BATHING SUIT DANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13307, 13 October 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

BATHING SUIT DANCE.

LATEST FAD OF NEW YORK ' "f,;- SOCIETY. Toe "Bathing Suit Dance" is the latest idea that has animated certain members of . the younger set. at American summer resorts this season. The idea was really started last winter iu New York, when a good deal of controversy was raised concerning the decolleteo gowns that were the rule among the fashionable crowd, both at , parties and at the opera. A well-known millionaire, who is somewhat straitlaced . in his ideas concerning womanly modesty, ■ said that he - would much prefer seeing a daughter of his attend a ball in _ her bathing suit than in one of the evening gowns considered do rigueur in smart society. A lady who-was present, and who overheard this remark, at once took him up and said that- she would give a bathing suit party in his honour, to which all the men would ' come in ordinary evening dress, but that all the ladies present must wear the clothes in which they were .wont-to take their "dip" in the summer. He could then judge whether the bathing costume or the eveni ing .dress was the most correct form of toilette for the modest young woman. The dance came off, and was a groat success ; all the girls and young" married women turned up looking charming in their abbreviated costumes, and in the enjoyment of the occasion the original reason for its . taking place was quite Inst sight of. But • this summer the idea has once more l»een revived, says the Gentlewoman, , and lie "Bathing Suit Party" bus become an cstab--1 lished success. \ [