ASCOT FROCKS AND ANKLE DIAMONDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14133, 7 August 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

ASCOT FROCKS AND ANKLE DIAMONDS.

COST OF THE WEEK'S WARDROBE. The elaboration and consequent expense of the toilettes worn at Ascot during the recent race week have been commented upon widely. Never were there seen more wonderful frocks. Nor more extraordinary hats, and never was the art of dressing in all its details understood more thoroughly. That is the general opinion.

The manager of a celebrated firm stated that it is not the mere dress that makes the sum total of a woman's outfit for Ascot week so expensive Nor is her wardrobe for the enclosure the sole item of the week's demands. There must be morning and evening dresses, motor wear, teagowns, and Ascot Sunday attire added to the list of necessities.

It is the hand-wrought embroideries and the real lace on a frock that make even the simplest among them costly, and upon their elaboration depends ike amount paid; A very smart dressmaker will turn out a gown for £30 that will be looked at with admiration, and one may be secured for from £!? to £20. But if a sensational toilette is required a cheque for from fifty to sixty guineas must be written. Millinery remains at an inflated cost compared; with that of frocks. Hats with aigrettes average from 15 to 18 guineas each, while a model bunched with field flowers or roses costs twelve pounds. On one hat fifty-two roses were counted, and on another sixteen ostrich feathers towered high. Each toilette must have its shoes and hosiery to match, and for a single pair of stockings as much as £16 may be paid, though that is an extreme sum asked for hand-made hosiery, inset with real lace. If diamonds are sewn upon the ankles and instep the cost is practically not to be estimated, but precious stones, a Russian fancy, are sewn as a rule only upon stockings for evening wear. The scarf that is wound about the shoulders may cost'a guinea, but just as probably it will have involved an outlay of £5, £10, or £15. Exquisite sunshades add large sums to the expenditure for the week.