MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 June 1922, Page 8

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

— —- - — — NEWS AND NOTES. Satin was known in England in the 13ih century, but it was not made there till the 17th century. There is a craze among certain fashionable women in London for henna baths. The purpose of the bath is to give the skin an olive hue, which is regarded as becoming when evening dresses of Oriental design are worn. A sideboard from which musical strains issue at •will during the progress of a meal is one of the star exhibits of the Building Exhibition, which opened recently at Olympia (states an exchange). The singing sideboard is, at first appearance, simply a handsome piece of furniture. Two cupboards are fitted up in the usual way, but the third conceals a gramophone instrument. The tray containing the instrument can be lifted out when music is required in another room. “Alahometan ladies are coming out' of their traditional seclusion,” says a writer in an exchange. “I lunched with a high official of the Government, who is a devout follower of the Prophet and found his wife awaiting her guests in a European drawing room. She sat at table with us, like any hostess 1 England, clad in the soft graceful dress of an Indian lady, without the fallen veil Alahomcdan custom has always imposed on womankind. A

daughter of the Nizam was placed behind her father’s chair at the banquet given in honour of the Prince 61 ■'des. She is only a child, but looks: older than her years, and the guests . > noted her klien, intelligent interst in the glittering scene could well clieve that she would never pass willingly into the seclusion of the zenana. This little princess sat between two I all palace attendants, with two of her brothers and a tiny sister. She bvore a simple frock of some dark ni3ial, and her smootli hair was bound jy a plain silver band. Iler alert Jack eyes roamed ceaselessly up and lown the long table, where high nobles >f the court, in gorgeous uniforms, uropoan women in Paris gowns, and rriiy officers were being served on gold date by swift, noiseless native- ser‘s. She studied the rows of faces vith a critical, rather whimsical ex(•ssion on her face.”

Sixty-two thousand five hundred pounds sounds like a pretty stiff claim r the loss of a woman's beauty, but ,e read in an exchange that that amtint is being brought by a member jl the Greenwich Village Folks Chorus against a wealthy young New Yorker. It seems the lady was the guest of the American in a motor ride, and the car crashed into a post. The result of the accident seems to have been pretty serious, for when the actress recovered consciousness she was told one eye had been affected, her skull fractured, and her jaw broken, which to a very beautiful woman, as the lady was, must have • been very dreadful news. She was inconsolable at the prospect of her good looks being gone for ever, and she alleges that the accident was due to her host driving without proper caution. Reading about the accident, one is impressed with the costliness of the motor drive 1 to both parties concerned, and it gives . me a new idea of the value of beauty.

Says a writer in a London paper : For some weeks crimson Jias been tlie favourite tone in the hats of smart women; ever-changing fashion is now favouring black and red. One quaint model is a tiny scarlet hat with black wings on either side, while many all-black hats are decorated with bright scarlet to left and right. In the, realm of dress some prettily embroidered short coats are coming from Paris for wear with the one-piece frocks which are so popular this season. Finally, the novelty of the hour in hairdressing is the Spanish comb, worn with a coiffure imitated from the Spanish. The mantilla has not yet been seen in London, but experts say that it is foreshadowed by the big flowing veils which are being worn over the little black and red hats of the hour. The latest fashion for drawing rooms in Paris is to have big dolls seated on the sofa and in chairs round the room. .So far English girls with rosy cheeks and French ones with big, candid eyes have been the favourites, and have easily held their own against Russian, Japanese, and Dutch girls. But now an ew nation of dolls, Italian signorinas, threatens to eclipse them. Many of them aro dressed as Columbine, and they are characterised by a languid melancholy which tints their eyes with mauve, makes their cheeks pale and wan, and gives them an air of absorption in soffething far ' away..