LADIES COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9124, 4 August 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

LADIES COLUMN.

DRESSES AT THE LAST DRAWING-

ROOM.

, Among the most successful combinations of lovely colour in the dresses seen at the l Drawing-room (says a correspondent of the o r r Daily News) was a train of chestnut velvet, worn over a dress of brocade in the bright, soft green known as absinthe, and trimmed with Marshal Niel roses. The golden brown, the pale green, and the glowing yellow of the roses made a perfect union. The design of the brocade was well suited to the sylvan idea of the dress, consisting as it did of birds, flowers, and fruit, with folds of absinthe satin relieving the brightness of the brocaded tints at one side. In the bouquet carried with this all the tints in the brocade were repeated. Another train that was much admired was in heliotrope velvet lined with satin in a lighter shade of the same colour, and trimmed aristically with shaded feathers in which the tints of satin and velvet were mingled with many other kindred tones. The dress was made of lotus-leaf brocade, opening to show a beautifully embroidered front of white satin, with passion flowers in beads of every tint in which the flower is known to grow, the sprays and blooms relieved by fine embroidery in gold and pears, and a pointed insertion of white velvet which gave valuable artistic tone to the satin. A very poetic dress had the front made entirely of enormous white poppy petals composed ie of soft, crinkled silk, with a few long;e stemmed buds pendant here and there. ;r The Court train was in white silk, and on ie the bodice a long train of the poppy buds d came diagonally from the shoulder, where h an epaulet of buds fell over the arm. A y green dress trimmed with mignonette y and humming birds proved that there are y people who insist on decorating themselves •r with poor little dead birds, even when , 0 they have no longer the flimsy excuse of n fashion for doing so. No one wears birds y now except those who are obliged for j. economy's sake to don last season's hats and >f bonnets. Even the long train of this un>f lovely Court dress was trimmed from e shoulder to hem with the unlucky little n carcases. This flagrant instance of bad >e taste was much commented upon, for since i, the recent revelations have been made as to d the cruelties practised in obtaining birds r and the threatened total extinction of the e loveliest species, most women have abjured e them, having erred previously rather from is want of thought than want of heart, e A most admirably simple dress was all n white silk, both train and petticoat, draped s very gracefully, and edged with a little n snowy Honiton. The floral trimmings were d white lilac blooms and large white arum y lilies. 'I he bodice had a long trail of s small sprays of lilac and lily buds. No y dress worn was more richly simple than a this. Another admirably consistent dress :l was made with a train of white and gold y brocade in a very effective design, over a J petticoat of very soft, white crepe de e chine, draped in graceful folds from the 's waist, and caught with clusters of white e ostrich plumes, whose whiteness was ree lieved by golden aigrettes that brought the s dress into atlinity with the gold in the 0 train. Among the many dresses in which 8 white was predominant, a striking toilet of crimson velvet, with train of terry velvet in the same glowing colour, made a 1 brilliant effect. Very handsome buttons in f old paste fastened down a panel of the t velvet gown. The wearer was a young s countess, whose height is well adapted to magnificent attire. The mass of red on the 3 bodice was softened by folds of crepe of the j same colour, relieved with the play of many diamonds. A dress in white and silver , was very much admired. The front was 1 draped with much Honiton lace, the 1 folds of which partly encroached upon I a panel of silver embroidery which ran from waist to feet at the right t side of the skirt. The long train i was widely bordered with Honiton . down one side, while all along the other, - and round the base, meeting the lace, 1 soft white ostrich feathers curled and f foamed. A well-known countess had a . novel design in brocade for her train, very :i large circles intersecting each other being i scattered down it in long lines, and in a t deeper tone of grey than that of the brocade itself. Its lining of pink satin was i exquisite against the grey, and lent it notes of warm, soft brightness that reflected i themselves in the mirror-like surface of the i grey brocade. The dress was also in this lovely shade of pink, the material being the incomparable soft silk muslin that drapes so admirably. The front was veiled s with very fine net tassel led with pile pink and crystal beads, and run over with a tleocv tracery in white floss silk. A lovely dress was in black, pink, and silver. The dress was made of black net spangled with silver, through which shone gleams of the white satin beneath. A very large, wide sash of rich black silk, lined with pale pink, was draped above this softness, forming folds upon the hips, ami thence falling in wide ends at either side of the back drapery, which was all in black silk of the richest. The long train of black velvet was an effective corollary to the dress. A fresh and pretty gown was in white watered silk as to the front, and soft white folds of tulle as to the back, the trimming consisting of garlands of green rose-leaves and ivy, looking like natural foliage. The white brocaded train was lined with green that matched the leaves. The moire bodice, trimmed with silverspotted tulle, ended under a large sash, which was tied in a great bow on one side in Empire fashion. The bouquet, was composed of shaded foliage, in which several score of tones of green were represented. The beautifully soft old chene of silks, the (lowers of which look as though seen through a tender veil of mist, are now fashionable again, and were seen in half-a-dozen dresses at the Drawing-room. One of the trains was striped, the chene stripe being moire as well, giving an effect of little rills of limpid water running among the (lowers. Marrow stripes of sky-blue satin alternated with the wide ones of (he chene. This train was lined with pale blue, and accompanied a dress of white satin dted all over with lovely Brussels point. The bouquet was in exquisite harmony with the dress, consisting of salmon and cream coloured roses with clusters of forget-me-nots. A pretty brunette also wore a chene moire silk train, striped with pale green satin and brocaded with groups of small pale pink (lowers. The lining was pink Ot toman, edged with crepe to toll. The dress was in palest eau de-nil silk, trimmed with very line old point in a "tender tint of fading." The large pink Tosca roses formed a beautiful trimming. A dressmaker has just made the interesting discovery that women are both taller and bigger than they were some quarter of a century ago. She bases her belief on the measurements kept, by her mother and herself in the way of business during a long stretch of years. Twenty or twenty-five years ago, according to this authority, the average waist of a young woman was twenty inches, while eighteen was a " genteel" size, and some went down to seventeen, sixteen, and ever, fifteen inches. Quite a buxom matron generally measured twenty-one inches. Hut, notwithstanding the continual cry of mankind about tight-lacing, we have changed all that. Girls, nowadays, of twenty or two-and-twenty years old average waists about twenty-three inches, < while, if otherwise well-proportioned, they 5 are rather proud of twenty-live and twentysix, or even more. This observing dressmaker assures us that women are taller i by two or three inches than their mothers •, were. lam told, also, that it is a fact that i (lie English are the biggest, people in the ; world, taking the average, with the single ] exception of the Patagonians. j If one may believe all that one hears, i Prince George of Wales bids fair to follow i in the footsteps of his ancestor " Elorizel." ; The " Perdita" of the young sailor son of i the Prince of Wales is said to be the i daughter of one of the poorest and proudest i Irish peers, than whom no poorer or prouder < class exists in the whole world. It is said < that the young lady is absolutely beautiful ] and positively penniless, and that there has < been considerable commotion at Marl- I borough House over the little romance, I which has by no means found favour in the s eyes of the susceptible young sailor's ] parents. It must be confessed that royal ( marriages outside the circle of royal blood i have not hitherto been so successful that 1 any special reason should exist for en- t couraging unconventional attachments of <: this kind, yet one cannot help feeling sorry i ; for the young couple if rank is to prove an j: ! insuperable obstacle to their happiness, r Prince George is said not to have given up i hope yet, but when the comparative close- 1 ness of his position to the throne is consi- j dered, I fear that the young lovers will I: have to pay one of the penalties of greatness, j 1: