MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 October 1929, Page 4

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OFj INTEREST ,

(Noles by

Marjorie)

MATERIALS.

FOR THE COMING SEASON. I We are beginning to heai’ quite a lot about the new materials these clays, writes the London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. It. at any rate, soothes us to hear of the coming fashions, even if we can’t see them in these dull days of August, when there are simply no dress shows to attend. Jersey cloth is to have a great vogue in the early autumn, we are told. They say that it may even take the place of tweed, and dress designers have become so fond of it that they are using it for some of their nicest frocks and jumpers and suits. Patterned jersey cloths are new. Some are flowered, others are striped or checked or spotted, and indulge in most original color schemes. For next season, Rodier, whose name is one to conjure with in the dress world of Paris, will be showing some lovely new * materials. He specialises in woollens for making sports clothes and town suits, and he is at present working on jerseys and woollen fabrics which both show the same pattern and are designed to be worn together, the jersey cloth, for instance, may he made into a jumper, which will be worn over a skirt of another material, but with a matching pattern. Or perhaps the pattern may be just a little different in the two materials, but will be in identical colorings. A famous silk merchant in Paris is showing a great partiality for velvet this season. The new velvets, seem even more lovely than the old ones,; they are so soft and luxurious and supple. They are really fairy-like in their delicacy. Some are woven through with gold or silver threads, others are patterned in flower designs or in stripes and geometric patterns which blur into one another and give most attractive misted effects. ’ This year, actually, satin is heavier than velvet, for while velvet becomes finer and finer, satin grows heavier, and the old Duchess satin is coming back into fashion. Printed and brocaded satins will be worn a good deal, so will lame, while waxed lace and stiffened chiffon will also be favourites for evening wear. Quite often, too, the designers trim their laces with embroideries worked in tiny beads and coloured threads, while crepe de chine is permitted to appear in the evening, if it is adorned with embroideries. Grey crepe do chine worked in steel beads looks well for evening frocks of the more formal type, and diamante is also chosen to adorn the same material.

Wool lace we have known for some months now, although it is going to be very popular again in the autumn, but Milanese lace is a complete ’ newcomer. Milanese lace jumpers are quite new, and, for extra warmth, are worn under lace wool jumpers which repeat the pattern of the Milanese—another evidence of matching subtlety. Some of the season’s tailor-mades are carried out in a new material which is woven from a mixture of silk and wool, and has a silky surface. Silk gabardine is another favourite, crepella is as popular as ever, and crepe satin, wool crepe, and crepe marocain, are all to have their place in the scheme of things.

NO SLEEVES BAN. Girls employed at the general oltices of the L.M.S. Railway at Crewe are no longer to wear sleeveless dresses, no matter how many degrees the thermometer may register. An order has been issued that all female employees must in future cover their arms while at work, or, if they persist in donning dresses without sleeves, must wear a blazer or overall as a top covering. The edict, which has aroused some feeling among the 100 girls of the staff, is said to be due to representations made by the welfare supervisor. Actually it is thought to have its origin in complaints from the girls’ men colleagues.

SIMPLE CLOTHES THE BEST.

SAYS A DRESS EXPERT. Plain colored linen is fashionable this season for both dresses and thieepiece suits; but it creases so easily that it only looks smart for a tew minutes after it is put on, and. is more bother than it is worth. The women who choose simple, hard-wearing holiday clothes, that will continue to look tidy in spite of illtreatment, land that can be easily packed and washed, are the women who will look the smartest and enjoy their holiday the most. _ A smart holiday ensemble consists of a white crepella dress made as plainly as possible and worn under a short plain colored linen doublebreasted coat made like a man’s, with collar, revers and slit pockets. A linen belt to match the coat worn on the dress and a linen hat both add to the smart effect of the whole suit. A three-quarter length coat of printed linen is extremely useful for the Continental holiday, because it can be worn over sleeveless washing dresses or used as a. beach coat over a beach suit. Cretonne makes quite pretty dresses; but it is not nearly so good for coats as the printed linen, which has more body to it, so hangs better and looks smarter. There are two distinct types of afternoon dresses this summer. One is the very elaborate dress in thin patterned materials with an uneven hem-line, while the other has an even hem-line and is much more simple. The materials used for the plainer frocks are crepe de chine, cither plain or with pin dots, crepe satin, plain or with pin dots, and georgette in a very small check pattern. Many of the plainer dresses have the long princess bodice that fits closely to Well below the hips; and the skirts are pin-tucked all the way round to give them plenty of fulness. Organdi neckbands or collar and cuffs make the dress look fresh and smart, and small frills of. the same material as the. frocks, shirring, or bands in pin tucks inset, are used to break the long line of the bodice. The comparatively simple afternoon dress is just as fashionable as the more elaborate type of garment, and it is infinitely more becoming to the younger woman arid girl. AVRET HISSAR MACEDONIA’S “WOMAN CASTLE”

The recent story of the discovery of gold neai - Avret Hissar, in Macedonia, is by no means the first advertisement that this strange spot has received. Our aviators, during the war, constantly flew over the fine old castle and picturesque little town, and numerous photographs of the spot from above are doubtless filed away in the Air Ministry. They would, however, hardly do justice to it. I well remember my first view (writes in the “Observer”). I had ridden for many miles over the endless grassy downs of Macedonia, disturbing- little bustard, partridge, and buzzards, hawks, and harriers innumerable, without seeing a sign of human existence. Gradually the rising ground ahead began to assume a definite shape, and as I rounded a bluff I reined in my horse in astonishment. I was in the middle of the ruins of a town. Street after street of little brick houses, doorless, windowless, and roofless. Not a sign of life, not enough wood to make a match from. The village green was deserted and no bright girls in varied colours washed their linen and exchanged the gossip of the day at the spring. Brooding over the remnants of the once flourishing township, perched on a lofty crag that beetled up with steep cliffs over the district, were the remains of an old castle. It had clearly once been a stronghold of importance. The destruction of the town was not the fault of our war. It was smashed to pieces before we began. When the Greeks defeated the Bulgars at Kukush or Kilkis, in 1913, and drove them headlong over the high land of Labana back to their own country, the pleasant little town of Avret Hissar fell a victim to the fury of battle. And the castle? That was far older. In the thirteenth century, when the Green Cantacuzene made his desperate attempt to usurp the imperial power and was obliged to flee for succour to Dushan, the conquering emperor of the Serbs, he took refuge here. He refers to the stronghold in his memoirs under the name of Gunaikokastro. Now, the Turkish name, Avret Hissar, is but a translation of this, meaning the Woman Castle. The Greek relates that an earlier Byzantine emperor, struck by the importance of the situation, built a castle here so strong that, he said in jest, a battalion of women could hold it against an army. So he called it Gunaikokastro. This is probably a case of popular etymology. The origin of the name is certainly far older. The fort and the town that later grew up round it drew their water supply from a stream that runs past; this is called the Jena, or Zhena. Now, this word, in the Slavonic tongue, means Woman, and, as it is generally recognised that as a rule the names of rivers in any country are survivors from some older language spoken by a former race of inhabitants, we may venture the guess that when the Slavs came to Macedonia in the sixth century they found this ‘ little river had a name that sounded ' to them like Jena. As men always do, they twisted it into a form familiar to themselves with no regard to mean- ‘ ing. If this theory is correct, the an- ’ cient name would have been in the long-since-lost Thracian or Macedonian ' tongue, probably uncle of the Albanian of to-day, in which the word may have meant anything. The site is suitable for a town, on good grass land, on the road to Kilkis, and well watered. Probably it was centuries before that Byzantine emperor made his little joke. And now it is coming perhaps into fame again in association, not this time with Woman, but with that other prime motor of human activity, Gold. Perhaps the word for the precious metal in that now forgotten language was Jena. Who can say?