MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 July 1932, Page 3

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST '

( Notes by

Marjorie )

LARGE HAT TRIUMPHS. (By Hon. Mrs C. W. Forester).

In a hot sun a brim is very welcome, especially in light basket-like designs in pastel shadings. White predominates, but effective for the larger hat are the blues, faded mauves and pinks, with lime green and palest yellow.

A lilac straw is lined with velvet, some shades darker, with a firmly wired edge and cool open-work crown. It can defy sun and wind, added to which nothing is so becoming as a velvet lining near the face. Still broader brims that flop and wave at will will he worn by the young. The regulation Ascot hat, even if absurdly large of brim, can tjiis year be fairly practical. The contrasting crown is interesting, and lightens the effect of the wider brim. Milan, picot, and balli-buntal brims can have crowns' of lace, tulle, flower or feather-work in contrasting colourings.

Ascot hats, more than most millinery, express moods, so that two or three contrasting types of headgear should be in readiness. Should skies threaten, I. am sure we shall see business-like, tailored women adopting the newest turban made in twocoloured corded silk of fancy straw, in navy and white or black and white. The new turban is large enough to be becoming to most faces —always providng it is poised correctly and worn well on the .slant. This turban is quite distinct from the beret, a larger, rounder affair, and cooler on warm days. Flowers are not much worn for the turban, but a. crown of roses and a twisted ribbon brim are quite at-, tractive, providing a. two-coloured scheme is adhered to. Hats are full of expression this year, but I would utter a word of warning as to the exaggerated tilt. The “Bright Young Things” are apt to overdo the tilt. The same applies to the enormous bow, sometimes placed under or over the brim. It is apt to get disarranged when suspended at a perilous angle. Charmingly .dressed girls may have their whole appearance ruined by this “over-tilting” habit. The same thing may happen with the hat turned up at the back: It can “overdip” in front. There are some very attractive new turbans made of plaited ribbon and others in feather-plaited crowns, with twisted velvet brims.' With dark ensembles, nearly white, or pale pastel tones, provide a charming contrast. Then there is the coronet-shaped toque. Quite striking was one made of semi-lacquered feathers that looked delightful on hair inclined to gold.

WHITE AND PASTEL TONES. As far as headgear is concerned, white and pastel tones seem persistent, although dresses will be darker. A deep lilac, a new prune, and a-golden-brown will all be there in summer gossamer-weaves, but darker in blue than usual. There will be allblack frocks relieved with white, with the all-white hat, complete with ’pochette, gloves, and shoes, of white. Navy also will be mixed with white, and white with nigger-brown. The white hat has been, re-dis-covered, not only for the young girl, but for the white-haired woman. If in straw, it should be soft and its trimming equally so. The smaller shapes in white are helped by the new little veils with fine back chenille spots. Veils are very becoming, especially worn with the smaller shapes. The sailor hat will be seen at Ascot, .the brim may be turned abruptly up at the back with a cluster of flowers, or tilted over the side of the right eye. One model in green picot straw slants off the side with cockades in dull shades of taffeta' striped ribbon. Bows made of creamy Irish crochet with a band of the same are a fascinating way of trimming a sailor shape or raffia-straw. The postman’s shape will be seen with the silk tailored suit, at Ascot. If is a “smart” rather than “becoming” shape. In viry soft straw it looks well in'white, with a small cascade of black and a tiny chenille veil—but it is far more attractive in a pastil shade of light summer felt with a feathery decoration.

The medium cloche worn on one side, will be favoured. In balH-buntal and paper panama large chiffon and silk blossoms will largely supplant the lacquered flowers.

KNITTING A JUMPER.

SOME USEFUL HINTS. Remember. —That good wool is not tin extravagance. It adds greatly to the pleasure of knitting; it _ wears well, and it washes satisfactorilyTht wool should never be wound lightly, or it will become impoverished.. That .ordinary steel needles are inclined to soil, delicate colours. It is better to use steel-lined ones, for they will keep the work absolutely clean., and are, of course, unbreakable. That some people knit more tightly than others, and therefore it is advisable', before beginning a piece of worn, to. knit- up a small portion to make sure that the tension is right. . That a firm edge, is essential for good knitting. To obtain this, knit into the back of the cast-on stitches. That a crdchet-book is invaluable when picking up dropped stitches. That a white cloth spread over the knees will make all the difference when doing a dark piece of work in artificial light. That knitting should always be pressed with a damp cloth and a warm iron on the wrong side before being made up.

MME. JANOTHA DEAD.

PIANIST WHO WAS DEPORTED

The Hague correspondent ot _Tr The Dailv Telegraph,” London, stated recently:— Madame Janotha, the famous musician, who was Court Pianist to the ex-Kaiser, and to his father and grandfather, has died here at the age of 76. She had been living here some time in strict retirement. Madame Maria Cecilia Natalie Janotha. will be remembered as the famous “Kaiser’s pianist,” who in the second year of the war was arrested in London by two Scotland Yard detectives and subsequently deported from Tilbury. The arrest came as a great surprise to her friends in this country, who certainly never suspected her o£ being an “enemy” alien. -- As a matter of fact, she was born in Warsaw, completed her musical studies in Germany, where she was among the pupils of Madame Schumann ,and made her debut at the Leip, zig Gewandhaus in 1874. Four years later Janotha came to London, where she made her first bow as a pianist to an English audience at a Popular Concert in St. James’s Hall, coming forward on that occhsion as a “deputy” for her famous teacher, Madame Schumann. . From that time onward she played frequently in London and the provinces. , In 1885 she was appointed “Court Pianist to. the Emperor William 1.,” the appointment being confirmed by the Emperor Frederick, and also by the ex-Kaiser, who presented her with a brooch in the form of a lyre with the Imperial monogram and crown in diamonds and sapphires. i Madame Janothii’s gifts were highly esteemed by Queen Victoria, to whom she dedicated one of her compositions for the pianoforte, and front whom she received the Victoria Badge. On ■ more than one occasion, she played duets with Princess Bea trice. ’’ It was her habit, whenever she came on to a platform in her professional capacity, to bring with her a prayerbook, which she placed by her side on the piano. Her inseparable companion was Prince White Heather, a black- cat. Which went with' her to every profes-sional-engagement, and was once introduced to Queen Alexandra at a concert at St. James’s Hall.

WORLD’S SPINSTERS. NUMBERS SHOW DECLINE. There are fewer spinsters in the world, and they are becoming fewer each year. Yet there are more women. In Britain, the marriage outlook for woman is growing steadily brighter for while thirty years ago 3950 out of every ten thousand woman in England remained single, the proportion is now down to 3680, while in Scotland there has been* a similar decrease. . Fifty per cent of the women in Australia and New Zealand were unmar ried in 1901; now there are 45 per cent.

Denmark has fewer spinsters also, but Japan and Italy have increased in number.

There are 380,000,000 spinsters ir the- world, of whom Britain has 6,000, 000, the United States 11,000,000 an I France 8,000,000. America had 297 adult spinsters per 1000 women in 1910. Ten years later there were 273, and now only 264 of them are spinsters! This despite the fact, that for years more and more girls are born in comparison with boys in America. In Germany, the population was 57,700,000 in 1910, and 62,400,000 in 1925 —an increase- of 4,700,000. Bnt the number of unmarried women remained almost stationary. There are about 16,000,000 of them, and in this fifteen years of growing population only increased by 36,000.

In France to-day forty-four wornen in one hundred are not married, against 45.2 in 1920, despite the fact that the excess of women over men —the “surplus” women —has more than doubled since pre-war years. There were 8,883,456 spinsters in France in 1921. and the figures fell to 8,803,265 in 1926. Married women numbered 8,489,008 in 1921, and 9,181,458 in 1926 —an increase of 695,450.

These figures are of vital import ance to every woman in the world — but no one seems able to explain satisfactorily the paradox of more worn en and fewer spinsters. There were more marriages at al. ages in 1927 in England and Wales than in 1922—308,000, instead of 299,000—but there wore fewer women married between the ages* of thirty and thirty-nine—-39,000 instead of 4 2,000. In Switzerland, there were slightly more marriages in 1927 than in 1924. 28,585 instead of 28,510. But the number of marriages between the ages of thirty and thirty-nine slumped from 5113 to 4676. Why have women, according to statistics, a better chance of getting mar ried? Some experts say marriage is en tered into more lightly, and that thou sands of men marry who would not otherwise because their wives have employment and are, self-supporting.