WOMAN’S, WORLD IN LONDON

Evening Star, Issue 19274, 12 June 1926, Page 21

WOMAN’S, WORLD IN LONDON

(Written by Ctntria. for the ' Evening Star.’] From all accounts and the long lists of fashionable functions, we are to have a really hectic time in town this season. We are to have the King and Queen of Spain here and the King and Queen of Jugo-Slavin. Then King Fuad, of Egypt, is to pay a visit to Buckingham Palace, when possibly King George and Queen Mary will hold a State ball there. Princess Astrid, tho King of Sweden’s niece, will be another Royal visitor, while the very important small three-year-old person, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, will spend tho early summer in London in charge of his English nurses.

A crowning point will bo the presence j of tho Prince of Wales in London. In j itself this will moan much to trade, | ns evcrvotio adores tho Prince, and no big exclusive party is considered really | successful without him. Last year he ; Was absent in South Africa, and other, years ho has also been away on his ' world tours, so that with nothing to | prevent Ilia attending countless events 1 they will all take on an added smart- I ness and interest. The Prince’s love of informality, too, and bis charming l way of dropping in unexpectedly to j big public entertainments, keeps everyone on the qui vivo, and imparts just i an element of delightful surprise in tho world of Mayfair. Then Princess Mary is to start her musical parties again, and so open up a. new channel which will be greatly appreciated in tho social life of London. Not everyone cares for bridge or eating big dinners, while dancing can become monotonous, so the idea of reviving tho musical party, fol- ; lowed by a very charming supper, is | extremely acceptable, and likely to ho- ’ come very fashionable. Chesterfield House naturally is ideal for entertain- i ing, and Princess Mary makes an | equally ideal hostess. Then the Duke and Duchess of York later on will entertain, and have taken a very lovely house in Grosvenor square, whore they will take up their abode. A HAPPIER OUTLOOK. With the recovery of Princess Victoria from her serious illness and the departure of the Prince of Wales to recuperate at Sandwich Bay before lenv- I ing for Biarritz, the King .and Queen ] felt free to tnovo the Court to Wind- i snr, as was their original intention , before sickness seized on these two , members of the Royal Family. Tho nation feels relieved, as more sadness and mourning would have been ft great ! disaster just now; besides no one I wished any further sorrow for tho j King, who has ahvays boon devoted to J his sisters. So all is brighter now, with a happier outlook. People aro crowding hack to town, and daily we hear of gayer and more brilliant fixtures for the coming summer. All we want and ! hope for is fine weather. The fancy : of many people who “do” tho season ; now that motor cars are so extremely expeditious is to live out of town and rent a house in tho vicinity of Roeliampton, Kingston, Bushev, and the | like places, where they can so easily ! return home after gaieties and sleep | in the pure fresh air of country sur- | roundings, and where the glory of a 1 garden in May and June is not denied them. I have every sympathy with them, and have always thought it a ; shame to spend those two adorable months when Nature is at its peerless best in a town, no matter where. This venr, when wo are to have some 25,000 Americans in London, within 1 an easy radius are letting like hot cakes. People aro gladly letting their town houses for comfortable sums, and moving themselves to quarters further afield. FASHIONS EVER NEW.

All wo Londoners find the Journey to Paris jo easy and so quick these days that~a visit there is looked upon as "merely that of a few hours each way, and the rest of the week-end js spent -in seeing what novelties _ are in store for us. I, in common with hundreds, have Just made the trip, and I am telling all my London friends about the novelties I encountered, and incidentally you, my friends, down under. I think mv Parsiomio sisters have gone back to the schoolroom again, not for educational purposes, of course, hut 1 did notice deportment was a leading feature, and this is horrowed_ from the schoolroom, for the idea of walking and standing properly, ns taught by our governesses, has come hack as iv craze, and all Frenchwomen think more of deportment than pretty faces even. They argue that lovely clothes can’t look chid on ft had figure, and I think they are right, and that we English could easily borrow some good ideas from them. So I interested myself in finding out all I could, and I wan initiated into the art of walking round my bedroom before taking my hath, with a. book balanced on my head, just as I did at the tender age of twelve, I remember! This was followed with a series of contortions between two chairs, and I was shown how a wellbred young lady hows and gracefully steps out of her carriage! Early Victorian training, every bit of it. Elegance above all things. How will it go with jazz? Not too well, I fancy. Anyway it will help a lot in general attractiveness of movement; of that I am sure.

Clothes naturally are a magnet, and the shops wore packed. Eastertime always brings forth new garments, aud what I liked best of all were tho neat, smartly-tailored black coats and skirts with which you wore a natty jumper of bois rose crepe do chine, with frilly collar and cuffs, which you pull over the ccat collar and turn back on your cuffs’ with such a sweet, softening effect. It is an old style, but so eminently pleasing that one takes to these things at once. I really should not be surprised to see a return of the blouse, as the jumpers are getting shorter. For small figures and short wearers they are perhaps more becoming. Quaint combs, rather like Russian headdresses, are worn by some young girls—they may be jewelled as the fancy dictates, and are a little bit too foreign looking for my taste, but are new, at any rate. Fur on white satin frocks was very delightful, and the _ Paris designers are very keen on this. The pale tinted fur is chosen generally, and has a particularly soft appearance. Fur is to figure on all ephemeral materials tins summer, and with marabout will make many a flimsy coat look most exclusive. NOT ONLY IN PARIS.

I would remind you that this last fashion of ethereal coats is no! only a Bans one—London is exploiting it for all its worth, and using lace in all shades, generally matching the frocks, of course, but giving a very smart appearance withal. The great note to remember in the world oi dross Is that everything shall match. You must not wear a lot of shades, and colored hats are smartest when worn with black coats or costumes. London shops are also showing the palest champagnecolored crocodile shoes, a shade which is to be worn with summery frocks. This tint is to be the most fashionable this summer. Delicate shades for shoes are to supersede all others. Expensive and extravagant, 1 have no doubt, but very chic at the same time; and stockings of superlative silk must match. Though there has been such a lot of talk about the revival of black silk stockings and. black shoes, the idea doesn’t seem to have caught on, and so far I haven’t seen any about: MORE SMOKERS.

These are bright, cheerful days for tobacconists, as the sale of tobacco lias increased by leaps and bounds, owing, chiefly, it is said, to the ever-increasing army of women smokers. I do not know the exact returns, but the general opinion is that 5 per cent, advance on the previous twelve months car. be accounted for easily the last year or two. X think it would bo a good move to

open a tobacconist’s shop somewhere. The way fashions carry all before them is simply amazing, and how people s ideas and opinions change with them, too, is extraordinary. Only just lately I was sitting in the lounge of a fashionable hotel, and a. very sober looking parson and an equally sober looking wife walked in, and sat near me. I was thinking what a very proper looking couple they were to bo in such an hotel, renowned for its festivity and general worldliness, when, to my utler surprise, the lady calmly brought out of a very sober looking vanity bag a silver cigarette case, and quietly lit a cigarette, from a silver match box! She offered one to her spouse, who quickly accepted it, and lit up also! Now, I don’t mean to insinuate thera 'was anything in the least wrong about it, but it taught me how times have changed. I only wish more Church of England clergymen were as broad minded: it would help to fill their empty churches, and make religion more popular, if I may use such a term. The narrow higotrv of some —a good many, I may say—has absolutely driven people from assuming any semblance of religion. Indeed tile majority of up-to-date people flee from the “ cloth ’’—their doctrines are not ■human. Recently I attended a wedding at a register office, 'because the clergy man refused to marry the couple at a,church, as the bridegroom Tin cl not been baptised, It was, of course, an abominable thing, and very fen- clercvmon would have refused. The bride and her family were old residents in the district, and they were furious about it, and took particular care not to invito “ any of the vicarage lot ” to the wedding. THE SLANG CRAZE.

There has been much controversy going on lately over the merits and demerits of the modern girl, and, though I am perfectly well aware many—not all by a long way—but many, are very extreme in their expressions, I do not think “Miss 1926 ” quite deserves all the unkind tilings hurled at her head, and it is very ridiculous to judge the majority by the few. There are sots which pose ns being ultra-smart, and using slang in every possible wav it can be brought in; they hate their following, and there’s a kind of mutual admiration society, of which they are all members, each raving over the exceptional ability and wonderful attraction of the other. I know them, and their vocabulary is certainly not tbe most arresting point about'thorn. I’ve heard them talking about parties n.s being composed of “Stinking people, my dear,” and sometimes'they will tell you about a man who, in their opinion, is the “biggest rotter unhung”; another as a “ priceless ' old hoan.’k All things can ho- “ positively putrid,” and they have a way of giving very unreal and unsuitable distinguishing adjectives about things, and will call a dog or a new frock “rippingly divine.” It is a. craze of the moment, and exists; but really at heart those very girls are far hotter and nicer than they make themselves out to bo. Then there are thousands of others—sweet, charming, unaffected girls—who are often extremely pretty without the fashionable make-up, smart enough to satisfy the most fastidious male, yet brimming over with life and fun. I certainly do think, with the others, it is often the fault of being spoilt in their youth by over-indulgent parents, whose delight in their children often blinds their keenest susceptibilities. -A fashionable school will often teach girls to assume the “knowing everything” air, which may amuse their parents, but not the tost of the world; then when they leave school and enter the world of society they run right away from parental control to the grief, very often, of really devoted parents who might have nipped the tendency in the. bud with the Victorian teaching that “ children should ho seen and not hoard”! Then very often these up-to-date young slangy ladies arc thought so clever by mothers, who. possibly, are far from brainy themselves, and consider their daughters very smart. Anyway, if those things are merely fashion’s habits, they will fade as all fads do, and there are very few who really continue to live the stupid shallow existence after a time. I’ve known lots of fashionable girls who dropped all their side when human nature knocked at the door of their heart. Tho world is made up of all sorts of men 'and women, not nil bad and not all good; nice and nasty will mingle together as it continues to go round, and never will the study of human beings lose its wonderful interest. ANOTHER CRAZE. As I’m on tho subject of crazes, 1 may as well mention the sudden revival

of enormous jewellery. It was only a few weeks ago that wo were all informed the choker pearl necklace belonged to a demode and past vogue, when, 10l the fashion has returned m double force—this is to say the fad or very big pearl beads round the neck, of two different shades, the tinted ones being the most fashionable. I was at a very smart hunt ball, and two very notable twin sisters were there who are everywhere in the smartest .London set—the daughters of the master of Enthvcn, a Scottish baron, they are quite young, and have only been out a season or so. I have heard them raved about as the lovely Horelluthven girls.” They were frocked alike in kneo-deop dresses of warm night-blue georgette, with petalled el* feet, and had hip girdles or big blue stones as large as pigeons eggs with a long tassel falling in front, and both wore a double-row necklace or two shades of pearls, pale grey and pale pink, very largo beads, and had flatheaded silver tissue shoes and stockings of the exact silver shade to match. They wore very dark, and both wore their hair shingled in exactly tho same stylo; and I should say their partners must have been very puzzled to know which was which. Personally I did not think them pretty, though both are ultra-smart, with very good, slim figures, and were good dancers, had plenty to say, and were most vivacious with a crowd of young men and pinkcoatod fox hunters round them I those twins represent the hist word in up-to-dato girlhood, and the society paners are never tired of extolhng_ their charm. With regard to the new jewels, huge diamond and jewelled brooches, almost ns big as small saucers, are the latest, and bracelets reach sonic Bin or 9in up tho arm. One girl blazed from wrist to elbow almost with flat, broad bracelets. Then wo are having such big hat ornaments, too, realty jewelled just as one might wear them at night, and gleaming and glittering in a wonderful way; so we arc to sparkle by day as well as night to bo accounted first in fashion’s van. Largesized patterns on summer materials are another craze, and this should be entertained very carefully, for no small woman should dare to wear a big-pat-terned material, as it looks ridiculous. Some are really charming though, those tnmhling-about-loose-lea. zed-roses which sprawl all over tho new chiffons in palest pastel shades I love, and one of pink roses on the palest apple green ground was quite enchanting and was made up over an apple green foundation—altogether the sweetest spring garment anyone could desire! LIONS OF THE HOUR.

Two most interesting people in London just now are Major and Mrs CourtTreat, who made such a wonderful and adventurous journey from the Capo to Cairo by motor car. Just after their return "they were “ commanded ” _ to Buckingham Palace, as tho King wished in see them. Unfortunately Major Court-Treat was ill with influenza, but no doubt another “command” will bo sent. Both are wpuderful voyagers, which, I gather, is in the blood,'as Mrs Court-Treat’s grandfather was one of tho small band of pioneers who first set eyes on the Zambesi. I heard from a Triend that this intrepid lady had to wear breeches and gaiters on'the journey, and when she arrived in Cairo all she possessed was n rag of a skirt little belter than an apron; but she braved tho powers and appeared in it, and was lionised! ALL GOLD. It is quite extraordinary this rage for everything golden in the way of dross. Tho famous Kit Cat Chib, which is in the Haymarket, realty gleamed

with gold the other night from the women’s attire. Golden shoes tripped about, golden dress, cloaks of golden tissue and innumerable bangles, bags of gold—in fact, everything and anything which can be manufactured of gold is tho height of smartness.