Adding Chic to the CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 300, 20 December 1935, Page 3

Adding Chic to the CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.

Since Christmas shopping is something from which there is no escape, why not follow the lead of the two smart girls on this page and face up to it with chic ? Needless to say, there are many ways of being fashionable while shopping. For instance, one may do so by appearing in a cape suit, one of which is shown here, by wearing a plain silk or linen suit or one of floral, by donning a redingote, or merely selecting one of the many styles offering in smart frocks. The main thing to be considered in choosing correct shopping clothes is simplicity of cut and style. For instance, one doesn't wear a frock all frills or lace if one is on shopping bent, but rather is a garment of straightforward plainness desirable. The frocks pictured here may be taken as thoroughly "correct," ir all detail, for shopping.

■VERY year, with great regularity, columns are written of suggestions for Christmas gifts under the captions, “What to give him,” “What'to give her,” and “What to give them,” but it is doubtful if anyone heeds these words of wisdom although, of course, they make pleasant reading, giving us, as they do, the glorious experience of dreaming what we would do if we had the wealth of a Midas or could really sit on a Magic Carpet, Those of us with any sense of orderliness tackle the Christmas gift problem in its infancy, write out our lists of prospective beneficiaries, work out how much each would expect to have spent on him or her, and then week ' by week begin the business of buying. In this way, shop assistants are spared that awful last-minute badgering, and the nerves of the world-at-large are saved from fraying. But—and here’s the rub—the grand and glorious adventure of Christmas would be robbed of much of its fascination if more than one in a hundred thousand of us had reachced the theoretical perfection mentioned above. Just think, for instance, if we had all finished our shopping iy noon on Saturday, December 21. Would ever there be two more boring days than Monday and Christmas Eve? No, we as a whole simply cannot be orderly about our Christmas shopping, and will ever continue to

enjoy the hustle and bustle of last-minute buying, even though practically trampled underfoot by jostling though happy crowds. Although readers of this page have been taken on an imaginary Christmas shopping excursion through a large city establishment with the object of illustrating the latest fashions in this connection, and on the journey a few hints of possible gifts have been dropped it is not proposed to give any indiscriminate advice on what to buy “him” or “her”, or “them” during the interval between now and Christmas. Information of this nature is readily available in the business columns of the paper. Christmas shopping is, after all, a specialised business, and though we in New Zealand do not perhaps make a particular specialty of the clothes we shop in, we can at least gain ideas from the manner in which this seasonal institution is carried out in Sydney. In London and Paris, of course, the fact that Christmas comes in the depth of winter has an entirely opposite effect on Christmas modes. “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride” . •. . the old jingle strikes a chord hidden in the hearts of most men and women. Half the lore of legend and fairy is concerned with the granting of wishes and the making of dreams come true. In childhood we live constantly in the world of make-believe. Imagination peoples life with splendid folk and superb situations. The small boy dreams of the knight in armour, ( the great general, the first eleven; his sister of a queenly progress and a Castle Beautiful. And to-day most of us are‘-thinking: much as the people depicted on the magic carpet on this page are dreaming. ; j Gifts that relate to the festival of Christmas give more pleasure than any others. There is about them the quality of the spontaneous ment—friendly ges- ' ture.

If We Could Shop Early!