LADIES' COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9154, 8 September 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

PARTS FASHIONS. ws-HE NEW PUFFED SLEEVE.

There are advocates, says, the Standard, for and against the new puffed sleeves. To most thorough-paced Parisians they are terribly disconcerting. The manches-a-gigot have been looked upon for so long a time as the very acme of ugliness that folks find it difficult to alter their opinion with respect to any form of sleeve that approaches it more or less nearly. The minority allows itself to be carried away by the fancy of the times for old-world eccentricities. French dressmakers use their discretion in the choice of sleeves, making puffed ones for women with rather tall, slim figures, and maintaining the vianches plates for those of exuberant proportions. It is this discretionary power, exercised freely by the couturiers of Paris, that places them so far above their compeers. But a sleeve may be flat and yet not devoid of ornament, and there are many degrees of fulness between the little drapery around the top and the bouillonnd from shoulder to elbow that recalls the fashions of sixty years since. The latter is least objectionable when applied to thin materials, and particularly to net and lace, and most remarkable when rendered in the new figured silks (foulards), that reproduce the quaint and not alway pretty patterns of that period. In the case of lace the sleeve is generally finished off just below the elbow, and a long glove is substituted for the tight-fitting portion of the " leg o' mutton." UOW TO MAKE A PRETTY GARDEN-PARTY COSTUME. The fulness, instead of standing out balloon* around the upper arm, falls in folds" from the tinder seam, where it is. gathered rather closely. It is with sleeves of this sort that a pretty garden-party costume is furnished. The materials are white nun's veiling and sprigged net — eleven yards of the two being required. The skirt is mounted in flat pleats to the waist, set as greater distances than for kilting, and the back breadths are concealed beneath an equally long drapery, brought up in a curve to the waist on the right side, and fastened down beneath one of the pleats of the skirt on the other. Wide fringe, composed of thick twisted strands alternately silk and wool, is sown at the bottom of the skirt, saveat the where the drapery trimmed in the same way renders its further presence unnecessary. So far only the woollen material is used. And there is also a short festooned and fringed apron of the veiling cut in one with the frontal drapery of the bodice, sewn into the left shoulder seam, and crossing diagonally from thence to the seam under the right arm. DIRKCTOIRE COATS. All the simpler forms of direetoire coats have plain sleeves, but there are fanciful combinations to which full ones may be applied. The following may be made in silk or woollen, in two shades of grey. To begin with the sleeves, they are set very high in the shoulder and pleated — the pleats tacked as far as the elbow, and falling thence loosely to the wrist, where they are gathered up into a cuff, made of grey galloon, interwoven with silver. The lighter shade of grey is chosen for these sleeves and for the full-pleated chemisette (mounted on a round collar of galloon), the upper part of which alone is visible, the bodice of the darker grey material being cut open in a deep point over the bo=om. On the left side the bodice is bordered with galloon, sewn flat upon it; on the right is a wide lapel, also edged with this trimming, continued down co the waist and round it, like a girdle. Under those circumstances the long basque of the coat need not be cut in one with the body, as the seam joining them to it is hidden. More galloon is sewn round the basques, which, slanting apart in front, show a festooned tablier of the lighter grey between. The basques are not continued round the back, where the skirt is mounted to the waist in organ-pleat flutes, and slightly draped en pouf. Twenty-one yards of silk are necessary to make this toilette, or their equivalent in woollennamely, from twelve to fourteen. DRESSES OF THIN MATERIAL. For dresses of plain thin woollen Bengaline, surah, or crape, the long tight-fitting sleeve with a bouillonne at the top about the lenprth of an •ordinary short sleeve is very suitable. Frequently the bodice, being soft and thin, is pleated on the shoulder seams, crossed over the bosom, and tucked into a belt, so wide as to form a sort of corselet— is one, in fact, sometimes ; that is to say, the lining is cut to shape, and the material is arranged upon it in pleats folded on the cross way of the stuff, so that it shall the more readily adapt itself to the curve of the figure. At the throat the robe is open in a point just low enough to allow the base of the neck to be visible—a fashion very becoming to some women, though not to others. Soft white veilings made up in this way compose extremely useful costumes. Equally with white and cream are worn tints so pale that they are almost white, and hardly deserve the name of colour at all. There are whites with a green, grey, or lilac tinge. The same almost invisible shades serve as the grounds of striped pompadour mousseline-de-leines, for which there is a great fancy just now, and if the temperature continues to be as uncertain throughout the rest of the summer as it is at present, they will prove invaluable. SPIDER WAISTS. Perhaps fashion is tiring of slender waists, or it may be a roundabout way of preparing us for the short Empire bodice of the future. Certainly a disregard for la faille is manifest in the taste for loose full cloaks. On a cool afternoon Parisians, celebrated for their willow-like figures, will appear in cloaks hanging in pleats from the shoulders!, almost likening them to Noah's Ark females. Light-coloured woollens are used for these cloaks as well as silk, and are often preferred to it, three collars graduated in size crossing the shoulders and helping them to look as high as possible.

THE TRANSFORMATION IN MILLINERY. Millinery is undergoing a complete transformation. Many of the new summer hats are made with crowns so low that they are almost flat, and would be entirely so were it not for a few vertical bows of ribbon on the summit. Others have flat crowns, but are worn tilted backwards, the broad brim standing up almost perpendicularly from the forehead, a little coronet being introduced underneath to keep it in position. Frequently the under side of the brim is wreathed with flowers, or a single spray will be secured tc one side with a couple of very long bodkin pins. The bonnets, on the other hand, are generally close-fitting, with coronets of clustered blossoms, roses without foliage, marguerites, blue cornflowers, or Norma wreaths of leaves and berries. Strings are added or not, according to fancy. Straw and black lace bonnets trimmed with green are still fashionable, but ivy and green wheat are less worn than they were—currant leaves, brambles, hazel boughs with bunches of green nuts, and ferns taking their place. Autumnal vine garlands with purple grapes have put in an appearance before their time, and by their side we see wreaths of hops, which provide us with the exact shade of pale green held in such high favour this season.