THE LADIES COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6099, 4 June 1881, Page 3

THE LADIES COLUMN.

. FASHION NOTES. Bon'njsts grow larger andlarjjer; Poke bonnets grow in fashionable favour. The newest plaids are of dark colours crossed by white linen.

A rich costume is of black satin, trimmed with jet ivy leaves. • .

Havelock capes and collars appear on many tight-fitting ulsters.

The new red is very brilliant, in tintbrighter than cardinal, Biebe bonnets become none but, young, small and pretty women. Puffe<?-hair coiffures are beginning to make their appearance in Paris.

Plain skirt and plain corsage dresses, of dark satine have smock overdresses of figured satine.

New Lisle thread and silk "loves have long loose, buttonlqss wrists reaching half-way to the elbow.

Mantles are trimmed with high fraises of pleated black lace around the neck and shoulders.

Cheviot ulsters take the form of loose Mother Hubbard cloaks, with large square elbow sleeves. • •';

Roses in all shades, from the palest pink to the deepest damask ted, are made into garnitures for ball dresses.

; Round waists,, withsurplice fronts confined under a broad belt, will be very fashionable for wash-goods dresses.

There is so niuch shirrin-j pn drosses of all kinds that it takes an iminense quantity of lhaterial to make a suit. .-. .- ■ . : , : . •

■ Bandeaux of gold,-steel, jet, silver and plain and brocaded narrow ribbons are on the train for full dress. . : '

! Daffodil and buttercup patterns on marnoii, blauk and dark blue grounds are leading styles for garden party robes. . ' I Hand-paintedparasols; and printed ones in imitation ot the hand-painted, are seen, on umbrella and parasol counters. • Cloth of gold in gold-coloured silk warp, with woof of gold, forms an'important item iii the trimming of dressy costumes. masqueiiabijt.un; in high places. I At the masked ball lately given by Frances Gountesa Waldegrave, a 1 idy of distinguished appearance, dressed in black, and wearing a domino, observed two gentlemen who were conversing unmasked in an. alley of; the beautiful gardens of Strawberry. Hill. She approached them with easy grace, and opened conversation in a light and bantering tone. The elder of her male interlocutors was assured, by what "the Antiquary" would have called "his faireneniy," that she knew all about him, and could, an' she would, tell many queer stories about hiniself, Well able to defend himself in tongue encounters, the gentleman, whose.wit and persiflage was once the delight .of; the, House of Commons, —now-.-tnuch-missed; - absentee, replied that if she knew a tithe of the mischief that he had done in life she would, compel -him- to borrow her domino. Carrying the. war into the enemy's country, he..proceeded jestingly to : impugn her assertion that she was a married woman, and accused her of * having escaped from a boarding-school to take, part in the Strawberry Hill gaieties..'; His younger male companion, being scarcely inferior in badinage, ;asked.permission to touch her marriage-ring j and accepting.the gloved hand .which she promptly extended, remarked, after satis Eying himself as to the correctness of her claim, that so fair a gauge was worthy of move respectful salutation, and. was permitted to raise her black glove t6 his lips. .After a diversified conversation, whieh.lasted stbont a quarter, of an hour, ; the lady glided gracefully, ■ leaving her. companions in puzzled mystery as te her identity. . Their guessra were more ingenious than correct; but the sentiments ot the elder gentleman niay be more easily imagined than described when an hour later he was laughingly informed by the lady of the most exalted rank iii the assembly (the Princess of Wales) that she herself was the escaped boarding-school miss, and that the domino which she had removed from her face was at his service—to hide his blushes.