MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 March 1935, Page 9

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

HEMS OF INTEREST

HOUSEWIVES’ SCHOOL.

SCIENCE OMITS DRUDGERY,

Intending visitors to Germany should on no account fail to see the "Heibaudi,” a vast five-story building right in the heart of Bdllin, which is probably unique in the whole of Europe. Perhaps the best way oi convcving an idea of its purpose would be*to call it a "High School for Housewives” (writes Maiy Corringham, m the “Sydney Morning Herald"). It is the fruition of a plan conceived by two typical German housewives who.* quite independently of each ether hit upon the same idea sometime in 1927. One of them, a middleaged woman named Mrs Boehmer, realising -what a tragedy it was to many a woman to spend money on household equipment that turned out to be worthless, thought that the problem might bo solved by opening a buyaig organisation in Berlin for housewives in the provinces. Airs Boehmer argued that no houses ife can ever acquire enough technical knowledge to be a sound judge of all the appliances and materials she buys since all conceivable kinds of raw materials are employed in making the things used in a home. And besides that, the housewife at that time was completely at the mercy of the clever or unscrupulous advertiser • whose statements she had no means of checking. What Mrs Boehmer wanted to do was to run this buying organisation without cost to the housewife. But the difficulty lay in making women believe that anything so good and so helpful could be done for nothing. While she was turning over the idea, a friend of hers returned from London and quite unaware of Mrs Boehmer s plans, casually mentioned that one of the London magazines, as an advertising idea, was running a small exhibition of labour-saving appliances and giving its readers advice free of charge.' That seemed the right idea! HOW IT BEGAN. Ono thing led to another. They talked matters over again and again. Ultimately they decided to take the plunge. They would take in hand the gigantic task of straightening out the domestic tangle of all the housewives of Germany. So they set out to enlist help. If they had based their claims to support solely on the desirability of making life easier for women, most likely they would never have got a hearing. But they took a much shrewder line. What they pointed out was that about 70 per .cent of the national income was being spent by housewives. Even, when the husband bought things for his own exclusive use,"he liked to feel that his choice would meet with his wife's approval.

Mrs Boehmer, for instance, drew attention to the fact that, at the International Merchandise Fair held at Leipzig, twice yearly, Where all the manufacturers of Germany display their new models and meet their customers, more than half the exhibitors, renting more than 50 per cent of the floor space, were selling goods used directly in the home. Now, said Mrs Boehmer, if a great percentage of thase articles made by men who do not'understand the technique of housework —are unsuitable, and have to be thrown away, this means an immense loss of money, just at the time when the nation is trying its hardest to economise. Moreover, if German household appliances are unsuitable in design or unreliable in quality, foreign countries will not buy’ them. And as Germany is a country that lives largely from export, faulty goods means unemployment. Such arguments carried conviction.

MANUFACTURERS INTERESTED. , It was not long before manufacturers were inviting Mrs Boehmer to try out their domestic goods, and of- . feting to lend her all manner of ap- ( pliances for the purpose of demonstration. An organisation was 'formed with Mrs Boehmer at its head, the Heibaudi was secured, and very soon . the latest domestic labour-saving devices were being inspected by housewives at the big building in Berlin. The Heibaudi has long outgrown the modest programme of work with which it began. Concerning itself not so much with the question of the convenience of the articles, but with their, technical worth in practical use. the Heibaudi has helped to bring the quality of German-made domestic articles up to a pitch unrivalled anywhere in the world. There vou will find room after room filled with every conceivable device used in the home, of every approved pattern, with cheerful, competent women experts explaining their purpose and advantages, as well as lest rooms for guests, reading rooms, where all the literature on housekeeping is available, lecture rooms, where sound films uro shown, displays of foods, nutritive and otherwise, all accompanied by charts and diagrams? The Heibaudi has at its beck and call experts on gas, electricity, vacuum cleaning, refrigeration, drainage, hygiene, ventilation, fire prevention, textiles, infant feeding, and so on. It. even has its lawyer for advising housewives and servants on legal matters! Nobody can buy anything, but everybody can find cut where to buy. Every manufacturer has his cards on display, and the addresses of the nearest retailer stocking the articles can be given at once. By teaching her how and what to buy the Heibaudi has filled the housewife with a new I pride in her home, and given her new ideals. 1 Housewives now vie with each other in making use of everything science and technology has placed within their reach. Leisure has taken the place of drudgery, and family life has been lifted to a higher plane. PARIS ADOPTS ETON COLLARS. Apart from- the popular fashion, white Robespierre jabot on black frocks, there is a vogue for glazed linen Eton collars in white, vellum. ' pastel pinks and blues. These look fresh and charmin;; on both light summer and black silk flocks wh'O' one Eton collar of paste! ■ pink matches gloves. These, however. are not glazed. Purple in this new glazed linen medium makes a graceful full-skirted evening gown, with wide quilted rtvers and high back neckline, while Jane Austen might have walked out of a picture frame in a white Swiss muslin gown, with a little corsage buttoned down the front.

CROOK AND STRAIGHT.

LATEST UMBRELLA NOVELTIES

Women are no longer “umbrellaminded.” Simple millinery and two years of dry weather are the reasons for this lack of feminine interest given by an umbrella, expert, who remembers the days when titled women did not disdain to cover an expensive ,hat with a handkerchief in a shower of rain. And this in Regent-street I

With feathered millinery in vogue no woman would stir a few yards minus her umbrella in case of a sho\yer. Nowadays rain may be threatened in the weather reports—and not one in a hundred well-dressed women troubles to carry an umbrella. So makers of umbrellafe are coaxing oack an “umbrella sense” in modern women by producing a delightful variety of new and original umbrella models which must appeal by reason of their extreme lightness of weight and beauty of design. Brightly coloured umbrellas are the exception among these new styles; although a new design in Etruscan red with a crook handle in baby shark dyed in the same shade of red is distinctly worthy of mention. In the main, black, brown, navy and other shades of blue are seen, and fashion colours are introduced in various shades in the handles. There are two fashionable shapes in the umbrella world, the 22in “walking length,” a slender streamlined affair with an elegantly tapering ferrule, and the “chubby” with its 10 or 12 ribs with coloured tips to match the handle.

Fabrics, either of pure silk or 90 per cent, silk, with a deep selvedge edge, are a feature of the new umbrella designs, the 10 per cent, heavier fabric introduced with the silk gives an umbrella an extra wearing quality. The new fabrics are mainly unpatterned, but there are also very attractive designs in softly contrasted checks, as in grey with fine off white lines, or in a bordered design in deeper or lighter tones of the self-colour of the material. Handles are in two categories, the crook and the straight, which often has a “lidded” top with a decorative inset in a contrasting colour or substance. Ivory', ram’s horn and , all kinds of- compositions are used in their making, from the umbrella de luxe, with its straight, real ivory handle, to a charming and inexpensive crook in tortoiseshell veneered on horn.

Coloured shagreen and ivory is one of the new combinations seen in both crook and straight handles, and in many of the latest designs python or lizard are used with ivory or coloured plastic. Among these novel plastic glass crook handles is a very lovely opal colour. There are others which have the appearance of crystal. The great attraction of this type of handle —crook or straight—is that it is practically unbreakable. Also the colours in which they are made are so varied that it is possible to choose an umbrella to link up and tone with any dress ensemble. For use with tailor-mades and long overcoats plain lizard, python and other skins are used for many of the new designs, while there is always a liking for malacca, smart despite its severity—E.M.B. in the "Daily Telegraph.”

HOT WATER BOTTLE. The hot-water bottle is a friend which sometimes deceives but which is hugged all the more closely for its delinquencies. Descended from the warming pan through the Stone Age, it is now made almost exclusively of rubber, though recently, unfortunately, of a rubber which smells to high heaven until it has had a long periodof incubation into better ways. Some rubber hot-water bottles which are scored all over can be used without a cover. Most are better for a little clothing, and it is the dressing that is important. While it is smart for hot-water bottles to have scarlet oi pale blue. Teddy Bear covers bought at the shop, white flannel is washed more often and, if decoration is needed, it can be embroidered with anything from -an initial to a cherub. Even more comfortable is the knitted cover, but this must not be too closely made or it will detract from that delicious heat which is just too hot. The best form of knitted hotwater bottle cover consists of a bag made with thin wool and upon big needles. Over this is placed a second bag, made in the same way. '1 he two thin and open layers prevent the hot-water bottle from being a pain in the midst of pleasure, and yet they do not prevent it from bestowing its beneficence in full upon the user. The two bags can be. made in two different colours, if this is liked, and they should be partly joined at the otherwise open end, the rest of the opening being secured by tics, since (lie wool is too loose for a button. Some people make, crochet covers in thick soft wool, also rather closely crocheted. The important thing is to strike a mean between the heat and the cover, so that the maximum of warming is obtained with comfort. LANGUAGE OF HOLLYWOOD. The slang of the talkies shows no signs of diminishing. The chorus girls, of Hollywood, it is now revealed, have a vocabulary of their own. Here are a few terms in general use, with explanations: — Duck: A flat-footed "chorine," as a chorus girl is called. Microbe: An under-sized dancer.

Cream Puf|: A chorus boy. Tipsy: A toe-dancer. Foot Fever: A command for more speed in dancing. Baggage Smasher: A girl with clumsy feet. The Duchess: A chorine with a fur coat.

Put Her in irons: A command for silence in the ranks. Mob It: Break formation.

Jail Break: Time out fur lunch. Queen Bee: A girl who shows off in her dancing. Aller Beal. Annie: A girl who Ilate with her step.-.