LADIES' COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9220, 24 November 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

LONDON FASHIONS. We are to wear sashes, as we are doing now, for months to come, whether we dress ! cI VEmpire, or not, and there is everything i to tempt us to do so. Sash ribbons are J very wide, and striped, while in some of j the more expensive kinds on the stripe are thrown a velvet design of leaves so faithfully drawn you see here and there where the worms have eaten them. Velvet ribbons with simple velvet edges are made for sashes, and fancy moires with faille edges. I do not know what the philanthropic protectors of birds will say, but feathers promise to be even more used in millinery than they have been for years ; indeed, almost entire hats and bonnets are made of them. Anybody who has been in Paris of late can testify that every third person of the well-to-do classes you meet wears a hat bordered with a thick ruche of ostrich feathers inside and out, a large bunch of ' the same plume intitfrnixed with osprey j standing up at the back; indeed, they | almost constitute the hat, and these are being now sold in England, and reduce the difficulties of home millinery to a minimum. Felts are to be the fashion as the months go on, both in hats and bonnets, and for these feathers have been tortured into all kinds of forms. They are made up into leaves and flowers, with osprcy for petals, and grebe has been used for making into poppies; very narrow single bandeaux of osprey, like classic bands, are. arranged for bonnets, with the velvet to peep through, and bandeaux of feathers, grebe, and ostrich, widening in the centre, are made to cover the brims, and moreover are dyed any colour ami also shaded, a humming bird or two being placed at the back. Capes and pelerines are also being prepared made of grebe, diminishing to a point at the waist. Huge wings are sold in pairs and meet in front, the points at the back, and constitute almost the entire bonnet, recalling Mercury's cap far more than any modern headgoar. Seagulls' heads, wings, feet, and tail are employed on bonnets, with only a little velvet peeping in here and there, and large wings with gilt edges are also employed on hats. Many of the wings havo an artificial lining of feathers of a contrasting colour. The bird of paradise feathers, so much in vogue in the time of the First Empire, have come back to us in these days, when we would seem to be borrowing most of our ideas as to dress from the times when anarchy and misrule had given place, to a new form of government in France. Many of the trimmings for bonnets recall the headgears of the North America:) Indians, the feathers standing up boldly above the face. Extreme colourings and great height are distinguishing features, the tail of the bird of paradise towering above the face. Quills dyed of all tones are also employed. The colours most used in feathers are the three tones of green—primevere, printanier, and peuplier; three tones of red—couronou, ecrevisse, and vulcau. For evening wear a new aigrette has been brought out, made of quills, which are looped into bows, osprey coming out of the centre. They are good-looking and durable. Smaller ones are made for the bodice. Many ball gowns are ornamented with a new trimming, moire ribbbon bordered with a fringe of ostrich plumes. It can be had of all colours, and used as panels. The dress trimmings are mostly long sashes of two tones of ribbon, united by oval aigrettes placed together, and formed of ostrich plumes. These aigrettes are quite new. into many of them osprey spangles with paste diamonds are introduced, and marabout boules, spangled with gold, silver, or diamond dust. .Jet is more worn than ever. Jet ban deaux, arched and in classic bands, are ready for the bonnets, and wired jet trimmings by the yard to place on brims. Large butterflies of chenille and tinsel and chenille and jet are also much used in millinery. Seaweed has been dyed by a special process in most delicate tints, and used for ball gowns, falling in a shower from small pearl enamelled shells. A new head-dress for those who do not care to wear positive caps is made entirely of ribbon, which forms the crown, sinking into a wreath of line blooms, such as heather. The new veilings have triple spots arranged like a pyramid either in chenille, croteheted silk, or embroidery, and tulle of this kind can be had in white, green, yellow, pink, grey, and blue. Tulles for ball gowns have silk sprigs of the same tone as the tulle itself, worked in tambour, and also the same triple spots, as well as beads, only larger, as are used for veils. Strips of moire, ribbon, tamboured at the ed'/e so as to look like picot, have been introduced on tulle in irregular points, intended to border the hem of the dress. White and cream on grounds to match, as well as with coloured ribbons, pines in Oriental colouring, as though cut from a cashmere shawl, have also been applique on to tulle. Grecian tulle—or, as they call it in Paris, cashmere tulle—is quite a new idea, viz., coarse soft tulle with enormous meshes, and there is no doubt that it will be greatly used as the season for winter gaiety comes on. It is made in black and colours, and in Franco sometimes in two colourings ; but English people are not likely to adopt that plan quickly. Soft crepe Indienne, much reduced in price, is being largely used for evening gowns, plain, spotted, and striped ; and 110 material drapes more prettily. For young girls to whom expense is an object, let me suggest that what is called cotton Mechlin can be bought in all shades and in excellent colours, '2.1 yards wide, just half the price of tulle.