FROM LONDON

Evening Star, Issue 21630, 27 January 1934, Page 21

FROM LONDON

A GREAT SALE [By M. S. Primmkk.] LONDON, December 16. Not for many years lias tin "o been such a succession of parties and balls, with this difference: that nowadays most society functions tend to charity, since the unemployment problem and other reminders of poverty are still too much in our midst, worse luck! 'Our Royal Family give an excellent lead in this' matter, and for the great auction sale at Bridgewater House —one of the few remaining historic mansions (alas! one after another they go down like a house of cards to make way for offices

and skyscraper flats) —the Duchess of York gave a dinner party for the Queen, who looked regal in blue sequins. About 2.000 guests turned up at the sale, one of the most amusing held for a long time. It was mostly amateur as regarded salesmanship—but money flowed in all the safne. The item of the evening was the disposal of the old Eton College “ swishing block.” taken in 1881 and now coveted by the great rival school, Harrow. Etonians fought hard, and won the final round with the respectable figure of £450. The Queen was just going when she heard gurglesof laughter, so with her party of the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince and Princess of Connaught, Princess Marie Louise, Princess Helena Victoria, and the Duke of Gloucester she enjoyed the fun from her gallery corner. I have just heard that £9,000 has already been garnered, with more to come. TO GLOVE ? It was at this self-same party that guests debated anxiously “ Are we to wear gloves?” A nuisance 1 think they arc, and I’m glad that we can do pretty well what we like in the matter. Lots of the younger, women didn’t bother about them, and the older ones, with their magnificent jewelled bracelets, felt that Nature provides a sufficiently good background. But there wore plenty who welcomed back this note from the past. Pearl tints are correct, with pearl fasteners instead of buttons. Another interesting revival is the train. Yes, in spite of all our hygiene institutes ... so little does the world alter. I think a good many of us were astonished when the Duchess of York came to the Guildhall the other night with a trailing crystal embroidered frock. It is a graceful fashion for, short women, but will hardly. ) think, ever become really popular again. MOPE PARTIES. Christmas is, for the young at any rate, the season of'parties and .holly and mistletoe and dancing and much eating . . . with varying results. Sandringham, the country home of their Majesties, will see a family reunion. The two tiny Princesses will naturally be the centre of attraction, for they are devoted to their grandmamma and grandpa. Society “ debs.” have made a splash the last few days, and incidentally caused a good deal of newspaper correspondence. I can’t understand bow people can be so stupid (or envious?) as to make disagreeable remarks about the eight girls who agreed to give a cabaret “ turn ” at the Savoy, proceeds for philanthropy. The Savoy restaurant was crammed to sec this “ star ” turn, and whatever grousers may say the early hour of 2 a.m. was not more harmful on this night than on others. But there! Mrs Grundy is a “ hardy annual.” . This affair of “ debutantism ” is getting more and more serious for mothers of marriageable daughters. Shortage and shyness of eligibles is no laughing matter. We are only in the first half of the season, and already dates for May arc being booked. Tilings come on with a rush, including about 250 hostesses after New Year. It is a hectic time for all concerned, “Multiim in parvo up to dale all ri<rbt I It was a good idea of one society leader to give an “ introduction ! party,” at which about 200 soventcen-

year-olds met informally before their entry into the social world of 1934. it took the form of a 6 to 8.30 cocktail party, with small tables covered in gold American cloth. No dancing, only meeting, finding out about each other by conversation. Really this might be the beginning of a renewed prosperity in tlie art of good talk .... a much needed revival! NEW WEDDING IDEAS. Christmas brides are many—they can go off so comfortably to other climates, and then settle to their new homos in wanner weather. It is a rather typical of the times I think, to see how tradition is defied time after time. One bride’s mother insisted on wearing a green hat and gown. One bride allowed her dressmaker to cut off at least two feet from her bridal train, and this in the vestry where she arrived five minutes late, and consumed another ten minutes in this what our grandmothers would have called “sacrilege.” Another bride went without bridesmaids altogether, but had excellent substitutes in eleven tiny boys.

Quite a number of gowns now are showing a Tudor touch. This is I suppose partly through the popularity of throe plays dealing with that picturesque period. Anyhow, whatever the reason, the fashion is slowly but surely wedging itself in. We still find the Medici ruff handsome; the peaked corselet affair from which springs the full long skirt is smart —but we dispense with bones nowadays, since sport keeps a girl’s body in good trim. One of the latest ideas is a roll of fur over the shoulder line, such as we see on the courtiers’ doublets in Elizabethan times. Lovely velvets, soft silks and satins, lend themselves well to these styles without making the figure too heavy. . , . . A Rothschild wedding is due in a week’s time—-a great affair, as the groom, Mr Victor Rothschild is heir to his unclg’s millions. The ceremony itself will he simple, and just for the family, but so as not to disappoint the hundreds of gift-givers, Mrs Hutchinson the'bride’s mother is giving a prewedding reception. Much less of an ordeal for the chief characters! This is another wedding, by the way that is original, for there will be neither maids nor pages, and Miss Hutchinson will wear pure white velvet—which is not to say that the wedding will be colourless.