THE LADIES COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7008, 3 May 1884, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE LADIES COLUMN.

-. : :\ fashion notes. The new name for ashes of roses is Isard colour. ■ The round ■ waist ia conspicuous among French costumes. Silver jewellery of a heavy type in sporting designs is a fashionable fancy. . ■. Peacock green with metallic blue is a fashionable French combination. Jet belta and belts of jet mingled with silver and ateel-beads are in favour. Parapluie grand'mere is a .fashionable umbrella of bright-coloured silk, with a very elaborate handle. A great deal of tulle, both in colours and in blaok, will be used for summer millinery and dress garniture. . .-■..-. .Some .of the new silk-finished satteens have fine' diagonal twills, others have damatee effects on stripes. Black Ottoman and black velveteens in the new London dye are to be much in nee as stylish walking costumes for elderly ladies. The brims of nearly all the new straw hats and bonnets are turned over on the tipper edge, so as to avoid, if desired, the use of any edge trimming. Half-a-dozen or mors tortoise shell hairpins,, set with a single Rhine etone, are very beautiful and fashionable ornaments for the half-high coil now in vogue*

STAYS OR NO STAYS ?

Will yon please let a woman say two or ihree words on a time-honoured, wretched >ld subject just now brought forward again by Dr. Morell Mackenzie and bis critic in Iruth? "The Doctor was profound and satirical on the use of stays, which he delounced as abomiDations." Now, though I un a woman, I do like subjects to be dealt with by those who know, and I feel certain-— it all events I would risk a good many paira it gloves on it—that neither Dr. Mackenzie nor hia critic in Truth wears stays. Therefore they are not competent to lay down the law on the question of whether other people ihould wear them or no. Only a person who ias for years worn stays made by one of the >nly two corset-makers worthy of the name n London, or by an eminent Parisian corsetnaker, ought to give an opinion about ifc there are a good many gentlomen quite fitted )y experience to do this. But I fear they jelong to the species masher,, and are devoid >f speech. All doctors who preach upon this question deal with tight-lacing, not with the vearing of stays. Why they do so I cannot iay. The method of treatment, a3 well as ;he subject, is time-honoured, I suppose. ?emiuine common sense has concluded that t would be as reasonable to give op boots as ;o give up stays because some people insanely vear them too tight. I grant that tight-lacing 3 injurious, sometimes fatal, to health ; that t ought to be suppressed, aud will be, when jeople are no longer allowed to do injury to ihemselves. Also it ruins appearance : first Dy destroying the .complexion ; second, by producing on the face a lamentable expreaiion; third, by spoiling the outlines of the igure. None of these terrible results coma 'roin the mere wearing of stays, especially if ihose stays are properly cut and fitted. And et me here remark that I know as a fact ;hat first-rate cutters and fitters will not indertake to fit ladies whose idea of a figure s waist, and who will have it at any cost. A. second-rate cutter is often kept to do the will of these mad women. Now let me tell >hese gentlemen who want stays put down Dy Act of Paaliamont, or something of that lort, that they must—positively must—indent a totally new style of dress for women Defore this can be done. The aesthetic style, seemed to offer a chance ; but manhood suffrage went against it. Only heroes would ralk down Piccadilly with ladies clad in robes ;hat hung from their necks. What, then, is x> be done? A garment made, an all feminine garments are now made, following the ines of the figure, demands something solider ;han itself upon which it may be built, and >ver which it is to be worn. Otherwise, it nost be made of something very solid itself; ind then all light and fanciful dressing is at in end. Then, too, until the style of a woman's dress is so changed that she can .vear thick warm garments such as men do t is crael to take away from her the stays, prhich are warm as well aa comfortable. Aβ ;o this comfort, perhaps' I had better say iothing; yet I must ask anyone who wears well-fitted stays, (made at a first-class house, ind I am willing to grant, coating a good many pounds) whether they do not form a most pleasant garment. All this, as you see, is very serious. Now let me say a word to the qnotora of Bosseau's wise observation about stays, "That if they were intended to give a slimmer shape to a waist that might be thought by its owner too stout, why—up to 30 such flesh-padding was a, beauty in a woman, and after 30 it didn't matter." With what he says to" women under 30 I will not quarrel at all (though I am sure, if you could get the opinion of all Englishmen, you would be surprised to hear how very few of them agree with.Rousseau). But unfortunately there are a good many women over 30 ! And are they, because a great man says a witty thing.'to give np the struggle, and allow they are old and laid aside ? Those who are quoting this saying, hoping to do good, know very little of woman-nature. I suspect many a lady who was at Dr. Mackenzie's lecture pulled herself in a little when next she made her toilette, thinking, " Though I am over 30, I am still pretty, and it does matter!" Some women at a very early stage of elderlines?, give up stays and wear wide boots with no heels: Tell me do you like these women ? Yet lam sure you are not so wanting in taste as to despise them merely because ttfey.are no longer yonng. There are charms which survive youth, and beauties which never fade. One of these is a good figure. I am obliged to confess that I am 32 ; but I don't consider because of that that I must give up the game; and 1 say emphatically that "it doe 3 matter." —A Pretty Woman, in World.

CHITCHAT.

Oscar Wilde first saw bis affianced at one of his lectures, at which she composed onethird of the audience. ' A new London wrap, christened after Mary Anderson, is a jaoket of sealskin, ■ opening zouave fashion over a vest of undyed seal. - A woman of.senso will bear a good' deal from a bad husband, bat she will not stand being reminded of her own folly in having married him. ' : When Fog was asked regarding the latest additions to the English language, he said he w.ould ask his wife. She always had the last word. . • • A woman may be perfectly angelic and as patient as patient can be, and still not be able- to look calmly -on while heir husband draws a match along a picture frame to light hispipe. , ."She : " Why is love always represented as a child?" He: "Because it never reaches the age of experience." She : " Still old men have , been known—" He: " Yes, but they were in their second childhood." A young man who took his affianced to hear Nils Eon warble her sweetest sougs asked the young lady how she liked the singer's repertoire. " Very much, indeed; I think it fits her beautifully," was the surprising reply., ;; . • ''■'■. ■ , it is said that a young lady can never whistle in the presence of her lover. The reason is obvious. He doesn't give her a chance. When she gets her lips in a proper position for whistling something else always occurs. . ■■■"Mo,""'-said George Henry, "I didn't go there to_ court the girl, only called in occasionally to pass the time, you know; but thing I knew they had me up for breach of promise, and so, you see I went to court at last."" -■■'■'■■■ ■■ '. "Husband, it is raining and ; you haven't got an' umbrella'; I'm so afraid my new bonnet will get' wet," whispered she to him in church. The husband looked grave a moment, as though he could not think of such subjects during the delivery of a sermon, and then turned to his wife and observed : "The ram won't hurt it—you know the-milliner said it was a 'duok of a bonnet.' " And ehe placed her handkerchief to her face and bowed as if in prayer.

A VALENTINE. : A Valentine ! Ah, can it b9 Thai someone has addressed to me I These lines, so iweet and tender 7 Namo'or initial is not set Upon the page, and jrpt—and yet ■ I think I know the oender. Wbat though tho writing be disguised, And many a little trick derleod To aid the fond deception; St. Valentine provides the key That spoils the little mystery The moment of reception. - Wβ may be right, we may be wrong; •For lack of confirmation strong..-. Wβ give the reign to fancy, And let her wander at her will, And her bright destiny miai ■ In fields of necromancy* . And Valentines would lose their charm If they at once could doubtdiiarm , Eie yet the seal was broken ; - And so the deeper the disguise;' The more delightful the Bnrprlse, And sweeter is the token. 7.