MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 December 1923, Page 8

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

NEWS AND NOTES. Quite a new type of skirt has made a successful appearance, the skirt with the camisole top. It is made generally of pleated material, such as Canton crepe or satin. The skirt is attached to a perfectly straight camisole, and a blouse or sweater in pretty contrast or to match completes a smart and comfortable costume. A dainty little novelty is a handkerchief to tuck into the wrist watch bracelet. Use a good-sized saucer to mark a circle on the linen, white or coloured. Hem the linen or whip it over. Edge with net “footing” slightly pulled- “Footing” is a plain net band, sold in the lace departments. Sometimes there is a dotted footing to be had. Run a thread of floss through the edge of the footing for a bit of colour. If the centre is coloured, match that in the floss. Work a cluster or two of tiny flowers on the linen, using French knots, in any colour.

Before leaving Southampton to fulfil an engagement in America Mdlle. Mistinguette, a famous French comedienne and dancer, insured her legs for £200,000. She is to receive a salary of £5OO a week. Mdlle. Mistinguette visited the United States last year, when she created a sensation. Recently she had an entirely new wardrobe designed by Poiret, of Paris, at a cost, of £lO,OOO. It is said to contain some of the most startling costumes ever created. One monster head-dress is studded with pearls and precious stones. Straight lines in dress are the order of the day, and should always be worn by the plump girl. She should keep to soft, clinging materials. Pointed panels are excellent for her. And so are the long, graceful, bell-shaped sleeves. It is the plump girl who can best wear those thin, transparent materials that are, denied her opposite type. She can use all the crepes and georgettes and laces and chiffons that fashion allows. But she must adhere to absolute plainness of construction in all her frocks. She looks delightful in black. Jewellery belongs to her by natural right. Her figure sets off jewellery (but only a little and very good) as no other type can.

Trimmings of any sort should be avoided. She must take great car c over her corsets, and half the battle of being well-dressed is won.

Distortion is not confined to clothes. Evening shoes are undergoing transformation in the search for novelty. The dainty article which provided the final touch of elegance to a graceful toilette is being set aside for a shoe that is, in effect, as clumsy as a farm hand’s footwear. True, it is carried out in beautiful material, but the beauty of the fabric cannot compensate for the square, flat heel, the increased breadth and length of the foot. When the back of the shoe rises in an ankle-piece drawn into place under a thick strap, the clumsiness is still further augmented. Because very few women can afford to accentuate the size of their feet, it is to be hoped that this fashion is not widely adopted. The party of thirty young and educated women who are sailing for Australia at the end of the year, pledged to spend their first year in the New World in household employment, are

getting a very good Press—too much Press, one might think, and out of all proportion to their numbers (states a writer in the “Manchester Guardian”). On the other hand, it is a new venture, and rather important, because if it be successful more British women of the same type will be sent out by the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women. Applicants had’ to be between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, and the society has been fortunate in selecting women who are likely to do well in circumstances which call for special qualifications. It has been interesting to find how many girls earning their own living by clerical or other work have a good knowledge of housework. The servant shortage has made middle-class women

realise that they must learn to do their own work, and the business girls who have attended domestic science classes in their leisure time have satisfied the Selection Committee that they will be useful in their new homes. Each of the women selected possesses £6O ; £35 of this pays for the medical examination, part of the passage money, and so on, and £25 will be banked to her credit. The arrangement seems a, favourable one for the Commonwealth Government, since it is considered that the women will become valuable citizens, and will for a year at least relieve SO' many harassed housewives. Presumably, it any of the thirty wishes to marry before her year is up, it will be a breach of contract —unless, indeed, the bridegroom can prove that he will employ her in household duties.