MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1928, Page 7

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OE INTEREST

(Notes 1

by

Marjorie)

PARIS FASHION SLUMP.

FAMOUS FIRMS CLOSING

Fashionable dressmaking, the industry de. luxe of Paris, is undergoing a severe crisis.

Business during the summer has not been good, and prospects for the winter are bad, says an English paper.

In spite of big efforts made by tlie “fashion kings,” orders from rich customers are scarce, and a number of famous firms have closed several of their “ateliers” and considerably reduced their staff.

Others, who have big houses on valuable sites in the centre of the capital, are credited with the intention of closing their businesses and selling their buildings to banks or business houses. The causes for this serious crisis are numerous.

Paris is the world’s centre for dress “creations” but the famous Parisian firms who create new models are not protected against dress pirates. New models are often circulated by American and German firms before they are shown in Paris. American firms, indeed, have come to an agreement for the purchase of models in Paris. They buy only a few arid these are reproduced by all the members of the ring.”

Owing to high tariffs in other countries and to taxes on exportation from France, foreign customers can obtain in their own countries reproductions of Parisian models, much cheaper than, if they bought them in Paris.

Suitable alike for afternoon and informal evening occasions is the gown of black lace and chiffon, the chiffon lending a bolero effect over the lace, swathing the hips and falling in a cascade panel down the front of the skirt.

THE WEDDING RING. At a wedding in North London, as reported in “The Daily Mail,” a new kind of ring had been provided by the bridegroom. The bride objected that the ring was unusual and “almost square.” When the bridegroom returned from a fruitless search for another ring, the registrar remarked that “the use of a ring wad a mere formality” (writes Walter M. Gallichan). There are, however, very few women who would be content to dispense with the symbolic gift of the wedding ring. The importance of the traditional ritual of the ring is shown by a proposal of the House of Clergy at Westminster that the woman should also give a ring to the man at the marriage ceremony.

The significance of the wedding ring has changed from age to age. Originally the ring was part of the brideprice paid to the father of the woman, and was offered as “earnest money.” In the Middle Ages the wedding ring became a token of subjection to the husband. The York and Sarum Manuals of the Church decreed that ’upon receiving the ring the bride should fall at the husband’s feet- and kiss his right foot. Later the ring ceased to be regarded as a mark of the wife’s servitude. In the East the ring was a sign that the bridegroom had endowed the bride with his power and made her his representative. Tho misasls of York, Hereford, and Salisbury direct that the ring should bo placed first on the thumb, then on tho first finger, next on the long finger, and finally on the ring-finger of the left hand as the ring-finger-in marriage, believing that a highly sensitive nerve ran from this finger to the heart. The Romans held that the third finger of the left hand was the direct communication through a special nerve with the heart, and the ring was al ways placed on this finger. In France tho wedding ring was worn upon the third finger, and the betrothal ring on the second finger. The wearing of a ring on the little finger was an indication that the. wearer preferred a single life. The choice of the left hand for the wedding ring originated in the idea of the bride’s subjection to the bridegroom, the left arm being the weaker arm. ’rhe round shape of the marriage ring signifies eternity in union.

SEX IN EDUCATION.

GIRLS WORK BETTER FOR MEN

Several principals of continuation schools and colleges for adults agreed with the statement made by Miss Norrington, head of the Bath Street Women’s Institute, in a speech at the Adult Education Conference at Cambridge recently, that a. young man teacher may have a good disciplinary effect on girl students, reports the London “Daily Telegraph.” Mr J. J. Mallon Warden, of Tonybee Hall, said: “I agree with Miss Norrington. Both men and women take the classes held here, and both men and women attend them. I think the sex element does play an important part in teaching. Men are less coarse if a woman is in charge of a class of them, and in the same way women are less silly when taught by a man. The mere fact that a man is in charge makes a class of girls work harder—he seems to have a bracing effect on them. Girls like to show themselves on their best behaviour before a man teacher.” Dr R. W. Holland, of Pitman’s College, Southampton row, said he found that the influence of the opposite sex in classes of young men and women was generally a good one. He added, however, that he thought that the girl of to-day was very level-headed, and that consequently she did not trouble whether the person who taught her was a man or woman. Iler one aim was to get on. The director of the London Polytechnic said that they employed men and women teachers indiscriminately, so long as they knew their job.

BACHELOR COOKS.

NIGHT CLASSES IN LONDON.

A cookery class for men only has been started with the opening of London County Council Evening Institutes.

It is a most popular class with bachelors. Only one married man is a cookery student among 15 bachelors. He thought he would like to be able to do a little cooking when his wife was ill.

The bachelors favour “nice, tasty little suppers,” and like to make what they call “stray things” (left over) and to know how to use up an “old shoulder.” When the school holds the annual exhibition, the men-cooks will show cheese-straws, jellies, blanc manges and sausage rolls. Mr J. P. Thomas, the principal, told a “Daily Mail” reporter that the men bought what they made to take home. “I asked one young man if he practised cooking at home, and he said they would not let him for fear he should show his womenfolk up:” NEW COLOURS. Some news came recently from Paris of new colours—“thrush blue” and “Devonshire cream,” for the lovely tint of a thrush’s egg and the rippling creamy yellow of clotted cream are both, such attractive shades, says a Melbourne writer. Thunder-red is another new tint, and several shops in Melbourne have been showing charming combinations of deep red and French grey or of pavement grey and lapislazuli blue. Grey has been definitely re-established in favour and for those it suits it is supremely attractive. Curiously enough, the Australian girl rarely looks her best in grey, as it requires the clear fresh complexion, and untanned skin, which is found in less tropical climes, but now that it is being so skilfully combined with other colours it may meet with a greater success. Leading Melbourne dressmakers shake their heads dubiously when grey is mentioned: “You have to be the English type—fair and clearskinned to wear grey successfully,” said one designer. “Beige seems to become our type of colouring—but, of course, it all depends on the individual.”

QUAINT CEREMONIAL.

WEDDING CUSTOMS IN JAPAN

Royal weddings in Japan are most picturesque ceremonies, and the wedding of Prince Chichibu, the heirapparent, to Miss Setsu Matsudaira, the daughter of the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, which took place in November, must have proved most, interesting to those who were lucky enough to see it (says an exchange). ( If all the old customs are observed the bridegroom sends presents to the bride and all her family before the wedding. These include jewellery, dresses, a white silk robe, which must not be folded, and a gold embroidered girdle. The Japanese have a great sense of fairness, so in return he will receive presents of equal value from the bride’s family. But no dowry: this is not done in Japan. She is, however, provided with two silk dresses sewn together, two girdles, a costume for State occasions, a inn, from five to seven notebooks, and a little sabre, with which to defend her honour should the need ai'ise.

lu Western countries ,the wedding takes place in the bride’s house, or any other place she may choose, but not so in Japan. There the wedding is held in the bridegroom’s house, to which the bride is brought by two friends of the groom. This is done with much pomp and ceremony. A male and a female servant stand at tho door to receive her; each is furnished with a lighted torch and a vessel of crushed rice, the symbol of daily life. As she steps over the threshold of her new home the rice from the two vessels is poured into one, and the torches are brought together to form in their union one single flume. The father-in-law leads the young girl, who is attired in white, with a long veil of white silk, to the seat of honor. The bridegroom, seats himself lower down, with his eyes downcast. Nearby on a table are placed dishes of emblematic intent, two phials of sake, a kettle, three cups, and a cage containing a pair of wagtails. Two matrons mix the two phials of sake, which is a kind of weak brandy made from rice, and it is heated in the kettle, and bride and bridegroom drink nine times in a particular order from

the three cups. This is the first part of the ceremony. After this little cakes are handed round, and after a due interval all are summoned to a magnificent banquet of three courses. This does not

sound very marvellous, but it is like three acts, which involve quite a number of scenes. The first consists of seven dishes, the second five, the third of three. As in the Western world odd numbers are considered lucky. The principal components of thesq are fish. During the meal speeches are made, dancers are brought in, and songs are addressed to the newly married pair. The festivities are continued until a late hour of the evening.