Mrs Oscar Wilde on Children’s Dress.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 870, 2 November 1888, Page 5

Mrs Oscar Wilde on Children’s Dress.

I am also glad that the fashion papers are beginning to take up the question of little boys wearing hoods out of doors. It is terrible to see baby-boys going out with their ears exposed to these bitter east winds, their hair even being cut quite short, to prevent any possiblo protection. It is scarcely to be wondered at that little boys suffer dreadfully from ear-ache. The matter is carried to the other extreme iu tho case of a little girl’s head-dress. She has a great heavy plush structure, frilled and wired and crinkled, put on the poor little head. I should like to see small, close-fitting hoods worn by boys and girls alike, either perfectly plain or trimmed all round with a narrow band of fun Ic would also be a very good plan to do away with all idea of emphasising the sex of a child by its dress. Surely, boys and girls of three or four years of age might wear in the winter double-breasted coats and small closefitting hoods exactly alike, while in the summer both could wear light smook-frocks, and wide hats to protect the eyes from the glare of the sun. How pretty are those old English smock-frocks that have of late years become bo fashionable for children of all ages ! The smocking is perfectly elastic, and the frocks are such a pretty shape, not emphasising the waist; always the largest part of a child, and consequently the part to be least brought into notice. The little straight French blouses, with full sleeves gathered into a band, make charming overalls for nursery and country wear, but it is the' only French fashion that I uphold for? English children.—The Women’s World.