ILLUSTRATED FASHIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2520, 2 July 1902, Page 75

ILLUSTRATED FASHIONS.

Dear Emmeline, — Eastertide, as usual, "brought witr it a joyousness which took visible expression in a multitude of gay hats and dainty toilettes. There is annually at this time a rush of novelties in the world of dress, and this season affairs sartorial seem to have made a greater advance than usual. It seems, nowadays, that people, for the most part, have made up their minds to do without any demi-saison toilettes and substitute instead the more sensible plan of ar.aking their winter outfit serve till vow by the kindly aid of a few renovating touches. We seem this season to have thrown off our winter chrysalis to emerge in all the ■glory of a summer butterfly, regardless of the fact that the sunshine is intermittent and that the air is still -cold. I fancy. the fact of last year's depressing period of national mourning has much to do with this rebound, and that many, in the relief at ■baing able to allow their uatural taste for colours full play, are apt to go to almost ridiculous extremes. Be that as it may, there is a charm in dre-ss as now evinced which is certainly irresistible, and it requires great strength of mind to withstand the allurements displayed on all sides for our undoing. One cannot but confess that even the choice of a hat or toque presents great difficulties, as, however firmly one's mind is made up a3, to what we think the most suitable kind of headgear for our requirements, when it comes to actually making a selection among the many charming novelties we are apt to waver weakly, and in the end forsake our first love for something still more- fasci-

Hating. My sketch, however, is not devoted to any of the elaborate millinery triumphs, but to a style of hat which will this season nuike its influence- felt and seriously imperil the popularity of the ever-useful sailor hat. This hat, to be a success, must cost half a guinea, as the cheaper imitations of the real Panama are hard and never look the same as the good qualities of the proper article, and are discernible at a glance. For both rpriug and early summer wear this mode will be much in vogue, and later on in' the season it will make its presence i".dtabl« at | seaside resorts and up the river. One of its great advantages is that when a good sample of this hat has to be packed it can be rolled up in the same manner as those favoured by our ma^pulinp relatives and friendb. and it theiefore takes up particularly little spate when one is paying a succession of visits. It always resumes its normal shape on being released. By the bye, I wonder if it has occurred to my re-adeis that the sailor hit has this season developed a frivolous tendency to a turned up brim, tilted over the face by means of a black velvet cache-peigne at the back We hardly recognise our old friend 111 this guise, and console ourselves with the reflection that tho sensible sailor hat is still much erf evidence.

The smart little coat illustrated is an excellent sample of one of tho mo=t useful and fashionable coats a,l present, which, TChile suitable for immediate \\ ear, will also

l>e considered chic all summer It i* made of blae 1-*1 -* glace silk much tuckid and Pitched, with a butterfly basque at the back, and a dainty i-ollar appbqued with l.ice. Umpire sac coats of varying lengths oxpreahed in glaco or taffetas silks are much 111 vogue, and come to fill the \scir.ry left \.y the fur coats we are perforce obhr'od \o abandon during the earlier part of the day at all events.

The skirts of our gown, Madame la Mode las decided, muss no longer flop round our feet in clinging folds, tlio fuli.os (which is as great as ever) being arranged instead to Btand out all round the hem in flulo-hke folds. To get this effect very ckilful cutting is necessary, and in some instances an interlining of muslin is used to keep the folds crisp. The most fashionable people have their skirts s=o interlined as far as the knees, •where the ordinary lining of glace silk abo ceases, th© remainder of the skirt from the knees upwards being lined alone with soft China silk or batiste. This produces the clinging effect which is correct at the upper part of the figure, and gives an admirable outstanding »ppe»ranoe at the h«m. Tlc

smart toilette illustrated was treated in this fashion, ancl is expressed in pale gre&n cloth trimmed with rich lace, and a touch- of pleasant contrast is given by some black satin ribbon which forms a chou and <?nd= The well-cut islam- skirt, as up-to-date, is

eminently designed to show to advantage any trimmings which may be thought desirable, and those which boast a volant are nearly always a mass of insertions, tucks, and dainty embroidery. The volant en forme skirt is perhaps not so much in favour as last season, but it is still to bo met with, but in a somewhat modified form. a^> tho voiant is cut much shorter in front and increasing in width at the sides and back till within a few inches only of the wpistband at the back. The phape of the skirt, it must be acknowledged, gives a very desirable fulnc-ss at the feet, hence its continued existence in the realms of dress. — Yours truly, COQUETTE.