WOMEN'S INTERESTS

Hokitika Guardian, 15 March 1934, Page 3

WOMEN'S INTERESTS

latest economy modes Olio of the most-successful'modes ot the moment was surely tor,no of the depi'j'.sion. I mean the evening blouse and the dark skirt-with-a-light-top evening gown. For the girl who has only one evening dress or one who has very little to spare for clothes after the struggle to earn her own living, this new mode is an inspiration. In these circumstances, never confine yourself to one.evening dress in a pale colour, or very fragile material, or you will soon reach that ghastly inferiority complex—when you refuse invitations because-“you have not a rag to wear,” or for fear of having someone say yon are wearing the “pink chiffon dress as usual.” With this new dress scheme, you can feel as well dressed as the best cf your friends and probably with much less, expense than your one fragile frock.

First, have a long, quite, simple, but well-made skirt of black crinkled

crepe, or a. plain dull silk. This should dome just above, the normal waist-line, fit the figure over the hips to nearly the knees, and then flare round the feet. Tlpm you can have as many separate tops as you please, and so achieve an economical variety which is at the same time one of the newest and smartest modes

White velvet, beige lace, white organdie, palest crepe, gold tissue, silver lame; are all good suggestions for distinctive “tops” besides the obvious gay colours that appeal more to some women. But have one black velvet top ; it is always so useful to fall back on when others need cleaning, looks marvellour with even cheap pearls and mock diamonds. Also rough black crepe compmed with velvet is one of the material combinations of the .season.

These evening blousos can be sleeveless and decolette if wanted for full dress, but are also exquisitely dainty with frilly sleeves or- tiny puffs, and almost high neckline**. In beige lace the addition of a tiny, basque- at the waistline, and square-cut neck gives distinction. Indeed, there n:e endless possibilities of making this fhree-ia-cne dress cf immense Value to the girl who gees out a great deal, and has to contrive a varied appearance on literally “nothing a year.” Although I .have written of this style- ps catering for youth—as it was .•■originally intended—it is surely one of . the most useful fashions for the older woman also if care is taken in choosing colours and materials*. The long, dark skirt is perfect for concealing the thickness of the figure, and with a cross-over blouse draped, over Iho waistline rnd tied in sash ends at the back, the effect is becoming in the extreme The. older woman can have long slim sleeves (slashed at the shoulders if she likes), which add to the slenderising lines, and she would be wise to stick to dull-laeed materials, soft, but with substance that drap's, but dees not outline* the figure. The subject of growing old gracefully is an absorbing one with modern woman, for though she has relinquished •that postwar rivalry of her own daughters, the woman of 45 or even 50. is too active in mind and body to wish to dress elderly.

This transition stage is easier for the tall, dark, graceful girl who passes through the, years with very few obvious changes, except the inevitable passing of youth. It is the fair, fluffy woman who has always been a pretty little thing with a fondness for blue bows and frilly frocks, and pretty effects, who must drastically change her style. “Fair, fat and forty” was a catch phrase coined in the had old days when this type of woman continued to rely on her golden curls, china-doll complexion, and flufFy frocks, long after they were suitable. To-day she wears simple black evening drosses, plain dark day clothes, is oxquisitelv gropmed about the head and sensibly shod for balance—with tie result she looks an attractive forty long after she has passed fifty. INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY TYPES Which country can boast the highest percentage of beautiful women ? says a well-known writer and traveller. The country that sent us Queen Alexandra- (one of the noted beauties of her day) is also the home of many glorious creatures with golden hair and muscels of steel. The typical modern Danish girl is the exponent of physical culture and outdoor life. She is seldom short, and even should she be darkhaired. -he still remains essentially a Nordic type, with nothing of, the sensuous Latin element about her.

It is a far erv from Copenhagen to Carolina; fom the Viking goddess to the petted beamy of the Southern States. These American women, with their soft, pretty accents and unruffled beauty, have an old-world charm which is very alluring in those days of rush and bustle. They do not k'i’ow the meaning of Hie horrid words “surplus woman.’’ They are always exquisitely poised, exquisitely sure of themselves. The women of Northern France are more blonde thru) their southern sisters, while those of the basque country are of cosmopolitan race, containing a predominating element of Spanish blood. The Pasqtie peasant girls, with their vivid gipsy beauty and liquid dark eyes, are very striking.

In the Due do la Paix are seen some of the prettiest woman on earth. Pretty, not beautiful Personally I

Mints froth Monje and fflbroad.

always think the- average Frenchwoman it too petite to be impressive. She has no complexion to speak of; but she thoroughly understands co-ordination in make-up and colour harmony, and therefore can always create the illusion of loveliness.

Actually the typical Englishwoman is a rather homely person, with hazel eyes and light brown hair. She has the best complexion in the world—and probably the largest hands, and feet. She usually scorns the art of make-up, or else runs to the opposite extreme and plasters her face like ah inpr-essicnist artist. Really she is very tiresome, because, having marvellous possibilites, she invariably contrives to make the worst of them. There still remain many other attractive foreign types. For instance, German woman used to be considered the epitome of feminine dowdincss. That has all changed now. The girls of Berlin are not only beautiful but nearly as smart as the Parisiennes. Neither must we forget the Russian type, with her golden hair, rather iong face, and* sad, haunting eyes There are, however, probably more beautiful women in Reunos Aires thar anywhere else on earth. In this marvellous city all the shopgirls look like mannequins, and the mannequins look like princesses; for your true Argentine women is not only a “thing of beauty,” but the essence of chic.

, A PERSIAN WEDDING. The feminist trend in Persia is toward progression, but the Porsan bvicle still realises that she must submit- to 1 fatn when she marries, says a. woman writer* in The Queen, describing a wedding which she attended in Persia-. Arrived at the house, she continues, we word presently seated, like all the others, with a little table before us on which the feast was spread. Later; servants brought in the feast. Cakes -and! nuts and sweets, of all sorts. Sherbet was brought first, quite the mostdelicious I have ever tasted. 1

Presently, half a dozen of the women wore smoking tobacco in water pipes, putting the '-ends of the .Song j tubes* in their mouths and inhaling so that the water in the'fcalbcus vessels below made the most fascinating bubbles. “When does the real wedding ' begin?” I asked. “When do the bride and groom appear?!’ I took it for granted that some time or other a “little''wedding''-iphocessfpu would -come’ in laaid all the Moslem guests would shroud themselves in their chuddars. :

“The religious ceremony is going on now, downstairs. None of the company attends that,” 1 was told. Not even the father and mother?” “Not even the bridegroom. The.poor little Bride gets married all by herself. She sits or stands on one side of a screen, and the mullah, or priest, on the other. For two or three hours he. tells her her duty, and preaches and prays and performs all the ceremonies necessary to bind her -first from the religious stand point. '“Bift where as the / hr id on-boom ? Doesn’t lie have to go through this ‘aglicP ?”

“The bridegroom is in ‘Resht* just now. Oh, yes, he will be married in the same way. Not necessarily to-datf, but some time soon. Then in a week or a month or a, year, whatever time suits the two families, there will be a social t .notion; relatives will meet with the bride and g.oom in the home of the parents of the bride. There will he a party like this Then the young couple will go to their own home, or the home of the iarents of the groom, or wherever it is they are going to live. “Th cssenohil part of the wedding is, however, this present leligious ceremony. It will go on perhaps for another hour mid then the bride will come upstairs for a few minutes. She will then be legally married.

The wedding was symbolic to me of the fate of the average Persian wife; not a companion- to her husband, only a chattel like anything else he owns. No tenderness, no real sacredness, no comradeship.

Emblematic -of such a beginning is the whole course of the average Persian woman’s married life. She lives in the shadow of the chuddar, shut off from the world, bearing children, seeing her husband only when he chooses t-o be with her; perhaps sharing him with other women, but never a vital part of his life nor of the lives of her sons. Her husband has the right to divorce her for old ago or anything else and to keep the children. She knows that this is more than likely to be her lot. She knows that it is fate, but- she weeps.