LADIES' COLUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12231, 28 March 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

LONDON FASHION NOTES. [written specially foe the NEW ZEALAND HERALD.] London, February 13. Millinery for early spring wear is beginning to make its appearance, but so far I have not come across any very striking changes regarding the shapes of hats and toques, which are still in tremendous variety, for all good milliners continue to form the hats and toques to suit -the individual, paying special attention to the fit and to the angle at which they are to be worn. A badly-fitting hat is nowadays looked upon as great a disfigurement"as a badly-fitting dress. Many of the new shapes are such queer-looking things in the hand that it is generally impossible to distinguish the front from the sides until they are securely fitted on to the head. Flatness still seems likely to characterise most of the shapes, but at the same time the flatness is not quite so extreme as before, and in a few instances-.crowns are to be met with. As for shapes, all the hats are wide in the brim, and the majority seem to have a decided downward dip in front and at the back, with a high scoop up at each side. There are small round toques of pork-pie order, and these must be worn to tilt well over the face. But there are generally extremes, and so there are in the case of millinery. For instance, while so many of the hats almost hide the face, others, on the other hand, have very wide and high brims turned right back from the face, and have a large bow or ample bunch of flowers between the hair and the brim. Lace is going to bo a good deal employed by milliners, and the vogue for coloured laces as trimmings is likely to extend to some of the new hats and toques, so that if one desires it the shape can be trimmed with lace of any colour, varying from tea-tint and deep coffee to blue, scarlet, green, pink, and heliotrope. It is doubtful, I think, whether tinted lace will be liked by the bestdressed people; in itself it has nothing to recommend it, and moreover 'it will be possible before long to buy brilliant emerald and crimson lace at about one penny per' yard at all the little suburban shops. The natural tints of lace cannot be improved upon, that is, if pleasing effect be desired. Returning to millinery matters as they are going to "be, the lace curtain arrangement, draped round the brim, i 3 promised us i again, while in addition to the lace scarf draperies round the brim these are tied at the back, and sometimes are allowed to flow nearly to the waist. ' Oil' the whole, black lace is more used for the draped curtain effect than white, and still another variation may be obtained by the use of black tulle, worked with a pattern in seed pearls. Tulle in bright colours, such as flamingo pink and cerise, look rather well toned down with a draping of lightly-patterned black lace. The all round drooping curtain, which will perhaps largely replace the cach-peigne of ribbon or lace, will enhance the flat appearance of the hat it trims', reverting in fact to the once noted mushroom shape, and will, moreover, emphasise the drooping line of fashionable shoulders, and be altogether in harmony with other detail tending to bring back again the " picturesque" styles prevalent nearly a century 1 ago.' It is not only the brims of hats that are finished with the hanging curtain drapery, for the edges of the new floral toques are similarly treated. Their crowns are fairly flat, and are trimmed with separate sprays or little bunches of flowers, violets generally. These floral market bunches are also to be seen on some of the loosely-plaited bass hats, which have the brims lined with gauged tulle.

The above sketch shows a pretty dance frock of a girlish character. It could be very well carried out in the new stronger kind of mousseline de soie.

A BED-JACKET.

Herewith is a pretty bed-jacket, carried out in accordion-pleated silk, with a collar of tucked chiffon matching the silk bordered widely with white satin, between which and the chiffon mediate motifs of lace.

CHARACTER IN DRESS.

In women character in dress shows itself, primarily, in three very distinct types. These are :—(1) The tailor-made (2) • the artistic (so-called) ; (3), the merely clothed.

To the first classthat of the tailor-made belongs the clique called "smart society," and also all the women who are by nature neat, methodical, and generally exemplary. This class usually does its hair like a fashion plate. ' The artistic type differs from the foregoing principally in that it either soft lace collars or no collars at all.

An abnormally high collar argues, in either sex, small brain power; just as one of medium height will tell of firmness, neatness, order, and commor, sense. ;. A woman's neat, trim lace collar will, in the same way, show an amiable, easy-going nature, impulsiveness, affection; a floopy one, artistic feeling, unconventionality, originality, and sometimes even genius. 5,5

The merely clothed is a, very common type, and is "difficult definitely to class. When a lady calls on you with, her hair in early Victorian loops, and a dowdy mantle, be sure that she is either a crank or a philanthropist; if her bonnet be very much on one side, or her skirt awry, you may expect her to be political; if she have big shoes, you may take it for granted that she has also deep interests. Much character may be divined from a woman's " doing " of her hair. . • Hair dragged back from the temples suggests a dull, tenacious, prosaic nature ; parted in the middle, it gives, in youth, an idea of engaging simplicity : in age, of calm. stateliness; drawn high over a cushion, it indicates pride, obstinacy, prejudice, determination; pulled or dropped forward in " early Victorian " loops over the ears, it suggests, in youth, coquetry and slatternliness; in age, ,? conservatism, mingled with'pure philosophy.—The Woman at Home. ...