Fashion Fancies.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 907, 19 July 1889, Page 4

Fashion Fancies.

The evening headdresses this year are really exquisite, girls as well as married women recognising the finish given to full dress by a suitable depuration worn in the hair. Thq little Boropadoqr bows are most ‘fetching,’ but the prettiest arrangement is, perhaps, a half bandeau coming from one side of the coils of hair on the crown, and ending in a daintily twisted bow above the middle of the forehead. Delicate and small as are these pretty bindings for the hair, thefe is no enfl to the combinations of colour and jnaterial used in them, and the crafty qf hues and materials has been made a special study. Oue charming trifle of this order is in pale green and maize, while another interwoven wreath of crepe silk and velvet has green, blue, and tilleul blending in the subtlest, most springlike harmony of dslicate tints. Another lovely little ornament has a richer mingling of five or six tints pf green, amber, and old rose, deepened to the warm brown of the chestnut, which is the lowest note of this exquisite colour chord. A fascinating fancy, something between an aigrette and a bow, is fashioned of absinthe velvet, gold lace, and a foamy but slender spiral of white ostrich feather; and another very rich half bow is of gold galqn and black jet. fpoj; ap ojdef lady’there is a most captivating concoction —we would not insult it by t|ie name o£ cap—oif bjack lace, gold lace, eau de nil, anil pink ; and a- really gorgeous touch of colony ’ pfdgipefl by another velvet rpjgn of a **"" v %5pY- jace and rose-pnrple.

.. morning caps, trimmed with separate tulip petals, made of various rich shades of velvet, placed singly mid the pleatings of lace or muslin, must be chronicled. Nor should the little bouquets for the hair or the side of the neck remain unpraised, so pretty are they, these knots of any one field flower, such as buttercups or forget-me-nots, tied coquettishly midway with a bow made of a single blade of grass. A charming floral parure for a young girl is a little shepherdess wreath of pink-tipped daisies, shut up and fast asleep, tied together at one side with a tiny bow of blue ribbon. A garland to wreath one shoulder, of bunches of the daisies tied at intervals into a garland of the blue ribbon, matches the wreath. According to a fashion ohronicler, the funeral blao frao, or ‘clawhammer,’ ia doomed as an article of evening dress.

There have been numerous attempts both in Paris houses and in Provincial Chateaux to introduce red coats fur dances and soirees, but a Countess has now gone fiirther and wants the men to appear in colbitred * clawi hainmers ’ Of variotia bties at her Easter Monday balk The idea lias been discussed in the monde, and the fair pioneers have come to the conclusion that a coloured coat is wearier males in a ball-room, for, like the brilliant uniforms of the military, it will help to bring the magnificent creations and constructions of. the manmilliner into more striking and effective relief. The ‘ ugly sex ’ will, therefore, act in circles of fashion as what are called repoussoirs. With the coloured ‘ clawhammer ’ the society man is probaffiy to wear a white vest, black breeches, aud the ordinary varnished pumps or slippers.