LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2849, 21 October 1908, Page 73

LADIES' GOSSIP.

—We are all martyrs to our. clothes, men almost as much as women, the only difference/" indeed, between a man's and a woman's method of shopping being that while both lay in quantities of new clothes, women, at any rate, wear theirs; men, on the other hand, never put theirs on. The amount of new clothes which a man will order and put away tor years is by no means the least eccentric of his many inexplicable acts. The only way, indeed, in which one can account for" it is to be found in the fact tliat no man ever seems to pay for his clothes. — The Ladies.' Field. — A Ladies' Short Skirt League has been formed in London. The members bind themsel\e3 to wear dresses which will not sweep the fifcors and pavements, and so gather up dust and microbes. This is not a new idea. In America they have a similar organisation called the Five Inch League. Every member is pledged to at least sin of clear apace between skirt and floor. The plan is commendable in many ways, for it is appalling the way in which some women sweep the pavements t with their gowns. An Englishwoman has still much to learn in the art of holding up her sairt. — Woman's Life. — The Hon. Mrs Assheton " Harbord, who has recently ■ been entertained to dinner by the 'Aero Club, in token of the members' appreciation of her efforts and pluck, is an enthusiastic aeronaut, a pastime requiring too much nerve and daring for the majority of her sex to take up gladly. Mrs Harbord herself owns a balloon, and is wholly devoted •to aerial navigation, Having become quite a skilful pilot in the air. and* partaken more than once in the races organised by the club, where she has had to hold her own amongst a company of experts. Here her experiences have brought her prominently before the public. In appearance Mrs Harbord is fair and petite, with little suggestion of daring exploits. She married as her second husband a younger son of Lord Suffield. who is engaged in business on the Stock Exchange. — Who owns the costliest dress in the world? Not the Queen, or any other member of a European royal family ; not the wife of an American millionaire; but the little-known / Queen of Siam. Picture to yourself a gown of silk, entirely covered with an embroidery of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires, all cunningly fashioned into most intricate patterns, so that its wearer . appears to be garbed in one great, shimmering, multi-coloured gem. It will give you some slight idea of the dress, which is valued, at the very lowest Estimate, at £1,000,000. The sister of the Tsar "of Russia, the Grand Duchess Xenia, has a gown in the style of the Russian national costume, with this difference — it is encrusted at all points with precious stones of many kinds. Of course, both these dresses have one great drawback. They are so heavy to wear that it is very seldom their owners torture themselves by donning them.