LADIES' COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11771, 28 September 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

LONDON FASHION NOTES. [WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR the NEW ZEALAND HERALD.]

London, August 16. It is no use pretending that there are any notes of interest in the world just now, because there simply are none. It is the "silly season" all round, in fashions as in other things. All that people want new to take away with them are tweeds and sensible garments, mostly tailor-made, for the Highlands, linens and cottons and coats and skirts for the seaside, while grander things are required for the fashionable foreign health resorts. But these, so far as I can gather, are not characterised by any details strikingly new. >

Black materials are very general at present, especially voile, which frequently is a good deal tucked, and trimmed in addition with strappings of black taffetas. As a variation from the minute tucks which have been so long used the newest are very broad, having, indeed, more the effect of folds. Needless to say, they are only suitable for thin materials, and skirts made of graduated folds from waist to hem have the stiff appearance minimised by the use of bands of lace. For soft materials gaugings in close rows are very usual, but of course only should be worn by the most slender figures. On the whole, simplicity in appearance seems to characterise most of the best gowns, particularly those turned out by Parisian nouses, and there are now rumours that skirts for walking are to be much shorter in contradistinction to those for indoor functions, when they are to be, if anything, longer. One of the gowns worn at Goodwood by the Duchess of Devonshire had the skirt of quite sensible length. The fashion of threading lace with ribbon or velvet is as widely followed as ever, and apparently the idea is to remain with us through the autumn at any rate, though often carried out in thicker fabrics than ribbon and lace. One of the new autumn model cloth gowns has strips of cloth threaded through with a deep band of taffetas, which not only makes a nice finish round the top of the shaped flounce of the skirt but can also be effectively carried out on the bodice, of course on a smaller scale. Later on taffetas will no doubt find rivals in velvet and panne, when the threading effect- is desired. For travelling dresses barege is a suitable material which is now revived, while homespun and stout serge are found useFul for much hard wear while indulging in mountaineering and walking. The newest homespuns are fleck- '■■ ed with white, and are decidedly smarter in appearance than the plainer kind. As a rule the costumes are made in bolero form, though ordinary coats are not to be beaten. Up to date there are no novel features concerning the make of coats. There is no sign of the abatement of the craze for beads, and long chains of fancycoloured beads are universally worn, many being of the ordinary glass variety, their monotony and insignificance being broken by the introduction at intervals of large beads of some kind and of a- different colour. Those who intend patronising these trinkets may be interested to know that they will be more fashionable if they wear their strings of beads no longer hanging loosely clown to their waist, but wear them instead twisted closely round the neck, and to have a little ribbon bow as a finish at the back. Travellers abroad make it a hobby to find uncommon beads to add to their stock. Not only are beads the rage. but. lace sewn with gems is growing in demand. In a few isolated instances real gems are used, but as a rule imitation ones are found effective enough, and are now to be bought in boxes, all colours, ready to be sewn on to the lace, which then forms yokes, collar-bands, cuffs, chemisettes, as welt as butterfly bows for the hair and innumerable other little details,

For debutantes white has been almost- universal this season White silk or silk muslin, or crepe de chine, or other soft material, with embellishments of lovely lace encrustations and insertions. A good many of these gowns have been made Empire fashion, with a high sash draped above the waistline, almost under the arms, or depending from two large rosettes gathered between the shoulders at the back. Hairdressing for evening varies according to the type of beauty of >ach person, hence as each keeps to her own style monotony is considerably lessened. One style which is found becoming has the side parting, with its wavy loop either low across the forehead or thrown over the top of the head to join with the coiled hair massed at the back. A newer mode has a middle part bunched up and soft mass of waves on each side above the ears and temples, while the back is coiled just below the crown. This is slightly suggestive of the Louis Philippe period. Large flowers or rosettes of ribbon are sometimes placed over one ear, or perhaps over both ears, and at times the result is booming. Tiny Renaissance roses are used successfully either in a small Watteau wreath or in a cluster.

Next year, it is staled, parasols will be finished with lovely ball knobs made of porcelain or enamel from Vienna or Dresden. A few samples have been received in London, and I am told they are totally different from the painted knobs which have been with us for some little time. As for umbrellas beaten silver mounts are being used for the most costly kind--, while balls of agate, malachite, and lapis-lazuli ornament others; while plain or fluted silver "crutch" handles are likely to remain popular for the present.

THE FIRST YEAR OF MARRIED LIFE. A woman should not take offence too easily. Often, indeed, the words or manner she resents were not ill-meant by hei husband. A man may have a, hasty, brutal-sounding fashion of sparking that tries and hurts a woman cruelly, and she should endeavour, by all gentle means in her power, to break him of the habit, by representing to him, in his calmer moments, the pain he inflicts on her. The. man who loves his wife will usually try to break himself of any peculiarity that is distasteful to her; but she may rest assured she will not better him by continually harping upon the sore subject. To harmless and inoffensive, idiosycrasies the wife should shut her eyes. At the beginning of her married life let her make up her mind to one fact; that she cannot- force her husband to resemble her in every particular of thought and feeling. Ho will have his preferences and his distastes, and she need not expect to coerce or persuade him into conforming them to her; after all, ho has a right to his own individuality, and she has no business to interfere with them. There will always be enough points of common sympathy to form ft meeting ground, and upon matters of divergent opinion let them agree to disagree. A potent aid to awife's charity for her husband will be the reflection that, in all probability, her faults are quite as trying to her husband as his can be to her. Woman's Life.

SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS. A woman's prospect of marriage is distinctly affected by ago, says Woman's Life. The statistics of all centuries show that the great majority of women many between the ages of 20 and 30. Before reaching 20 a woman has, of course, a chance of matrimony, but the objections raised by parents or friends to marriage at a tender age frequently outweigh the desire of the young woman to acquire a husband, and lead her tc defer the wedding day. All statistics that have been gathered bear out the statement that a, woman's best chance to marry is at the age of 25, that over six-tenths of the marriages take place between 20 and 30, and consequently that a woman's chance increases up to 25. and steadily decreases after that age until it reaches the vanishing point; somewhere about 60. Out of 1000 married women 149 marry before the age of 20, 680 between 20 arid 30. 11l between 30 and 40, the woman in the thirties having not so good a chance as the girl in her teens; between the ages of 40 and 50 the falling-oil is enormous.' only 41 in 1000 contracting an alliance in that decade; while past 50 the chances still further diminish, for the woman who has celebrated the semi-centennial of her birth has only 19 chances in 1000.