LONDON FASHION NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15521, 31 January 1914, Page 6 (Supplement)

LONDON FASHION NOTES.

&BOH OWE OWN COBRES?OND£NT.i} London, December 27. If indoor shoes offer a bewildering variety in patterning aid colouring, outdoor bhoes seem almost as varied. Jn both, instances the raison d'etre is attributed to the popularity of the tango. The dancer must have specially smart shoes, the guest at the tango tea must have equally dressy shoes to display. Therefore, one of the most remarkable of the winter shoes for walking is made of leather in a dark shade" of crimson, touched round the top with white; it will be worn with the dress of navy charmeuse. Strangely enough, tho stockings match the dress and not the shoes, but the note of dark red is repeated somewhere about the dress and hat. The dark blue leather shoe decorated with shaped pieces of crimson corded silk let in at the sides is a novelty from Pans, and a Parisierne writes : " " The French women have always been particular about their shoes, but now that tango teas are the rage it is necessary to have something very attractive without being unduly remarkable. So far as stockings are concerned in this connection nothing could be prettier than those made of fine black thread or spun silk with long fronts, inset, of black Chantilly lace. They make quite a plain shoe look smart and dressy. For tango teas it is necessary to nave shoes and stockings that come under the head 'dressy.' The dress itself ought not to be unduly remarkable, but it is hardly possible to have the shoes and stockings too dainty and uncommon." By the way, originality is imparted to the evening shoe by an instep-finish of a small ostrich feather, set aslant, so that the outer side of the shoe has more of it than the inner side; to finish this off there is a flashing buckle set on the instep. _ The use of ostrich feather on the feet is certainly uncommon, and wliile it is unhackneyed is may have some following. A Horrible Threat. Paris it determined that there shall be no more leakage of secrets, and not too earlv any replicas of any new frocks. The edict runs: " The Paris dressmaking trade has mobilised all its branches in support of its demand that photographer's shall henceforth be banned from the Paris racecourses in order to prevent the 'creations ' of the Paris fashions from being copied by foreign rivals." A trade defence committee that has been formed points out that if foreigners get their frocks made from ■ photographs of the latest Paris fashions they will cease coming on shoppine excursions to Paris. Maybe, but one will scarcely believe that the woman of fashion waits for the arrival of photographs; the majority of the fashionably dressed here make a point of visiting Paris twice a Year to have their dresses planned and made. The Hatpin Peril—Prohibition in Paris. • Drastic, but not untimely, is the decree issued by M. Hennion, the new Prefect of Police. Its object is to prevent women wearing hatpins so much too long for the hat that the points project far bevond the crown and Me a serious menace to others. The authoritative announcement reads: — "W* forbid the wearing of hatpins when the pointed extremities of theso pins protrude in any way without being covpred by a protector. Such hatpins shall riot be permitted in the stations and carriages of the underground and other railways within the limits of Paris, in tramcars, mntor-'buses, or public vehicles of anv dcsoriMion, in IheatreS and places whore exhibitions are held, and in aH public ispac«>s wh°re at »nv time persons r".iv be thronged together or move in! cln«e contact." I H-><riins with protruding points have already been banned by order of the Mavnrs .of Nannr. Kirn. Nantes. Brest. Bordeaux, Fheitns, T?»miremont. and r.voiiH, and the went Minister of Public i Works has forbidden them in the State and other railway carriages. The Milliner's View. " Do not be excited over the matter," said a midinette, in the Rue de la Paix. "We shall start no insurrection over such a trifle. Women will know how to adapt the protectors and the men will have to pay the bills." The decree has, indeed, been received with a suspicious cheerfulness all round. Millinery has a new task before it, that of embellishing the point-protectors, or sheaths, which will be worn by every woman, These hatpin sheaths will naturally have to be ac- ' cording to the latest fashion-— beautiful i mother-of-pearl, of natural rubies, of tur--1 quoise and that is where the midinette ' was right probably when she said that ; the men «?ill have to pay. Instead of is- [ suing a stern decree, the late Prefect of Police uttered a mild prayer to the " cito- '. vermes" of Paris to remedy the matter ' themselves, and either to substitute the 5 beautiful chin ribbons of a past era, or ' else to wear protecting caps over the steel 1 points.