Youngest Model Fired A Pistol

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30536, 3 September 1964, Page 2

Youngest Model Fired A Pistol

Firing his pistol over the heads of surrounding spectators, a young man briefly stole the show in an international function in Christchurch yesterday. He was just four years bld, the youngest model in an International Children’s Mannequin Parade held at Hay’s, Ltd.

“Right along there Philip. Yes, you can shoot them if you like, but wait until you’re coming back,” the compere (Miss Edna Neville) encouraged him as he set off round the platform, pausing occassionally to take aim. Children of Danish, Swiss, Norwegian, Dutch, Latvian, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian Dutch, English, Maori and

. pakeha origin took part in the : parade, modelling gay and s practical beach and play wear, ! crisp and pretty dresses and ■ party frocks. I But interesting as the child- ' ren’s fashions were, a highlight of the parade was when 1 several of the young models i came out in their own 1 national costumes. Maori,

Norwegian, Dutch, Chinese and Indian dress was shown. The “dressers” had fated a small crisis only moments before. “Does anyone know anything about saris?” one whispered to mothers, helpers and children of other lands, when she was confronted by three tiny and charming Indian girls, and several yards of coloured material. One or two tried to recall points from demonstrations of sari folding they had seen, but with little success. Finally the elder of the little girls took over. And in minutes she had herself and her even smaller sisters gracefully swathed and draped as miniature Indian ladies. Some of the children have not actually seen their national homelands, having been born after their parents’ arrival in New Zealand, like Yvette, a Latvian. The younger of two Swiss sisters was born in India, and the elder, though she was born in Switzerland, left it when only a tiny baby. Kari, representing her mother’s country of Norway, was born in Canada. The Peer Gynt costume she wore in the parade was hand made and embroidered by her Norwegian grandmother. Born of Dutch parents in Indonesia, Alexandra, who appeared finally in the cap, baggy breeches and wooden clogs of a little Dutch boy, left Indonesia when she was three. “There were big rats there, and snakes,” she said.

While the parade was on, there was much whispering, rustling and excitement behind the scenes, and several acts of international cooperation—such i as the straightening of socks and skirts, doing up awkward fasteners, and arranging stiff undeskirts and frilly slips. Though some of the children were shy when they first saw the audience, they soon took to modelling like young birds to the air.