FASHIONLAND

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7110, 23 April 1910, Page 11

FASHIONLAND

(From Our Lady Correspondent.) LONDON, March 11. A week of sunshine, such as we had last week, makes a marvellous difference to the drtws world, and lashion see.ns to have heaved a huge sigh of relief at Leing able to show off the beauties of her spring millinery and dressmaking, after a long reign of heavy-looking garments and hats. Straw hate, large, and covered .with flowers, or small ai:>:l just as inviting, are to be seen everywhere —furs are discarded for feather boas, and bright colours are the order of the spring. Smoke coloured, heliotrope and even white coats and skirts have taken the place of velvet gowns and sealskin ccato that were being worn only a fortnight ago. The change is too sudden to be lasting, I am afraid, though clearly London has achieved a record of sunshine ior many weary months and may do better still. Alas! Alas! That was written on Monday and Tuesday breaks iu rain and mist and cold. The streets are slippery with London mud, and dark clothes are abroad again with disappointed women inside' TIGHT SKIRTS. Many of the newest skirts as I stated a week or two back, are exceedingly tight and made in drain-pipe straightness of outline, so that sitting down gracefully will soon, if- the fashion continues iu tavouv, be a lost art. A court photographer confesses that in order to photograph his customers after the recent drawing rooms with any degree success, he had to have the legs of his sitters’ chairs lengthened at -least six inches —otherwise it was a 1 mast impossible for ladies in -tight-skirted court dresses to sit down at nil naturally. Auent this mode masculine superiors s wax saicastic and one weekly paper, this week, writes of them, "The very latest gown’s arc to be so tight that the wearers won’t be able to sit down- in them; mantelpiece dinner jiarties are expected to become popular." SHORT COAT'S. Fashion papers, though many of them have been pretending to herald the long prophesied return of the short coat to fashion with delight, are.now turning up on L*' fashion when it "has" arrived and assuming a grandmotherly bespectacled altitude. “The Revival of a Trying Fashion," “Ways of Evading Difficulties," and “ Woman’s' Latest Perplexity/’ reads the "Daily Mail" in alarming big lettering. Such nonsense! If the heavily bunt womai will avoid the short coat like the poison it appears figuratively speaking—if I. be permitted an appalling pun!— every other woman may appear a deal more chio and youthful than she ever could in the tube-like long coats in which she has attired herself at fashion’s behest and to her own undoing for so long a time. There is a military sma-rt- . ness and natty appearance always pos; Bible in a short coat, though it, decidedly, .lacks much of the grace of some long coats. A USEFUL WARDROBE. A now dress stand has been invented .Which will be much appreciated by _ wo.men who travel. It can be erected in a few minutes and can be packed into small •space. , . < It is made of metal, and so contrived • that when it is in. use it is rigid and ■ will accommodate as many dresses, coats, and' so forth as an ordinary hanging wardrobe. When it is not wanted or must be taken from place to place, it is compact, and. can-be stowed away in a ■trunk or among travelling rugs. BOLEROS ONCE MORE. Out of the short coat, in spito_ of all the gloomy sighs on the part of fashion ' writers, more is already springing a dcsire for bolero coats, so than women dressmakers may rejoice, and design/cut and trim in a dozen pretty ways and still be in the latest stylo. Tight, sleeves, it . must be remembered, prevail. NEWS ABOUT TAM-O’-SHANTERS. All such woollen caps,'rays a woman’s magazine, alluding u> tam-d’-sfianters, .are sadly unhygienic, unless' constantly ’ washed ;• they are calculated to become regular microbe haunie if thrown about and thrown on- constantly.’ So the scarcer they become the better. DRYCLEANING AT HOME. 1 A girl may save,a ideal of dress, allow- , anee by learning to do her own drycleaning and, incidentally, she may also make her delicate laoes etc., last much longer than she can hope .that they will if left to' the tender’ mercies of a busy professional cleaner.. ■ Lace frocks and voile dresses can be dry cleaned with block magnesia or corn starch, which can be .procured from.the corn dealer. Cover ■ the garment completely with this corn starch, roll it out, brush it, and lay it aside for several days. Then take it out, brush it, and go through the process again until the garment is perfectly fresh. Old lace, of course, must never be washed if it is valued, nor should chiffon or gauze. Magnesia or corn starch will act as excellent cleansers. MASCULINE CRITICS!

Just to show how exceedingly ridiculous writers on fashion can be and (evidently) expect their readers to be, let me quote an article on “Ideal Dress,” from the pen of one Mr B. J. Mulkern, 66 Clarendon Road, W., in the “Daily Mirror." He advocates, I may say, Chinese dress for the wear of Englishwomen, and says; "It’s healthy, comfortable, and simple." “The Chinamen’s, long robe hides a multitude of defects. Even a bandy-leg-ged m.n.n -can look dignified." , “The woemn's dress consists of a pair of silk trousers, a skirt extending to the ankles, and a tunic /which is oftep . costly and beautiful." * - . . “It is the most feminine dress imaginable, and is designed to hide as much as possible’ the outlines of the figure. Oh, that I. might, see the face of my woman reader as she scans, the above! ■ It is most feminine, says this oracle. H’m’ There came over with, me from the East a specimen of Chinesefemininity travelling first-class in a “most feminine ' turn out, which consisted of a pair of navy blue serge trousers,, cut. very wide, and a decidedly jerry built,coat to match, made without a collar. She was a charming little woman, but nothing shall induce me to say that she looked feminine. Next the utility of this ideal costume will strike home to the feminine woncer in London. Silk trousers and a costly and beautiful tunic do not sound as-it they could be decently tucked up under a macinktosK most days in London town and the beautiful and costly tunic would stand rather a poor chance of remaining so for two.consecutive rainy home goings on the top of a crowded bus. “It is designed to hide the outline el the figure." Ah me! Let ns to sacks at once.