Rain Ruins Dresses at Ascot: Royal Garden Parties: New Slimming Method.

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 255, 24 July 1936, Page 5

Rain Ruins Dresses at Ascot: Royal Garden Parties: New Slimming Method.

By

Fenella

‘Dominion” Special Service.—By Air Mail.

London, June 27. TpL.IBOIiATE dresses, some worth £5O each, are languishing in the wardrobes of many London fashion leaders. They have been worn only once—but they are ruined. An hour’s torrential rain, accompanied by almost tropical thunder and lightning, was the cause.

The dresses had their short-lived triumph at the final day of the Ascot races. > ' Brilliant sunshine and blue skies gave promise of ideal conditions. Women, who had been disappointed by the early rain on Gold. Cup Day, put on their flimsiest dresses. But the freak weather played an unkind trick. Clouds came over the sun as I reached the course, and just before noon a peal a thunder heralded the rain. Caught unawares, the fashionable crowd had to rush for shelter. Women with long trailing skirts held them high over their, knees as they ran. > Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the rain ceased. Between the second and third races, however, there was a miniature cloudburst. That was when the damage was done. Before the smartly-dressed women could reach shelter their frocks had been saturated and their hats beaten out of shape by the rain. _ _ Hundreds of pounds worth of damage was done to their dresses, hats and shoes. Many will never be fit for wear again. My organdie picture frock, like the rest, was ruined. And then the weather cleared again. The sun came out, but it was too late. In front of the Royal enclosure the mud was inches deep. Wet grass and puddles completed the havoc that the rain had begun when women wearing trailing frocks ventured out. „ Hat Six Feet Wide. Many braved the mud, however, and I noticed several new fashions. Perhaps the most striking was a long gown of gold lame, fastened both back and front with large gold buttons. At the shoulders were flat gold braid epaulettes, while the ankle-length skirt bad wide flared panels.

It was worn with the biggest hat seen at Ascot this year. This was • nearly six feet wide and made of gold lame relieved with Cambridge blue.

One of the most picturesque frocks —and most badly treated by the rain —was a dress of white organdie formed into hundreds of tiny rose buds. Another was made' of wine-coloured georgette with puff sleeves, a wide skirt and a Cellophane hat of the same shade.

Spotted and striped materials, par-; ticularly in black and white, were popular, while many women sported sombrero hats with wide upturned brims—excellent as rain-catchers! The Countess Haugwitz von Reventlow (formerly Miss Barbara Hutton) was more lucky. Her -purple 'chiffon gown and hat of purple lace were scarcely harmed by- the tain. The Begum Aga Kha.n was also'fortunate. She wore a maize-coloured chiffon dress and a black hat.

The feelings of the majority,' who had spent large sums on their clothes, were summed, up to me by a bedraggled woman .in a rain-spotted, mudspattered white silk frock and sodden sandals: “Mackintosh, goloshes and umbrella for me next year,” she said. Royal Garden Party “Courts.”

Queen Mary, I learn authoritatively, will not be present at the two Royal garden party “Courts” at Buckingham Palace on July 21 and 22. These garden parties are this year taking the place of the Royal Courts. At them debutantes will be presented to the King. Queen Mary will not be present, because she will continue to observe for a time full mourning for King George. The Court itself will, however, be by then in half-mourning. The Duchess of York will act for the Queen as hostess at the parties. The King will sit on a gilt chair under a red and gold Durbar tent supported by silver posts. Behind him will be members of the Royal Family. As the deutantes, who usually number about 700, pass before the King they will make a single curtsey. The Lord Chamberlain (Lord Cromer) will announce the name of each debutante as she is presented.

_As a result of court mourning. for King George, therefore, the whole character of the debs, presentation has been changed.

Instead-of the brilliant State rooms of Buckingham Palace, shady lawns aud trees will form a background for their dresses. There win be one compensation. A presentation gown may

| cost anything from about 15 guineas Ito £l5O. The average price is about j £50.. In addition there are shoes, ex- | pensive evening stockings and a fan or I bouquet

This year garden-party frocks will I be worn. They cost far less, and £-10 to £5O should cover the entire cost of presentation.

Slimming Without Tears.

! '“Ear the Hay way” is the new slogan of London beauty parlours. Fashion still demands slim figures and a new method by which, it is claimed, Slimness can be achieved without sacrifice of health or food has been given to England by Dr. William Hay, an American doctor. His system consists in eating foods in their proper “groups." It-does not mean elimination of all rich and tasty food from the diet as do so many slimming methods. The six food groups are given by him as protein, starches and sugars, fats, mineral salts, water and finally vitamins. Meats, fish, eggs and similar bodybuilding foods come under the protein group. Cooked vegetables and sweet fruits 'come under the starches and sugars. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the mineral salts group and the vitamins are included in ail foods.

As a further complication, the foods are divided into alkaline-forming and acid-forming classes. All the proteins, the starches, and the sugars are given as acid-forming in Dr. Hay’s system. The rest, it seems, are alkaline. Each day’s diet, it is laid down, must be made up of 20 per cent, acid-forming foods and 80 per cent alkaline foods.

The beauty of the new slimming system thus laid down is that creamchocolates and similar rich foods can be eaten. The only stipulation is that each meal shall consist, as far as possible,'of one food group only. She Has Wed 800. A girl who has married 400 couples is herself to marry this week. She is Miss Ellen Dear, deputy registrar of marriages at London’s most fashionable register office—the City of Westminster, register office at Caxton Hall. . Miss Dear was appointed five years ago. Since then, ; her position has (brought her into contact with many notable people, including the Sultan of Johore, the Duke of Westminster, the late Lord Reading, Prince Lennart of Sweden and Elizabeth Bergner, the German actress, to mention only a few.

But Miss Dear will not have her own wedding at : a register office. She is a staunch Roman Catholic and will be fiiarried in Westminster Cathedral. Her husband will be Mr. Edwin Arnold. a Londoner whom she met four years ago while on holiday. Chinese, Tyrolean—And Veils.

If you want to look “Parisienne” these days you must follow either Chinese or Tyrolean fashionsThe Chinese influence came out very strongly in the mid-season dress shows, and has been a great success among French women ever since. There are three-quarter length coats with wide sleeves and stand-up .collars in flowered silks or heavily-embossed brocades, and little jackets, also in flowered materials, with black belts and collars.

For the afternoon, graceful kneelength tunics in white silks, printed with gay Chinese designs, with lacquerred belts and handbag to match, are the thing. AU these are worn with quaint Mandarin hats, either very small with a pom-pom on the top, or a trifle larger, rising to a point in the middle. Jade brooches, earrings and buckles form a suitable finish. Edelweiss Buttons. The Tyrolean influence is mainly seen in trimmings and etceteras. Beau-tifully-carved wooden buckles, painted in bright colours with gentien, edelweiss and alpenrose,, with buttons to match and beige linen collars embroidered with mountain and field flowers in their natural tints can be seen on the boulevards.

But the chief attraction is a Tyrolean belt, thickly embroidered with flowers of every description. Frenchmen, too, have begun to go Tyrolean. Although no embroidered braces have yet been seen, an authentic Tyrolean hat, complete with feather, has made its appearance. AU varieties of veils have appeared this season. The latest is the “BotticelU.” A band of gossamer tulle is drawn tightly across the forehead under a small bonnet worn far enough back to show the demure parting down the middle of the head, with the hair brushed sleekly down on either side.