LADIES' COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8264, 24 May 1890, Page 4 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

MRS. KENDAL ON GOOD DRESSING. " MB3. Kendal, what do you think is good dressing ?" said Mr. Gordon Bennett's lady. " Good dressing is that suited to the time and the placo, the occasion, and the woman. At home we do not wear as many bright colours nor as much velvet and embroidery on the streets as you do here, but after all it seems to suit your climate and the women, so I find no fault with it. The American women are essentially stylish ; they have the chic of a Frenchwoman and all her quickness, while for the carriage or an afternoon affair they understand the arb of dress perfectly. I wish they would dress in evening gowns and come bareheaded to the theatre, for the effect would then be so much prettier ; but I am told that one reason against this is the high price charged for cabs in this country. However, one had better be too much undressed, in the sense of simplicity, than overdressed."

" Your bodices all fit you perfectly, and you don't seem to find it difficult to discover your pockot?" "Oh, no," says she. " One must not be going through a series of gymnastics on the stage in an effort to get at one's mauchoir, and really I do think my bodices fit well. I will toll you how the fitting is done. I go to my dressmaker to have the first trying on, and it must be done with my hands clasped high above my head, so that I have perfectly free movement of them and am not cramped in the least way. If the bodico tears or is tight, then a fresh one has to be made. No woman can gesticulate properly on the stage with a sleeve that is pinching her at the elbow. Apropos of colours, 1 have always had a fancy for copying gowns from flowers—that is, carrying out the colour harmony. In the ' White Lie' a gown of this sore was designed by me for Miss Vanbrugh and one fcr myself. Some of the papers found Miss Vanbrugh's gown startling in its contrast, and yet it was the exact shade of three roses ; the skirt a deep tone, the drapery a lighter ono, the bodice still lighter, while three roses such as the material matched were arranged on her shoulder and three of their buds were in her hair. My own gown was a faint green and bronze, the idea gotten from and intended to resemble a pale, sad leaf." " Then you design the gowns for your company?" "Yes, just think of it; it really took six months to do it, for there were 197 dresses to be thought out and the making attended to ! This would not have been so difficult if -we had been playing at home and knew just what scenery we wore going to have, for then they would have been designed to harmonise with the scenery, while as it is in almost every theatre to which we go there is different sotting. lam always willing to sacrifice handsome gowns to whatever the character may call for, and in ' The Queen's Shilling' the print frock I wear cost exactly fourjKJiice a yard, while if you had seen me in ' The Squire' 1 should have been extravagant enough to have worn one that came jus high as a shilling a yard ! Beautiful gowns add to the appearance of the picture, and usually bring out the good points of a woman physically ; but I believe in dressing the characters as they would be in real life, and not wearing a ball dress that comes from Worth when you are supposed to be the daughter of a country gentleman who lias a good income, but by no means a fortune."

" What do you think is the prettiest gown for general wear or on the street—of course, at homo before four o'clock ?" " A sorge or cashmere or whatever woollen stuff you may fancy. For my own part I prefer serge, and if you are asked out some morning to see the Princess Louise you would find her iu a plain serge frock with a huge apron over it, busy at her modelling." "You know one of the question of the clay among women is about corsets. What is your opinion of them "That they should be worn all tho time; but in my own case, as you can see, 1 wear them very loose, and never have a bodice fitted over a corset any tighter than the one 1 wear now. Of course I don't approve of tight lacing, bat there is an immense difference between a well-fitting corset and one that is too tight." " Don't you use your hands a great deal?" "Of course 1 do. It's probably due to the foreign blood that's in me, but really 1 have made some of my best by play in using my hands. Tho Americans are very quick to see that; much quicker than the English people. You see I use them in talking, and when I am not talking I am busy knitting, so really they are restless hands that must do something." "Are American women too gushing?" "Certainly not. They lack the stiffness of the .Englishwomen, but they are as bright as the sinning gold dollar of America that I wear on my bangle, -i<« Englishwoman meets you, and the first time she gives you a stiff' bow ; tho second she asks you if you aro married ; the third how many children you have; and after you have met her about ton times you begin to know something about her and she knows something about you. An American woman in less time, without being tho least impertinent, will find out all you do and all you don't know, and you will discover just how charming she is. There ; good-byo."

MEN'S WOMEN. WHAT THEY ARE ASH WHY THEY CHARM THE MASCULINE SEX. " What are ' men's women'?" asked only the other day tip; most charming of her sex. "Men are for ever saying of So-and-so, whom, by the way, I detest, that sho is a 'man's woman.' Teach me how to be one, please? Wherein lies the charm? Must 1 smoke like your Venetians ; must 1 talk horse ; must I adopt all the other of your dreadful ways Certainly not, dear madame. Yet it is quite true that while one man's ideal differs most fortuitously from another's as one star difforeth from another star in glory, there are those who are known among us as "men's women" for a happy combination of qualities somewhat difficult to describe. " A man's woman," to begin with, is old enough to know the world thoroughly ; yet though she need never have been beautiful, she must have kept her youth. She is in no sense a light woman, neither is she overintellectual ; she would not speak Greek, oven if she could. She is a creature of infinite tact, whom every being with the outward semblance of a man interests profoundly. With him she is always at her best, and she contrives to get out of him the best there is. She listens well, and grows sympathetic as she listens. Has he a special weakness ? She half tempts him to believe it is a virtue. An adept in the subtlest forms of (lattery, she would force the meanest of us to shine, even when lie is ill at ease. And yet, above all, she remains sincere. Her interest in him is real, and survives the fleeting moment. He is a man : that is to say, for her, the brightest page in nature's book. She respects convention, knowing well when she may venture to be unconventional ; yet sho is unapproachable and irreproachable. In return he adores her. This is all very well, you say, but I don't like that woman. Dear madame, as it never enters into her calculation that you should, she does not take such pains with you. She makes dear foes among you, of cpurse. Sometimes, even, she does not escape calumny. But this, having no actual basis, falls of its own weight, and in the end, as you yourself will admit, you stand in awe of her. Your question proves it. I have tried to tell you why we like her ; and if you must have a word of definition, here it is : She is one who has the gift to study men, and who, having studied many, finds the process still amusing. If you lack this primal requisite, abandon the unequal contest; you will never become like her by a servile imitation of her tricks and her manners. In spite of these, which set you so against her, let me entreat you to believe her as a deserving woman indeed.—Scribner's Magazine. J

The young lady journalist who has been lobbying in the interest of the Woman's Penny Paper scored a point on behalf of her demand for the admission of ladies to the Reporters' Gallery, in the ad mission elicited by Mr. Bradlaugh from the Speaker that there exists no law or order against the admission of women to the gallery. Since she so pluckily raised the question, the lady, by the way, has received four requests for "interviews" in the interest of other journals, one request for her portrait for publication, and one offer of marriage !

Miss Mill Colman, a niece of the late John Stuart Mill, has recently made a successful debut as a vocalist at a concert at Bristol.