MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 October 1931, Page 7

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST

(Notes by

Marjorie)

£l2O A YEAR. DAILY BEAUTY AIDS. “The average amount spent in London beauty parlours by regular clients is £l2O a year” (states Lady Patricia Ward in the “Daily Mail”). “At a salon in Bond street, W., the manageress said that Englishwomen are giving much more thought to the care of their skins than they did even a year or two ago. “Most of our clients are English,” she said. “Some come three times a week for facial treatment and neck, arm, and shoulder massage, and spend £lO a month on this and in the purchase of skin foods and other preparations. But it is our American clients who spend the largest sums. They concentrate more on physical exercise and take regular gymnastic courses which Englishwomen often forego because they are out of doors so much.

“In another Mayfair beauty parlour, which specialises in Turkish and waxbaths, I was told about the large number of women who spend a large part of the day there. They start about midday with an hour in the gymnasium, the manageress said. Then they rest for an hour before eat'ing a light luncheon. This is followed by face treatment or hair-waving and manicure before they put in another half an hour in the gymnasium. They do this regularly, spending between £2/10/- and £3 a week.”

MRS GLEN KIDSTON. Mrs Glen Kidston, widow of Commander Glen Kidston (who was killed while flying in Africa last May) denies the report that she is engaged to Mr Reginald Sheffield, the son of Sir Berkeley Sheffield. Mrs Kidston was formerly Miss Nancy Soames, daughter of Mr Edward Roland Soames, of Chester Square, S.W. The marriage took place in 1925. Commander Kidston’s will left practically the whole of his fortune, which has been estimated at between £250,000 and £500,000 to his four-year-old son Archie. Mrs Kidston was provided for under a marriage settlement. SCARF DISCIPLINE. On the; eve of the most interesting scarf season for years, the designers have solved the problem of how to make the scarf stay on. Everyone will wear scarves, large and small, cape and stole shaped, but the little trick which, women cultivated in the days of intense dress consciousness of frequently adjusting their scarves is as out-of-date as the rustle of petticoats. Modern women must be able to forget their dress! Ingenious ways of keeping the scarf in place were shown yesterday at the dress display of a leading West-er.d designer. The most striking was the arrangement of a three-cornered scarf which tied in front of a white evening gown in a fabric like a very fine stockinette. The scarf was stitched down at the back, and when not required for purposes of warmth it was unfastened and fell back to form an effective drape,ry from the waist to the hem. SLEEVE SURPRISES. Puff sleeves were launched in London by the Queen’s dressmaker at one of the first dress displays of the season, given at Hanover-square. Remarkable sleeve fashions were shown for the winter. A simple brown velvet evening coatee, for suddenly dilated at the elbows into huge puff sleeves, niched and draped. Coat sleeves that were left behind when the evening coatee was slipped off were another surprise. They took the place of long gloves with the frock underneath. Then there were white mitten sleeves, which were in one with a black frock.

SWIMMING COSTUMES. SYDNEY AGITATED. SYDNEY, October 15. When an appeal was made in Sydney for “brighter beaches” scores of girls must have seen in it a suggestion that they should appear in public in the most daring bathing costumes they could find. The big city shops, too, were ready to meet the new demands, and the result has been surprising, if not shocking. The costume most favoured has been one that is entirely backless. Some of them too. have been almost frontless, and the climax was reached at Bondi on Saturday afternoon when the beach inspector warned off two girls who, in his opinion, were indecently clad. Bondi has no objection to a backless costume, but has decided to insist that most other parts of the body shall be covered. This attitude seems to be perfectly reasonable, particularly as public sun-baking on the open beach is permitted. Most of the suburban councils find it difficult to fix definite regulations as to the nature of costumes which may be worn on their beaches. The old neck-to-knee idea has long since gone overboard, the modern maid nowadays preferring a costume practically legless as well as backless. Power is given to the beach inspectors to see that there is no glaring immodesty, but their task is an extremely difficult one. The Mayor of Manly (Aiderman Harcourt) says that the girls are going too far and are breaking the bounds of decency on the beaches, iThe Sutherland Council, which controls the Cronulla beach, insist.? that immediately on leaving the water a girl shall wear a beach wrap and a man shorts, and anybody failing to abide by this regulation is liable to arrest. Now comes the suggestion that the Government should appoint a board of censors to examine, all swimming costumes before they arcsold, and that no costume should be worn unless it has emblazoned upon it the Government hallmark of purity. The backless costumes first appeared last season, and created a stir on many of the beaches. Efforts were then made to ban them. Some girls were warned off, but the next day the number wearing them was reinforced And so it went on until the situation got quite out of hand and backless costumes were officially “recognised.” The present campaign is directed against the latest frontless costumes.

ROTpMANU WOMEN’S INSTITUTE The Rotomanu Women’s Institute provided an enjoyable entertainment at the Rotomanu Public Hall on Wednesday evening last. Considering the short time the Rotomanu Branch has been formed, the work the members have accomplished in that time is much to their credit, as shown by the exhibits on display at the exhibition stall. The evening was formally opened by the singing of the “Women’s Institute” song by members. The programme was in the capable hands of Mrs Ward, President, who later in the evening, with Mrs Whitmore, gave a pianoforte duet. Little. Miss Mavis Joseph delighted her hearers with two little songs and Mr McNabb also rendered two songs. The main feature of the evening, and the on? which caused the most interest and amusement, was a playette entitled “Catherine Parr,” enacted by Mrs Whitmore (King Henry), Miss M. Ryan (Catherine Parr), and Miss R. Palmer (Page). They were loudly applauded. The nail driving competition was enthusiastically participated in, and Miss R. Palmer was successful in winning the women’s section and Mr R. Graham won the men’s section. The novelty waltz was won by Miss Perrie.

CORRECT STOCKINGS. NEW SEASON'S COLOURS. The very latest stocking colours ate now to be seen in the London shops (states the “Daily Mail”). Most of them are definitely neutral, with subtle tints in them which tone with almost any garment. So it will be possible to combine chic with economy when matching up new season frocks. For day wear, greys, fawns and browns are coming in again. The most attractive shade is vista, a light shadow colour which is a mixture of grey and fawn, and tones as well with tweeds as with a filmy afternoon dress. Two other colours are variations of fawn. One, called cambode, is a warm, medium-deep shade, the other, candia, a cold beige one. Then there are two more interesting innovations in the range of five new’ colours brought out by an important firm of hosiery manufacturers. Grebe is a grey with a slight tinge of green, and is well described as re sembling the sea on a dark, stormy day. It is particularly intended to go with black. A new marron is a darker brown than the shades to which we were accustomed last season —quite frankly brown with no hint of chocolate or grey to make it tone in with other colours. It must be kept specially to wear with brown suits or frocks. A good deal more brown is being worn already this autumn than last. For evening wear there is a warm skin colour which tones with any imaginable evening frock. With ankl?length dance dresses a light stocking is preferable to a dark one, but some women choose gunmetal, rose beige, or beaver. The pointed heel which is squared off at the top is the most popular “cut.” There is no indication that women are buying cheaper stockings, either shorter in the leg or with poorer tops, because skirts are longer. But they are taking infinitely more pains to match their stockings to the greater part of their wardrobes, and to buy two or three pairs of one colour so that an unfortunate ladder in one stocking will not ruin the pair. To make no mistakes in buying is the most economical course at tho moment. It is poor economy to stop buying altogether.