, a British subject of French birth, who arrived in Wellington from overseas last week. Women in Paris and the other large cities of France were fashionably dressed, but frequently their clothes were not new. Blouses were made of butter muslin, but looked effective and beautiful, Mrs Biddulph said. She had a wealth of experiences to tell of the dark days of 1940 in France. When working with the underground movement she assisted and hid' British paratroopers from the Germans. Threatened with discovery and death, ' Mrs Biddulph made her escape from France by posing as the wife of an American correspondent, Mr Emery Reeves. A hazardous trip was made from France to England in a merchant ship. , During five years’ continuous travel, Mrs Biddulph addressed more than 3000 meetings for the British Ministry of Information, giving as many as 20 lectures in six days. Members of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, known in London as the “Big Ten,” have been presenting their new collections during the past week. The forthcoming marriage of Princess Elizabeth makes these displays especially important, and much of the interest among fashion reporters and buyers present at these exhibitions has centred round the Royal bride’s trousseau. Pronounced features of the new clothes displayed were the longer and fuller skirts, the mannish slope of the new shoulder line in suits, the greater detail on collar lapels and sleeves and the predominance of black for town and cocktail suits.

Former servicemen are to help overcome the shortage of nurses that is keeping hundreds of Welsh hospital beds empty. Training has been introduced at Cardiff for former Army medical orderlies who can become State registered nurses after an intensive 12-month course. A Continental tour with the Sadler’s Wells Ballet will be undertaken soon by the talented Wellington dancer Alexander Grant, who since his arrival in England last year has become one of the leading lights in London’s dancing world. The tour is to start at the end of this month and to last two months, during which time the ballet will give performances in Brussels (where the Continental season opens), Copenhagen, Prague, Warsaw, Posnan, and Oslo. They will also appear in smaller places in Scandinavia, but the arrangements have not yet been finished. For his performance in the ballet version of Cesar Franck’s “Symphonic Variations.” Alexander Grant was mentioned in “The Dancing Times” as having danced magnificently. This ballet performance was televised direct from the Royal Opera House, Covent -Garden.

PRE-COOKING preserves that Delicious Nutty Flavour in “HOLLY” OATMEAL or Rolled Oats. Your grocer stocks delicious cereal—cooks in two minutes. Advt.