MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 July 1934, Page 9

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST

SAYING IT WITH FLOWERS,

(By a Paris Correspondent).

When summer frocks “say it with flowers,” garden prints have it all their own way. They have never looked lovelier. On the whole motifs are small, and, until recently the “pansy” in either two or more natural colours on a light ground won my heart. Bruyere has now caught me in a coil for bolder colours still on dark backgrounds, such as black and navy—or the hue that rests between it and royal blue. Not only do these dark grounds stress the latest note in elegance for smart occasions, but they seem to

bring with them a superior slimming influence beneath splashes of colour in a new red called “minium,” Asiatic yellow, and a vivid green between grass and emerald. Imagine the gaiety of a small garden print in this new red and green mixed with

white on a dark blue ground. Then there is a holly leaf print on black with a red button shoulder fastening. “Minium” is somewhat paler than lacquer, in fact, it is the red lead tint used as a basis when lamp posts are destined to be refreshed by a new coat of paint. “Asiatic” means an intense yellow

that spreads into a narcissus print mingled next white on a dark blue ground. This is made up with dainty narrow gros-grain belts and neckties of the plain yellow. These belts surmount the new idea on wrapover skirt lines. They are cut on the bias with the overlap Taking a diagonal line from one hip to the centre front. A* reverse movement occurs, when “minium” red is used for a plain frock of crepe “Hawaia.” The bodice fastening commences the diagonal fastening on to buttons that tone from one shoulder to just beyond'the centre front when a straight lines takes the wrapover cn to a few more buttons and then veers off in a corresponding sense to the bodice.

A new fashion for composition clips is the scarlet poppy and marguerite one which sometimes forms a motif at high neck and waist line on white frocks. They look charming, too, on a navy blue and white spotted Chine model clamped back to back, as it were, and perching slightly away from the .outline. There is a burnished silver metal marguerite as well that forms the only motif at the high neckline of a dress and crown of a hat. The fernlike leaf of metal takes the form of a belt buckle to correspond with a high neckline fastening. Fastenings become more and more original with pale white hands gripping a coat of navy blue down the centre front and square buttons lashed to jackets through two big holes by a contrasting coloured leather

thong. Round leather buttons are another invasion, and they look saddler-made with embossed edges rising beyond a. round of white machine stitching. Talking of invasions, brown with white is liable to encroach on touches of black and navy, since the alliance won renown with a first prize at the Ambassadeurs in a. concours de la “Femme elegante et son cnien,” a prelude to the “Grande Semaine” when race meetings illuminated by flood lighting are anticipated at Longchamp.

FORGETFUL PEOPLE

Every year thousands of articles are left on premises belonging to the British Post Office, and many thousands of insufficiently addressed packets are sent to the Lost Property Office. If the goods are not claimed after a suitable interval they are sold at auction, and the proceeds are shared among the various Post Office charities. In one office alone, in recent months, the “lost” property left on counters and in odd corners has included umbrellas, gloves, golf clubs, book's, a rosary. false teeth, and a. parcel of silk underclothing. At. an auction sale in London recently, the catalogue contained "97 lots of jewellery to be sold by order of the Postmaster-General, without, reserve, and must be taken with all faults and errors of description.” They are the harvest of three months’ forgetfulness on the part of Post Office customers, and, not having been claimed, produced a large sum for the benefit of postal charities. Included in the sale were about 200 watches, a score of clocks, hundreds of rings, precious stones, gold and silver cigarette cases, medals and coins, 200 fountain pen.-, spectacles, pendants, bangles, earrings, five hotties of mercury, and “31 dentures and parts of ditto.”

BUYING A GOWN (By Lady Kitty Vincent) It is amazing how little importance 'women attach to the matter of “outline”. when choosing their clothes. I They forget that the majority of onlookers see them far more often in i profile than full face, and that a bad i outline ruins an otherwise lovely i dress. j The worst mistake is made in wearing a frock with a skirt which sags at. the back. Certainly the modern dresses are very tight, and women do not seem to mind showing their figures; but, even so, there is a correct and an incorrect tightness, and on many models this line at the back is particularly ugly. If the skirt is properly made it will not cut in sharply, making a dreadful hump and dragging at the same time across the hips, but. will lit snugly. A great deal can be done to prevent a dress getting out of shape by giving it a judicious twitch when the wearer sits down, just as a man does to his trousers. I know by experience that a frock can be made to last the whole season without losing its line if this plan is followed. Avoid when buying a ready-made dress the garment which is badly cut in this respect, because it nearly always means that the material has been scamped, and the frock .in consequence does not wear well.

If you suffer from too long a waist, you must be extra careful about this line, as otherwise it causes you to look far bigger than you are. The hollow 7 in the back can often be filled in most successfully in a tailor-made with a soft and shaped pad. This gives a. straight line, and prevents an ugly dip. In an evening dress, a little gathering or skilfully applied fullness has the same effect.

Another fault is in allowing the skirt to stop at the wrong moment. Now that skirts are longer this is not so obvious, but unless legs and ankles are perfect there is always Just one spot which is more becoming than any other, and it is only possible to find this out by experimenting. Look for yourself next time at somebody standing against the sky with their skirt just the wrong length and be guided for future occasions. The same applies to the lengths of the jacket, which, in profile, is most important. There is no need to deviate from the dictates of fashion, for half an inch either way will make all the difference.

The profile line is so important, because there is no direct personal appeal to take the onlooker’s mind off the subject. If you are talking to somebody they are looking at your eyes, your expression, and listening to what you are saying, and are, therefore, not so ready to observe faults. But when they are observing you coldly at a distance, all personal magnetism is at a discount.

Few women realise that the hat lino should be chosen to suit the chin and jaw. If a woman has lost or never possessed that lovely clean sweep from chin to ear, she must be very careful not to accentuate the fact by hat or beret.

A receding chin needs the most careful attention, for something “off the face” in addition to the weak line of jaw gives the impression of the whole face having slipped. Next time when choosing clothes remember this, and also remember that you do not always stand erect, so see what the dress looks like when not “at attention.” On the other hand a dress which needs careful managing may lead its owner to adopt a better carriage. I remember once having a gold lame gown, which neyer allowed me to relax for a moment, nor incidentally to eat a good dinner!” TOO CAREFUL COOK. She measured out the butter with a very solemn air. The milk and sugar also; and she took the greatest care To count the eggs correctly, and to add a little bit Of baking powder, which, you know, beginners oft omit. Then she stirred it all together, and she baked it full an hour, But she never quite forgave herself for leaving out the flour!

A ruling that radio dealers buying and selling used radio goods must hold a second-hand dealer’s license w?#s made by Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in the Magistrate’s CouTt at Auckland, when Raymond Allan Watkin was charged with carrying on business as a second-hand dealer, without a licence (reports the "Herald”). Defendant admitted he bad purchased used radio parts without. taking a record of the name and address of the vendor. He held a class A radio-dealer’s licence, for which he had had to pay £l5. He understood that the radio-dealer’s licence covered the purchase or sale of second-hand parts. Senior-Detec-tive Hall mentioned the difficulty that was caused to the police in their efforts to trace missing or stolen goods by the absence of any record showing from whom articles had been purchasefl. The fee for a second-hand dealer was quite small. “It seems to me that the mischief which the Second Hand Dealers Act is intended to minimise, is not covered by the post and telegraph regulations covering i adio-dealcis’ licences,” the magistrate said. "Radio dealers who trade in second-hand goods must comply with the Second Hand Dealers Act.’ Defendant was convicted and ordered to pay costs.