WOMEN’S WINDOW.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16533, 13 September 1924, Page 11

WOMEN’S WINDOW.

NEW ZEALAND WOMEN. CHILD WELFARE WORK. LONDON, July 22—The week at Wembley is to be devoted to the interests of Dominion women, and yesterday was allotted to New Zealand. Princess Helena Victoria, who is a member of the executive committee of (lie women’s section of the British Empire Exhibition, was present throughout I lie day. The morning conference, at which Lady Allen presided, dealt with problems of child welfare, women’s progress and education in the Dominion. Princess Helena Victoria, in opening the conference, said that she hoped that, by meeting together and the interchange of ideas, it would be possible to knit more closely Iho friendship and fellowship which, united all in the Mother Country will'-those visitors from overseas. Mrs. Hocking gave an account of the activities of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children, of which the Queen is patron, and of the work of the Pluuket nurses. They hoped to lower still further the infantile death-rate in the Dominion. The New Zealand Government was the first, in the world to issue gratis a book of advice on maternity and the care of the child to every voting woman along with her marriage lines. Miss Paterson said that to speak of “children’s diseases” was a slur on civilisation, for there should be no children’s diseases. New Zealand had reduced her mortality rate from infantile diarrhoea from 25 per 1000 to—in the case of Dunedin—o. (Cheers.) Miss Watt, in a paper on “Education,” said that there were no illiterates in New Zealand. Education there was free, compulsory, and secular. All hough there were no hopelessly poor in the country, the mixture of classes in the schools did not please all parents, and there was consoc|uentlv a demand for private schools.

Mrs Remfrey, 0.8. E., spoke on the “Progress of Women” in the Dominion, and said that their activities had lain in a municipal rather than in a national direction, owing to the fact that tlio New Zealand woman had hitherto had In do everything for herself. With the widespread use of the telephone, the motor car, and electricity, however, the day was coming when the life of the New Zealand woman would be brighter and more capable of expansion, and music and gardening would find a greater place in it. Elio spoke of the debt which the Dominion owed to its women pioneers, and said that New Zealand women had had to think first of the home and what pertained to the homo. In no other country had domestic life been brought to such a fine? art. Mrs Staples .Brown, who is descended from the famous Arawa tribe of Maoris, recounted various Maori legends, including that of the parting of the heaven and earth and the “fish of New Zealand.” \ Lady Galway, chairman of the women's section committee, expressed the thanks of the committee to New Zealand women for having contributed to make Women’s Week a success. CONCERT AND RECEPTION. Princess Helena Victoria attended in the afternoon a concert in which the following New Zealanders took part: Miss Esther Fisher, Mr. Robert Geddes, Miss Stella Murray, Air. John Amadio, Miss Rosina Buckman, and Mr. Maurice D’Oisley. Her Highness also helped to receive the guests at a reception given in the New Zealand Pavilion by the High Commissioner and Lady Allen. The programme included an exhibition of the famous Maori dances, the “Poi,” and “Haka of Welcome,” by forty girls attired in the traditional piupiu (kilt) and korowhai (mantle). The mantles nre made from the feathers of New Zealand birds, and ure handed down from generation to generation of Maori families. Of those used for the display, one was entirely made of kiwi’s feathers, and is valued at £250. Those present at the reception included: Sir George and Lady Fenwick, the. Earl and Countess of Liverpool, Viscount and Viscountess Astor, the' Right Hon. Philip Snowden, ALP., Mrs Roberts, Mr, Justice Hosking, Airs Hosking, Sir James Alills, Airs Stanley Baldwin, the Hon. Peter Larkin, Aliss Larkin, Viscountess Galway, Lord and Lady Stevenson, Viscountess Bryce, the Hon. Airs Gideon Alurray, Airs O. Gordon, Aliss Ducane, Aliss Margaret Boudficld, ALP., General Sir A. T. Godley and Lady Godley, and Miss St. Loe Straehey. BOBBED HAIR MENACE. WOMEN GET GIDDY AS THEIR TRESSES ARE SHORN. OMAHA, Neb., . Aug. 7.—Bobbed hair is one of the chief menaces threatening the peace and comfort of society, according to Janies Montgomery Flagg, the famous artist. Flagg stopped off hero to grab a doughnut and a cup of coffee as part of the routine of his motor trip from Los Angeles to New York. He is shocked at the number and modes of bobbed coiffures. “When a woman bobs her hair it does something to her brain makes her giddy,” the artist declared. “Gosh; I’m tired of bobs,” he added. Flagg failed to define his idea of how a woman should dress her hair, but he thinks she ought to have more and more of it, instead of less arid less. “When there are so many mistakes to be made in the world, why do they all make that one?” he sighed, referring to shearing tresses. PUT THEM IN TWO CLASSES. “Bobbed haired women may be divided into two classes, the backsliders arid the dandruff-shakers,” he continued. “Both are blots on the landscape. These fluffy dandruffshakers are bad enough, but the Spanish shingle is the limit. You know, the kind that is worn off in the back, as if they had been sliding down stairs. ’ ’ Then Flagg made some caustic remarks about women which he might not have delivered but for the fact that he was driving out of town as soon as he finished the hole in the doughnut. “ Women never should cut their hair off in the back,” he said. “They haven’t well-shaped heads. Some have brains, but not the kind that stick out behind. When the hair is gone there’s nothing left. Their modern slim, slinky silhouette reminds

me of a spaghetti stick topped with a fluff of cotton wool.” Naturally, this led Flagg to expatiate on his ideal woman. He looked around first to see if any girls were listening. He did not want to be caught in the mesh of liis own opinions. “I admire buxom women, not. fat, but well proportioned and shapely,” lie said. DISLIKES CIGARETTE SMOKERS. “I don’t, particularly care for cigarotfe. smokers. They are, divided into two classes, fad followers ami sorrow drowners. Neither is to be admired. “Knickerbockered women are those who wear them well and those who don’t. Only the. first should be per'mitied to survive. ’ ’ Flagg was becoming uneasy. He had road stories about, western women shooting their detractors. He started fumbling with the thin gam a, jigs and the what lints that had helped bring him away from the Pacific Coast’s bathing beauties. Suddenly there wan a rumble and several snorts ensued. Flagg’s automobile shook as if it had the ague. Perhaps it, was giving him the laugh. Then there was a grinding ami a cloud of blue smoke. Like a comet, Flagg and his ear shot; away and soon lie had left. Omaha and its possible menace of infuriated women far, far behind, while he was gathering dirt and grit to face Broadway amt its well-known beauteous bevies, most of them shorn ones. WHEN FASHION WAS SCANDALOUS. (By Lady Norah Bcntiuck.) Every now and then preachers and reformers condemn the clothing of the modern woman as being scandalous and indecorous. Their invective may perhaps apply to a small section of society, but as a sweeping statement it has surely overshot the mark! The clothing of ’.he majority of women is not “.scandalous and indecorous.”* When wm compare present-day fashions with those of the “good old days,” our clothes can surely hold their own. At what Court in Europe of our generation would it be possible to witness such an exhibition as that afforded by Princess Paulino Aletteruich, who, at a state ball a the Tuileries, in the presence of Napoleon HI. and the Empress Eugenic, appeared with her hair handing down her back and bare to the waist? The Court of Napoleon 111., although presided over by the good and beautiful Eugenie, was neither a model of morals in conversation and behavior nor of decorousness in clothing! Grevillo describes the Court ladies of 1854 as “more encanaillecs than ever,” ami the transparency of their clothing was notorious! The Empress, decorum itself in fresh billowing tulle, had not sufficient strength of character to make others observe tlua rules of conduct which she herself did not transgress. A SCULPTURED LEG. The story is told that the beautiful Princess Castiglionc said: “Had my mother taken me as a girl to Paris instead of to Rome (she was an Italian), the Spaniard would never have been Empress of the French.” She was notoriously famous for the beauty of her figure, and her sculptured leg adorns one of the chief museums in Italy to-day. At' a ball at the Tuilerics she was so little clothed that the Empress ordered her chamberlain to take the princes a shawl, as she feared she might be cold. A sister of Napoleon was so proud of her legs and feet that she invented the startling idea of driving about Rome with her bare logs hanging out of tho window of thy carriage, exposed \o the gaze of the populace! We have only to look at tire ladies at Hampton Court, on many of the Greuzes, and on most of the ancestresses who look down at us from the walls of ancestral halls to realise that the words “indecent and indecorous” arc far more applicable to them than to their impoverished and hard-work-ing descendants. Who would grudge us our short skirts and our shingled heads in these hard-working,, strenuous days?—Daily Express. , LONG TUNICS HAVE PLEATED GODETS AS SPECIAL FEATURE. BLACK VELVET EMPLOYED OVER FOUNDATION OF RED FOR BRILLIANT EVENING GOWNS. PARIS, August 4.—Many and new agreeable features of design are noticeable in the winter fashion exhibits which have just begun in Paris. In general, the style of the frocks is short, and slim, but more ease, is provided in flic skirt by the use of full godets, either in the skirt itself or on a tunic worn over a. tight fourreau. Those long tunics with the full godets arc a feature. Sometimes the tunic effect, appears only on the side or in front. A few are made of four panels, but more of them show tho new godets, circular bdt flattened as pleats. No belt is worn in back, but a large belt in front, beginning at the sides. Sports costumes, in plaid materials, go g long way toward providing comfort and case by making only a short skirt over breeches to match. The sleeves are long and tight. BLACK AND RED USED. Black velvet, embroidered with red beads, or black velvet tunics, opening on a red fourreau, are a conspicuous feature for evening wear. Large steel paillettes are used for embroidery on some chiffon gowns, while much use is made of a chenille fringe or embroidery mixed with pearls. Le Long wanted to show that a sag dress could fit any woman, and often shows dresses exactly the same on small and tall mannequins. A surprising feature was the use of

gorgeous embroidery even on plain morning gowns, steel beads shining on blue serge in Oriental designs. All of the frocks show the straight-lino effect without any belt, ana here and there a large yoke in the back seems to give a forecast of the short waistlino. Skirts are very short. All of the dresses are plain and straight, except where circular godets, pointed and longer on the sides, are used. .Even some flounces, such as worn in .1889 to 1.803, were introduced. The back of liie dresi is always flat and any fullness it may retain is in front. PLAIDS SHOWN. Clo-iks ire tightened no more, but hang straight. They are embroidered and made with a large fur hem. Long, narrow cloaks are general for wear in Paris, blit tailor-made capes are being shown for country use in the winter with the short jackets of sport i iig cost nines. Designers use men's material of checks and plaids, as well as a great deal of Kashal cloth, plain or embroidered. in dark designs. For afternoon wear, the materials are crepe cordone, crepe byzantine, artificial silk, velvets and friomphante. For evening wear they use georgette chiffon and a gorgeous silver material as soi't as silk and worth 700 francs - a yard. A few tailor-made and all morning coals are lined with fur. Ratgoiidin, lynx, ratchinchilla arc especially used. Among the evening gowns a feature is the use of several different kinds of laces mixed together. (Sometimes silver and gold laces of different shades are used. Un the cloaks ,md plain dresses the collars are high. £7OOO A YEAR ON DRESS. WHAT A “SMART” WOMAN MUST SPEND. Miss Fay Lewisohn, a fashionable New York dressmaker, has made tho astonishing statement that “nobody who is really smart can dress on less than £7OOO a year.” More astonishing still, social leaders consider this estimate far too conservative, and mothers of debutante daughters hope that when the bills come in the expenses will be as low as £7OOO. “The dress allowance of many of my clients exceeds this amount,” said a fashionable American dressmaker. “I know one woman who lias a yearly contract with a modiste for £IO,OOO worth of clothes. There are society women who easily spend that much. “The dressmaker receives a fair profit and no more. What the fashionably dressed woman wants is a quiet, attractive place in which to inspect gowns. She wants to see those gowns displayed by refined, high-class mannequins. Naturally this means high rent and good salaries. Moreover, the materials are expensive. Brocades at, £2O a yard send the price up. THIRTY EVENING FROCKS. “A girl who moves in good society needs about thirty evening frocks and a dozen wraps, which alone would cost her about £2500. (She would require two hundred and fifty pairs of stockings. These would cost on an average 35s a pair. Some, of course, would be much more than this. “As a matter of fact, I saw some displayed in a Now York shop recently at £IOO a pair. They were perfectly simple black silk hose, with a large medallion of lace on the front. “Twenty-five pairs of shoes would work out at £4OO, while , hats would cost about thy same. I should think at least thirty would be necessary, at prices ranging from £5 to £2O. “It is possible to spend many hundreds of pounds on lingerie alone. All these garments, of the finest linen or silk and exquisite lace, would cost about £7OO for two different sets. “In this list I have not included furs, which must be ail extra, and little incidentals such as hairdressing, cosmetics and perfumes, on which wc may safely estimate that a society woman spends £IOOO yearly.”