CHIT CHAT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 524, 18 February 1882, Page 3

CHIT CHAT.

A French authority takes a lofty view of the dressmaker’s vocation: “ She must have the artist’s eye to judge of the effects of color,, the sculptor’s faculty for form, that she may soften the outlines, turn the figure to the best advantage, and arrange drapery in harmonious folds. She must know history, in order to take from different epochs particular details suitable to various stylc3 of beauty, and to be sure of making no mistake in the matter of accessories ; and she must be tb poet to give grace and expression and character to the costumes.” Anxiously do we inquire, where are we to look for the paragon of perfection thus portrayed 1 Surely not in the person of one poor woman. Even in Paris there is but a single individual who claims to possess such artistic instincts, and that one is of the male persuasion, who would scout the idea of a woman rivalling him—the unapproachable Worth. In the colonies we cannot hope to obtain the services of really high-class taste ; it is paid far too well at Home. Ladies must look to themselves for anything beyond the ordinary run of dressmaking. The fashion magazines declare that never before were seen such gorgeous fabrics, -both as respects material and color, as are to be worn during the coming season. Brocaded satins and velvets, plush, plain and figured, and moire antique or watered silk. This last, however, is not to be confounded with the moire of our grandmothers. Manufacturers take care to make it different,' so that we may not utilise the old ladies’ put-by treasures ; they have no leaning towards economies of that kind. Brocaded materials, being so magnificent, are' correspondingly costly. If, however, our cleverfingered young friends wish to have trimmings in Handsome brocade at very little •xpense, they need only exercise their skill and patience. Let them procure some printed foulard, flowers upon a neutral tinted ground, such as dove, cream or buff; cut out of this foulard, revers, collar and cuffs, pocket, &c. Then embroider all the printed pattern with floss silks, combining the colors according to individual taste and fancy, even introducing a delicate tracery of gold thread. The effect will amply repay the trouble by its elegance and. novelty. Often the remark is made, “ What a sin to cut up such rich stuffs into fussy flouncings and puffs,” and so it is. There should really be two distinct styles of costume. Heavy materials lose half their beauty when elaborately trimmed—in fact, trimming is superfluous.; rich, handsome folds are far more effective. Take, for instance, a garnet velvet with a full quilting of surah silk of the same shade round the hem of the skirt; long, almost straight draperies, a . fine fitting coat bodice with sleeves trimmed with surah, silver buttons, a heavy silk cord as the only skirt trimming. This is as tasteful a costume as one could desire. Gathers, puffs, and other fluffy ornamentation are appropriate to lighter fabrics and lighter colors, for the dust will settle in the creases and bid defiance to all efforts to dislodge it, consequently the dress looks shabby all too quickly. Fortunately for our purses fine woollen goods have come into fashion, and are considered as choice as those of silk. They •are generally made walking length ; braids of various widths are used a 3 trimmings, though some will prefer the richer plush or embossed velvet garnitures. A popular way of making skirtsis toplace a de*p band of velvet or plush above three or more narrow frills at the edge of the skirt ; this can be worn with an independent polonaise or coat bodice. But when a new dress is to be purchased with a view to economy, the beat plan is to buy a singlefabric.for the whole costume, leaving combinations of two materials to be employed in renovating partly worn dresses, and i efashioning those of agone by seasons. Black gros-grain silks, though said to have b een out of fashion of late years have not really been so. The fact is, a

handsome black silk can never lose caste—it is too elegant and becoming and withal so useful. For many purposes and occasions no other dress can take its place satisfactorily. Its admirers will be glad to know that Worth has deigned,to take it back to favor, and is now using it largoly among his combinations. Many ladies with fine figures are wearing deep pointed bodices, to which are gathered plain ungored skirts ; no trimming is used except a broad watered ribbon-, ' which is fastened at the sides of the bodice, carried to the point in front, and tied into a bow with long ends, falling over the skirt; this is a revival of a style worn many years ago. The petticoat forms an important feature in modern attire ; colored ones are to be again the rule. Ingenuity will contrive many of them from old woollen or silk dresses. A good way is to have the skirt in box pleats from the knee, each pleat having a trimming of contrasting color laid upon it perpendicularly. Where new material has to be bought, twilled flannel—gray, blue, brown, or red is to be recommended ; pleated flounces either plain or embroidered is the usual trimming ; feather stitching trims prettily at a small expense of labor and material. Nothing, however, can compete with the black satin quilted skirt for elegance and durability. They cost more at first, for the best of satin should be used, but the satisfaction one has in the wear quite compensates for the extra expense. There is no economy in buying poor satin, it so soon looks shabby. The elegancies of European civilisation are actually in request by the Paynim. We read that the Emperor of Morocco ordered from a London houso four children’s cots, one for a favorite child, being more daintily trimmed than the others. It is lined with pale blue silk, and hung with muslin and lace, caught back with large satin rosettes ; the small mattress was supplied and a coverlet of blue silk and lace, but no bed linen. The other cots were yellow and pink ; a particular green desired by the Emperor was not obtainable. A doll exquisitely dressed was sent with the cots, to show how an English baby is dressed, and of what its layette consists. Nothing was omitted, from the tiny cap to the embroidered hood and cloak. Elise.

ART NEEDLEWORK. The higher branches of what at the present day is called “ Art Needlework”—such, for instance, as some of that which is executed at the Royal and other schools of era - broidery, or the embroidery worked by Mrs Holliday, under the superintendence of Mr W. Morris—even though it be not designed by the worker, can never become common, for the designs are drawn by true artists, and require artistic skill.and feeling to execute ; but still there i 3 very much called “ Art Needlework” which is merely the mechanical . copying of patterns, and requires no artistic skill or feeling at all. And admirable as some of the modern work is, to know what can really be done by the needle we must go back to the work which, not for its age alone, but for its intrinsic preciousness, its skill, its beauty, is preserved among the treasures handed down to us from past generations. Those who saw the exhibition of ancient needle-work held at the Royal School this spring must have gone away with a feeling almost of despair at such an art being really revived in these days of hurry, when quantity rather than quality is the end sought—alike in the length of our journeys for pleasure, or in the decoration of our houses. We do not mean that we wish to see time spent on such mere tours deforce as that Italian sixteenth century work, “ Orpheus with his Lyre,’ in which Orpheus, the tree under which he sits, the branches, the leaves, the animals, are all executed in raised work, every leaf being separate ; nor again as that piece of embroidery on linen belonging to Lord Middleton, to be seen usually in the Art Museum at Nottingham, of English sixteenth-century work in the Spanish style introduced by Catherine of Arragon, of grapes and vine leaves outlined in black stitching, enriched with silver spangles and black beads; the grapes not half an inch in diameter, all being filled in with white embroidery, some bunches with an eyelet in the centre, closed with a “Catherine Wheel” like a baby spider’s web, and a row of tiny eyelets round ; other bunches again having eyelets surrounded with little knots of thread; and yet a third variety has a raised sugar-loafed shaped kind of button in the centre, surrounded with eyelets; while the filling in of the leaves with its various stitches requires a microscope to examine. But we do mean that the women who executed such work had a real art in which they delighted, and that they were mistresses of it, such mistresses perhaps as are hardly to be found now. And about all the old colored embroideries on linen, from the quilts stitched in goldcolored silk, -with their superposed flowers, to the Spanish work in black stitching, shaded in crumb stitch like liue engraving, and the embroidery in gold thread and colored silks alone, there is a freshness, an originality, a care and skill, a surprise here, a special bit of intricacy there, which speaks of joy in the work such as now we may seek in vain ; such, for instance,' is that shown in a cap of the sixteenth century, also in Lord Middleton’s collection in Nottingham, embroidered on linen in scrolls of gold thread, each curve terminating in a flower worked with colored silk ; thistle, aconite, carnation, and such dove-like blue columbines as could only have been worked for love of them.

We may pass on again to the Italian work of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; those panels, borders, and draperies in brickstitch (unpoetical name), which seem to embodji the exultant spirit of the old Italian Renaissance life itself, with their scrolls springing and bursting into flowers, roses, nises, tulips, anemones, as it were for the very joy of doing it. We come later to those embroideries of the seventeenth and eighteenth oenturies, which are like a whole flower garden thrown abroad on the silk and satin, Who that saw them can forget the

quilts exhibited by the Duke of Leeds ? or tho valance lent by the Marquis of Northampton (now being restored by the Royal School of Art Needlework) of English seven-teenth-century work, literally a mass of flowers embroidered ou linen, the ground, such of it as was seen, being silver couching ’ : Why should not the woman of the present day take up such work as this ; not only to copy or to restore, but to make it lici- profess)| J7'° originate, design, and execute it ? It wt Ad. require special gifts and training, as much as painting ; but it would be as well worth doing. Year after year might end, and tho work would still be incomplete ; but when completed it would- be a joy for ever. And to this artistic branch of needlework she might join a thorough knowledge of the more homely, but more useful “ plain needlework,” so as to be able to make baby garments lit for the heir to a throne, or linen fit for his mother ; and to make quickly and neatly the little garments needed not for the heir to a throne, but the baby whose only heritage is his hands, and his mother also, her training would then be complete.

DRAWING-ROOMS AND DRAINS. “I see you have not yet furnished your drawing-room,” I said not long since to a lady who had just taken a new and large house. “No, Doctor,” she replied, “and we do not mean to commence until we can afford to spend upon it £I,OOO. Then we shall do it in good, uniform, and truly elegant style.” “Pray,” I replied, “don’t be offended if I beseech you to devote a fourth of that sum to the main drain, and to a perfect method of freeing your residence of any necessity for my professional presence to combat outbreaks of contagious disease, which must occur as things now are.” And my friend laughed, but did not repress her thanks at the same time. “At all events it is not selfish advice,” she said, “and though it sounds very strange, I will consider it. But think what £250 would buy for the draw-ing-room, and imagine putting it into a drain in the basement ! It is a strange suggestion ; perhaps it is all for the best, but for my part it is the last thing I should have thought of.” And that is just the precise fact; people do not think of such subjects. They are subjects disagreeable, if not repulsive, and tho thought of them is put off from day to day. Ido not care to think of them myself, and would far rather be-stroll-ing round the Royal Academy or lounging on the deck of a yacht on the beautiful Scottish lochs, and thinking of what enchants me there. But some one must think on such matters even as house-drains, otherwise death may make them think, and he is by no means a pleasant remonstrance!’.—Dr B. W. Richardson, in “ Good Words.”

BARONESS BURDETT-COUTTS. A correspondent of the Hartford “Evening Post” was not long ago present at a garden party given by the Baroness BurdettCoutts. She says : “ Down the pathway walked a tall, graceful lady, dressed in a soft, twilled silk, with delicately shaded flowe-s sprinkled over its white ground. On her shoulders she wore a white Canton crape shawl, folded square like a fichu, and over her brown hair, in which no gray was visible, was a tiny bonnet of white lace and lilac ribbon—a charming toilet, very becoming to a charming woman, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, She stepped forward, introducing herself to the guests, inquired their names, and in turn presented them to her husband. With her great influence and wealth, her manner is easy, unpretentious, and unassuming as a child’s can be, and yet her gracious, quiet sympathy is so finely expressed within her sphere that it is like the perfume of a flower. She has a refined face with a slightly visionary expression, combined with a look of aristocratic breeding and culture. In everything but years she has the advantage of her youthful husband. He might have searched the world over and not found a more interesting woman or more lovely nature than that of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.”

A WRECKED EXISTENCE. “ The snow has drifted around my heart,” sighed a fair young Boston girl, as she and her Brooklyn hostess sat on the floor, lacing their boots, the other morning. “ No longer do the Spring violets bloom in my life.” “ May I inquire who has chagrined you ?” asked the Brooklyn girl, sympathetically. “ I will tell you all, from cosmos to omega. You shall know why existence is henceforth a burnt prairie to me. He loved me. Ah ! the dream has flown. The grasses are bending over the grave of that bright hope.” “ Did he leave you,” invoked the Brooklyn damsel in tears. “ Not voluntarily. We were segregated, but through no fault of ours. It was the dispelling of a vision.” “ But won’t he come back ? ’ “ I fear me nay. Such a differentiation is not to bo overcome. I will tell you. We loved. The moon couldn’t beam but he’d hitch up a team and drive into my outstretched arms.”

*• My !” ejaculated the Brooklyn girl. _ “ Always. He came, and I looked for him as the stars. Every night until one. Then he came no more to our stone mansion door—no more. And my heart is sad and weary. Listen. I have a father, pitiless, cold, relentless, but still he is my father, though he has frozen up my young blood. ’ I assure you it is really all icebergs.” “ Did he say the young mau mustn’t come any more ?” asked the breathless listener. “He did not. He welcomed him, like the whirlpool s rings that swallows up all sorts of things. Gave him cigars and talked to him. Pa was too awfully sweet at first, and that’s what makes me sad and sighing, arid feel as though I'm surely dying. I’m just perfectly, terribly cut up about it.” “ Then how did he come to go away’? I’m crazy to know.”

*‘ You shall hear how the disintegration originated. All the time Pa was treating him so nicely he didn’t like him. He was making up his mind to have him leave: Oh 1 the saddest word of tongue or pen is the terribleness of these bad men. Pa separated us. Like the pouring of the vengeful sea he separated my own and me “ How did he do it ? What steps did he take ?’

“ Give me your attention. You shall know the facts from the protoplasm to the

finis. I will tell of my awful doom, right hero m your cheerful little bedroom. I wanted an Easter hat. JL said so to Pa. Must have it. Was coming to see you, you know Says Pa : * Give up the lover or the hat, Can’t have both !” “ And you !’’ “ Gave him up, of coui-se. How could I help it ? llie hat is lovely, but my heart is stone ; I move along without any comfort, but there is no alternative. Pa made me choose. Didn’t you think it pretty ?” And the two girls went down to breakfast, the forlorn girl singing, in a low, sweet voice, “ The good sword is rusted, the good knight is busted.”

BEAUTY FOR TEN DOLLARSThere is a “beauty faptory” in New York, and a correspondent tells what she observed there : “My conversation with the proprietress of the * beautifying establishment’ was interrupted by a lady of uncertain age and pimpled skin, who remarked that, having arrived at the conclusion that it was a woman s duty to make the most of her looks, she had come to madame for assistanoe. ‘ lhat’s right !' said the madame, cheerily. ‘ I can make you so good-looking ypur own husband won’t know you.’ The lady s expression grew a trifle dubious at this, but the professor began ! ‘ First, you must learn _to smile frequently ; I notice your face is naturally grave. There is nothing men like so much as a. smile, especially when it comes from a pretty mouth, and a mere soupcon of my lipdew will make yours fresh and red, and by rubbing a little extra on the middle of the lip you can obtain a positively voluptuous effect.’ ‘But my complexion ?’ interrupted the visitor anxiously. ‘ Oh, I can fix all that. Just let me show you,' and she seated the lady in front of a mirror, whipped out a piece of chamois skin, dipped it in a creamy liquid and polished off the lady’s face ; then she powdered it well, rubbed some rouge on the faded cheeks, tinted the lips, penciled the brows, and, presto ! there was another woman. On the stage she would have looked very well, but near to, the cosmetics could not conceal either themselves, the harsh outlines, the dim eyes or the lack of youth’s roundness. The poor thing hardly knew whether to be delighted or appalled, but when the madame went into an ecstacy and exclaimed ; * Beautiful ; beautiful ; there could not be a greater success, she concluded to be delighted. ‘ What do I owe you ?’ she asked. ‘ Ten dollars for the make-up and materials which I will furnish you,' and the woman, meekly as a lamb, handed over a gold piece and d - parted with a packet of powders and salves.

THE BANQUET AT THE MANSION HOUSE. ( This event took place, on the 9th Nov. Some time before five, the guests of the Lord Mayor (Alderman Ellis) and the Lady Mayoress (Mrs hllis) and of the Sheriffs began to arrive _at the Guildhall Library, converted for this occasion into a suitable meet-ing-place for the invited guests, where the host and hostess were to receive the chief visitors. In the vestibule was stationed the band of the Coldstreams, and the corridor was lined with a gu ;rd of honor, consisting of a detachment of the cadets of the London Rifle Brigade. The aldermen and the members of the Common Council all wore their civic robes, and the dresses of the ladies who occupied seats on each side of the library enhanced the general effect of the spectacle of the reception. The Lord Afayor, on entering the library with the Lady Mayoress, was greeted with hearty cheers. Among the first to enter about that hour were Lord Rosebery, Mr Osborne Morgan, M.P., and Mr John Holms, M.P., these being followed by the Danish Minister, who had been preceded by the Chinese Chargri d’ Affaires. Then came Sir Garnet Wolseiey, who met with a cordial greeting; Sir Charles Dilke, who was also warmly cheered; and the Speaker of the House of Commons, who was welcomed in a similar manner, as was also, on his entrance, the Greek Charge d’Affaires. At seven o’clock precisely the herald uttered the names of Mr and Mrs Gladstone, and as they entered the library there was a loud burst of cheering. Mr Gladstone wore the uniform of the order of the Trinity House. The Lady Mayoress wore a dress and train of pale blue brocaded satin, trimmed with white lace and bouquets of dark brown chrysanthemums. Her headdress was a magnificent tiara of diamonds mounted on blue velvet, with court plume of three feathers. A page in black velvet carried the Lady Mayoress’s train, which was also supported by six young ladies, who officiated as maids of honor, and they were dressed alike in short costumes of cream-colored voile religieuse trimmed with lace ; the dresses were en demi toilette, with long sleeves, a bouquet of Gloire de Dijon, roses on the left side of the corsage, and each carried a large bouquet of choice white flowers. Lady Tentarden wore a black net dress, trimmed with silk and jet, and diamond ornaments. Mrs Gladstone wore a tiara of diamond stars, with black lace veil, and a low dress of black satin. Miss Gladstone was also in black, court mourning being de rigueur, with white flowers in her hair. The wife of one of the sheriffs of the City, Mrs Hanson, had a lovely toilette of rich white cut velvet, made with great taste and simplicity ; no ornaments in the hair, which was plainly dressed. Airs M Arthur, late Lady Alayoress, wore a dress of pale pink satin, trimmed with ruby velvet and white lace; pale pink feathers, and diamonds in the . hair and on the dress. Some of the costumes of the group standing in the dais were very striking, and a great display of diamonds was seen, Lady Truscott wearing some specially fine stones. A very lovely toilette was of pale grey, satin, embroidered in pearls ; and some of the ladie3 were in high dresses.

SCRAPS. According to the “ American Register,” Czar Alexander 111., who closely inspects the accounts of the Imperial household, aud was lately examining the list of the expenses of his father s funeral, when he discovered that 2SO bottles of champagne had been consumed during the laying in state of the late Emperor He was hi hly displeased that champagne should have been drunk in the presence of his father s body, hut found on inquiry that the ladies-in-waiting were the innocent delinquents. The atmosphere in

the chapel was so stifling that the ladies asked for seltzer water, which was given tothem mixed with champagne. When the Czar is crowned at Aloscow next Alay, he will receive the homage of his subjects seated on a quaint ancient ivory throne, once the J property of the Byzantine Emperors, and brought to liussia in 1472 by the heiress of Constantine XII., the last Eastern Emperor, -» who married a Russian grand' duke. The 1 throne is ornamented' with carvings representing the labours of Orpheus, and is surmounted by the Byzantine eagle. It was used at Alexander ll.’s coronation. The Czarina s throne, which was presented by some Armenian merchants in 1659, is equally gorgeous, being adorned with Oriental silver bas-reliefs and masses of jewels. Newport belles are not pretty, but they are wholesome-looking. They show wind and tan, which sometimes concentrate on the tips of their noses, hut they are as honestlooking and unaffected girls as one can wish to see. They drive about in dogcartsin couples, with a third probably perched on the rear seat, and as like as not go striding on foot, after the music, on some expedition. Girls nowhere else get so much fresh air. Outside the privacy of domestic life their amusements are for the most part outdoors, and they ' seek it driving, on horseback and afoot, with great independence. There is a young lady in New York who has the true auburn hair, which is very much the color of a ripe Spanish chestnut, and so " proud is she of her chevelure, that she adopts its exact hue in her dress on almost all occasions. Hat, dress, gloves and boots are all of the same rich shade, and she goes by the name of the nut brown maid.