THE LADIES' COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7020, 17 May 1884, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE LADIES' COLUMN.

— : - - ; FASHION NOTES. All-gift jerseys are worn. • Most shoes worn"- this spring have square toes. ' "' * '"'' ;" ' '[~ The new square seamless parasols are very. ngty-.',,'.'.■' ..;.' ;."."'v ■ ' " Ruching ;is seen around the bottoms of sleeves. ~, : .-',"■ A blue ribbon with dark red placques is stylish. . Ruches are ; of all colours, gilt being qnite popular. .-•_...-. ''Ribbon covered with butterflies is a pretty novelty/ The latest 'styles of satin are in small checks and look like summer silks. The vesta on summer dresses are frequently covered with rows of pleated laee. The latest caprice is the costume colour jacket of kid embroidery studded with seed steel half-beads. A bonnet frequently worn in spring time is made of quite wide lace pinne_d on' the frames with immense plain brass pins. Unique and-Franchy effects are attained by combining." off" colours, such as roseand orange, shrimp pink and stone blue, violet and garnet, also tints and strong tones. In black these Ottomans are specially elegant and make uu into magnificent costumes. Velvet will be combined with the airy gauzes and other transparent tissues worn the coming, season.. Gauze bodices, it is said, will have velvet facings turned down to form a bertha. . Similar facings are "added to the short sleeves, and cockade bows of velvet to correspond are set here and there, butterfly fashion, .among the folds of the cloud-like j drapings. '

COMMON SENSE IN DRESS.. -"■-*" "Know thyself" was the maxim )f one of the sages of old, thyself" night well he adoj^ t ' e 'J' as t jj e motto of all yho aim at hejjHg we ll— that is, appropriately —dresseoV..''''?ri la t the wise little sentence ia gnored b_>£ many may bo seen at a glance, if me Paiges to consider the number of people f&b, knowingly or. unknowingly, make themselves ridiculous by their manner of iressing. It seems wonderful that, their own juagment being so evidently defective, some friend or relative does not proffer a little goodad vice to aid them in their choice of becoming and suitable attire. Perhaps it is that there is no subject on which a woman feels so touchy, or so well able to iecide for herself, as that of dress. Every woman is in her own eyes a person of taste, ind it is this mistaken idea that leads to such terrible infractions of the laws of common sense, which are in reality the foundation of good taste in other matters than that of dress inly. There cannot be any transgression igainst these rules without a certaintly of Ealling into errors of taste, and it_ is for the benefit of those who candidly admit that they lo not - fully understand' what these laws ire that the following hints on dress are offered, showing some of the most common - .errors and the remedy for them. Among'all the mistakes that are constantly made there is none more irritating to the beholders than the wrong cut of a low bodice. v"ery few women understand this difficult irfc, and as low bodices are 'again fashionable : .t is very necessary that some attention mould be given to it. Snpposing a woman to be young, pretty, and to have a welluodelled bust, nothing can be more becoming to her than- the usual low bodice, showing the pretty rounded shonlder and the firm polished throat supporting a head that it is a pleasure to look at. Such a woman looks to perfection in a low bodice, and excites nothing but admiration. But suppose her to be thin, with no bust, with salt-cellars (where there should be no suspicion of a hollow), a scraggy neck, with poor thin arms ! Why is ■he-to. be forced to display all these little iefects, when; it would be so easy to conceal them ! What pleasure can she feel in her own appearance, and is she a joy to those who look at her? For the thin woman there is nothing so becoming as the heart-shaped opening front and back; it leaves but little of the chest and shoulder visible, and the opening is generally surrounded by drapery, which gives a little fulness. With this bodice puffed sleeves to, the elbow are very often worn, and- these cover the upper part of the arm, which is very ugly when thin and flat. All thin women would do well to adopt this mode, and leave the ordinary low bodice to their plumper sisters. A style that is now becoming demodd is the square-cut bodice, whether it is worn by young and slender girls, with a white chemisette closely drawn in round the neck, or, as it too often iB, by stout, middle-aged matrons, by whom the modest chemisette is much more needed, and to whose appearance it would be a decided improvement. Ladies who are.no longer young, but who wear low bodices, often commit the great error of adopting with these the old-fashioned deep lace berthe, falling nearly to the waist. It is a great mistake, as the bodice must be cut in an oldfashioned curve, and the sleeves, worn with it are in a style' l that is now considered absurd. ' Such an attempt to revive an old mode, pretty enough in its day, but not ancient enough to be interesting, is always, a failnre. Another very common error in judgment is to have three or four best dresses that are worn only two or three time 3 a year, and not to make any alteration in them on the very inadequate plea that they are not soiled or worn out. Suoh dresses may be as fresh as when they were new ; but they are, nevertheless, unwearable and ridiculous by reason of their old-fashioned style and trimming. At least once in two years these toilettes should be handed over to the dressmaker to be remodelled in the fashion of the day. Advancing age is no excuse for carelessness in dress; for although sensible elderly ladies will never wear low dresses, nor follow the freaks and changes of fashion, they will take pains to adorn their persons in a way that will make them attractive, nc matter bow great their age. Many women seem quite unable.to learn to grow old, and yet, if they only knew it, the surest waj to prevent people from noticing their age U to abstain from trying to hide it. They would be very acceptable just as they are, with their increasing white hairs and theii experience of life, but when at 50 thej paint, and-powder, and dress like girls ir !their teens, they are simply ridiculous, and deceive no one. ' As: long as they remain silent in a darkened room, they may pass foi young, but when they begin to speak, 01 {when the candles are lighted, all illusions are dispelled;; their little tricks are seen through, and their pretensions to youth are laughed at.. - It would be so much more to theii advantage if they would continue their care for their persons, without attempting to con ceal their age. ;:■.<.-.-,..

: CHIT-CHAT. • "Mother sent me," said a little girl to a neighbour, " to ask you to come and take tea with her this evening." " Did she say at iwhat time, my dear?" "No, ma'am, she only said she would ask you and then the thing would be off her mind ; that was all she said." " Did you observe that woman?" said a gentleman 'to his eompanion, as a sharpfeatured female swept laughing by them. The friend nodded to indicate that he had observed her. " Well I am indebted to her for- the- ohief happiness of my life." " Indeed 1 I can imagine the gratitude you feel towards her." " No, you can't; only her present husband can do that. Ten years ago I asked her hand in marriage, and she refused mo." ' •'_ Some gentlemen of a Bible Asßooiaton calling upon an old woman to seo if Bhe had a Bible, were severely reproved with, the spiritual reply, "Do you think, gentlemen, that I am a, heathen that you ask me such a question ?" Then, addressing a little girl, she cried, "Run and fetoh the Bible out of my drawer that I may show it to the gentlemen." The gentlemen declined giving her the trouble, but she insisted on giving them ocular demonstration. Accordingly the Bible was brought, nicely covered ; and on opening it the old woman exolwmed, "Well how glad I am you have come ! Here are my spectacles that I have been looking for these three years, and didn't know where to find 'em." . r ', -, .-.'■■; ...ONLY .-A LINE. ... Only a line in the newspaper, That somebody read aloud I '.- 'At a'tablo of lanauid boatdors, To a dull, indifferent crowd, : .".•:.-. Market reports and a niarrUge, . : ■ ... And the reader read them all, How could he know a hope died then ■'• And was wrapt' In a funeral pall? i ; Only a line iri the paper. Read in a casual way, ■. . . But the glow went out of one young lifu And leit it cold and grey. Colder than bleak December, ... i .Greyer than walls of rock; The reader paused and'the room grew full - .. Of laughtur and idle talk. - If one slipped'off to her chamber, ' •; ;; Why,,who .would dream or know That-one brl?f line in the paper. - Had sent her away with her woe— . " ' Away into a lonely sorrow, ... .■ ,-..; J is.To bitter and blinding *ars? Only a lino in the paper, L But it meant such desolate years!