FASHIONS OF THE MOMENT AT HOME.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1774, 7 March 1906, Page 25

FASHIONS OF THE MOMENT AT HOME.

The luxurious modes of the moment are, says an English writer, a great tax on the slender purse. Velvet, for which there is quite a rage, is not a material which can be worn everywhere. For those who attend but few smart functions it i'9 therefore somewhat of a white elephant. - Fine, smooth cloth, however, makes up delightfully, and may be varied and smartened by distinct accessories to render it adaptable for totally different occasions. • Empire models are meeting with much success, but, to say the least, they do not suit everybody. The girl who dances prefers a tightly-belted waist and a full trimming round the decolletage, and even at smart restaurants the Empire evening gown looks very pronounced in style. For receptions and .art a home dinner gown it is quaint and effective, but costly, as half the effect'As spoilt unless Carried out in rich material with handsome trimmings.

- Parisians are employing chine silks, muslins, and crepe textures, much trirned with Valenciennes lace, for dance and ball gowns, and silk or satin with superb designs in raised f rifle velvet for the toilette de ceremonie. Ball gowns have skirts just touching the ground, but the reception. gown is very long, even in front, and also exceedingly voluminous. A sparkling effect is considered mo--.it desirable on evening gowns, and there ate flat and “cup” sequins in many colourings, and the nacre and mother-of-pearl discs which also pass as sequins. Powderings of crystal dewdrops or of coloured glass representing beads are a feature on net, tulle, and chiffon, and these latter material make charming draperies on dance gowns.

Trimmings are of infinite variety, but deep borderings are much favoured. Sometimes a deep band of tinsel gauze is put on with a scalloped or vandyke top, the edge outlined with ruches of gauze or garlands of tiny chiffon flowers. Small cambric flowers are also used in the same fashion, divided by green trails, of chiffon foliage, or the roses are grouped at intervals over ruchings of gauze. The very deep berthe arrangement is less seen, and if deep lace is employed, it is decorated with chiffon in some form, or quillings of satin ribbon. It may also be looped with chiffon flowers, or caught up with little Empire wreaths of tiny blossoms. Little flowers made of narrow ribbon are also used in groups, which are applique on the gown. Ribbon scrolls, knots, and bows are liberally bestowed upon smart ball gowus, and a great deal of metal and tinsel gauze is intermixed with the ribbon.

Large medallions of metal gauze, surrounded with ribbon flowers, ruches of chiffon, or garlands of chiffon blossoms are very effective on chine silk, and even then many frills of Malines or Valenciennes lace are indispensable. Borderings of panne and velvet appear on trained reception gowns and lace and ribbon are also introduced on the bodice, with slighter touches of the velvet. If a coloured dlip is worn, and the gown is of pale colouring, the material is often cut away behind medallions of lace or gauze, when the coloured lining gives a charming effect. Some of the newest evening bodices are cut in a very iow heart snape or point back and front, and fulled in to quite a moderate height with gauged chiffon, or with plastrons and a tucker of satin closely covered by bebe frills of lace.

Trimmings of .lace and chiffon, arranged like the two halves of a fichu, are used in- brace fashion back and front, the former shorter, hut the ends united in' each case by a series of tiny bows or little rosettes of chiffon. Lace with the raised portions embroidered in shaded silks, or run with lines) of tinsel thread, is exquisite on satin or velvet gowns, and these trimmings are invariably combined with groups or wreaths of flowers made from chiffon or shaded ribbons. Entire gowns of lace are also in request, and: for dinner gowns there are lace or net skirts with exquisite little Louis coats of chine taffeta or brocade. The frilly type of lace gown is charming for a dance, and is much trimmed with ruches and bows of ribbon, and mounted on a short and closely-sored foundation, edged with two or three narrow frills. This is essentially a frock for the young, and is by no means so fragile as it appears, and later on, after being cleaned and restored, it may appear as a dainty summer gown. Ball gowns artistically designed m white and silver are rendered additionally charming by: trails of deep-coloured flowers, and for net gowns there are deep berthes heavily sequined, also trimmings

to correspond, and these additions freshen up a net or tulle gown which has seen some wear. Renovations are very effectively carried out with sequined net, and a satin skirt which is not quite fresh at the waist and hips can ba beautifully, revived by a princess overskirt reaching to the bust-line in corselet fashion, and the skirt portion cut in deep, narrqw Vandykes reaching to two-thirds of the depth of the skirt.