Society and Fashion Gossip.

Otago Witness, Issue 1582, 18 March 1882, Page 28

Society and Fashion Gossip.

A new fringe of chenille is called sealskin fringe, from its resemblance to that fur. Enormous straw fans, ornamented with flowers, are all the rage for evening use in London,

Dolly Varden lives again in a new polonaise, a novel neckerchief, and a daintily shaped dancing-shoe. Feathers are again worn in the hair with full evening dress— matrons wearing them to the exclusion of floral garniture. Mary Scott, at Sandhurst, was injured so severely by one of the ribs of her corset, in stooping, that she died from the effects. ' The Q«een gave £50 in aid of sufferers by the Ring Theatre fire, 120 families have adopted orphans, and the relief fund is now £100,000. ' ' Carriage sunshades are of enormous size, and often heavily trimmed with natural flowers, large full-blown roses predominating. Separate collars and cuffs of velvet embroidered with gold are very fashionable. These sets are not' very expensive, and form a pretty finish to a plain toilet. ' ' At recent fashionable weddings in England a youthful relative of the bride bears her train. He is fancifully dressed in the style of the old Venetian or Charles I, period. A new real lace we owe to Princess Stephanie ; it is like Brussels lace, with' rosepoint designs, edged with cordonnet. Wedding veils, fans, and handkerchiefs are sold of it.

Fewer white or light dress-bonnets are shown than usual, as dark bonnets are known to be most becoming, and are of such rich fabrics that they are dressy enough for most occasions. In Paris as well as England, dresses made by tailors are being much worn, their great charm being their simplicity of make and perf eot fit, and their comfort for travelling. The Parisian rule for shoes with full-dress toilets is to have the slipper to match the dark fabric of the train of the dress, with stockings to correspond with the lighter colour used in the tablier. , , Feather collars are the novelty for young ladies to wear in the street. Those of dark green feathers, with a tiny bird for ornament on each shoulder, are handsome with green costumes. Others are ravens' feathers, jet black, with a fringe of feathers tipped with jet.' Castor is a colour which esthetes affect, and is most correctly described as mud-colour. Mahogany - browns are mostly popular for dinner dress for elderly ladies. They have none of the red of the old mahogany colour, but rather resemble the old shade of 'burnt bread.' . , Trails of , flowers are revived' for mid- winter ball dresses, and there, are short skirts of dancing dresses, that are bordered at the foot with wreaths of leaves, or else masses of roses crushed together, without foliage, instead of the usual plaited flounce or baiayeuse trimming. New fashions for ladies were, set in the last century by dressing dolls in the prevailing mode and distributing , them over Europe. The custom is believed to date from Venice, where the Government rigorously regulated dress by means of a doll set up as a pattern.

With all striking costumes stockings should be worn to match. People, seem to have gone almost mad over these articles, as I read de- 1 scriptions of some worn for full-dress with g^old coins falling from the open work, and occasionally interwoven. Also of others with tiny bouquets embroidered on the instep, between interwoven stripes.

A new colour is announced called ' Pharoah ;' it is a yellowish shade of red, and is said to derive its cognomen from the brick-making propensities of the ancient king of Egypt. Others claim that the colour is identical with the hue of the mantle which enveloped that monarch as he and his army went forth upon their discreditable march to the Bed Sea,

'You must find it a monstrous-bore,' says a visitor to his hostess, the goddess of a renowned salon, 'to have to entertain so many people. How do you ever manage to get rid of tiresome folk?' 'Easily enough. When I want to get rid of anybody, I talk to him about myself. If I wish anyone to stay, all I have to do is to talk about himself.'

Sir Nathaniel de Rothschild has been giving his friends a treat lately, having brought over from Austria a wonderful band, which performs for .the benefit of a choice and select few at his residence in Piccadilly. Occasionally a litjie impromptu dance is got up on the spur of the moment, the strains of this heavenly band 1 being too inspiriting to be resisted.

Another lady, Madame Perr<se, has been admitted, to practice as a doctor, by the Medical Faculty of Paris, after a successful examination. She is married and the mother of a family, and was, it is stated, led to the study of medicine by the fact that she was herself successfully treated by an American lady doctor during, a severe illness. Madame Perr^e is stated to be the second French lady who has sustained a doctrinal thesis before the Medical Faculty. The assertion made by one or two fashion writers, early in the year, has proved truenamely, that the return to crinoline was inevitable. Slowly but surely it is looming up in increasing proportions. The small bustle was long since replaced by a much larger one, and now the full crinolette, reaching from the belt to the foot of the skirt in the back, is seen, and it is to be feared that fashion will stop short of nothing but that hideous rotundity which Leigh Hunt calls ' less an habiliment than an inclosure.'

Mrs Langtry's costume on the occasion of her recent debut as a professional actress was dainty but simple. She wore a pink dress of a very delicate shade with lace disposed about it, and a panier. Her lace collar siiowed the neck and throat ; it was the counterpart of the one in her last portrait by Mr Millafe, and her only ornaments were a diamond arrow brooch on a belt with a diamond clasp. On one hand Bhe wore her wedding-ring, and on the other a small diamond, and a couple of bracelets decorated her wrjsts.

. The bead manufacturers are making immense fortunes. Beading is still carried to an extent that is really absurd. From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head we are literally covered with beads. Brocades are outlined with them; applique vines are covered with them, even to the delicate veimng done with the finest beads; and cloaks, dresses, shoesj stockings, gloves, pelerines, muffs, bonnets, and costly satin tabliers glitter with jet or sparkle with beads and crystals, resembling precious gems of every hue.

Governor and Mrs Blackburne, of Kentucky, entertained a thousand guests at an oldfashioned 'quilting' a short time ago. Ine quilt was actually finished by divers young ladies and gentlemen, and the evening was ended with quaint old reels and jigs danced to the, music of ' darkey fiddlers.' The young ladies were attired in costumes of the last century, some of them wearing the treasured dresses of their great-grandmothers. Dr 0. 0. Graham, of Louisville, who had not danced for 80 years, was particularly active m the reel. He is now 98 years old, and the way he cut the ' pigeon-wing ' is said to have been wonderful. The most wretched spectacle which is afforded human eyes upon this whirling sphere, says the social philosopher of the Boston Journal, is the man who consents to accompany his wife out shopping. Alexander Selkirk was not more truly alone on his desert island than is this solitary male among the surging masses of feminine bargain-seekers, and a bull in a china shop, although more aggressively out of place, is not lesß adapted to its surroundings than he. Everybody knows he has no business where he is, and he knows it better than all others; but he follows his better- half with great docility, and tries to excite favourable attention by grinning comprehensively as he walks about.

Monsieur has latterly been asserting himself at the Parisian, bonnet shops, at the hosieryestablishments, and at the boot marts, as well as at the modiste's. The social resurrection of man after a long period of entombment under the counters of shops where women used to hold undisputed sway is producing remarkable effects, for man takes bolder flights than woman and he evidently troubles himself very little about the comfort of the fashions which he starts so long as they be startling and costly. It is not surprising that after having loaded ball dresses with beads and bugles till it became impossible to dance in them, he should have applied the same ornaments with no unsparing hand to silk stockings. The other morning (says an English paper) we noticed in one of the windows of the Rue de la Paix three pairs of stockings— pink, virgin gold, and black— which were cuirassed with beads up to the knee, starting from the point where cloaks used to be worn. The black ones were advertised as Grand Devil, or deep mourning.