WOMEN’S WINDOW.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16946, 30 January 1926, Page 9

WOMEN’S WINDOW.

COLOR IN MEN’S EVENING WEAR, WOMEN DISAPPROVE. (By Foulhill Beckford). A certain set of would-be fashion leaders in Paris have made a very big endeavor to introduce colored material for men’s evening year this season, but so far have failed. This is only a sequel to the efforts made in the same direction in Loudon some years ago. but a campaign of this sort is always doomed, because women do not approve of men wearing colors. They claim that that is their privilege, and*if men wore anything but black it would be necessary for Iho smart woman to ascertain what particular color evening suit her escort intended wearing; otherwise her own dress might not tone with it.

The vogue for the tailed evening coat is amazing; at the smart restaurants and dunce clubs the tailed coat, white waistcoat, and while tie are as much in evidence us the smoking. The fashion for the narrow sleeve becomes more pronounced, and in Paris to-day, in order to get the desired effect, it is necessary to thread the links through the cuff's after the. shirt has been put on. Talking of cuffs, the best-dressed men arc favoring the double one, but this is followed closely by the single variety but with rounded corners. The newest evening shirt fronts carrv horizontal stripes patterned in the white batiste or marcclla, and are quite good-looking worn with plain white evening waistcoats. FLOWERS ARE CUPID’S BEST KNOWN EMBLEM.

Lovers have always loved flowers; indeed, from the earliest days lovers have performed quaint customs with flowers and given them a singular significance. la Poland, for instance, maidens always sho'A their continued fidelity by wearing rosebuds in their hair or by earning these flowers when, with their sweethearts. Hoses are much thought ot by lovers in France, and many still believe the superstition that beauty will come to the betrothed girl who plants a drop of her blood under a rose. VVe have a classical example of the use of roses when Cleopatra entertained Anthony and carpeted all the floor ot her chamber with them. In Egypt the natives used to consider that evcry’tlower was a god, and they were reverenced accordingly. Even to-dav flowers are reverenced by the beauty-loving Japanese. Natural] v, the Japanese often makes nis first advances in love by means of flowers, and eligible maidens prav night after night under flowering ■herry trees that they may find thenideal lover. The “Bachelor's Button,” is said to be so named because young men, when courting, used to put the flower into their pockets to test their choice, if if died at once they had made a mistake. , The popular use of orange blossoms comes from the ancients. The Saraecus arc said to have first used it, and the custom came to us through the Crusaders, its symbolic meanings arc chastity and fruitfulness. Bit A INLESS WOMEN. BO THEY WEAK BEST. We despised her, of course, because we were thinkers in those days and ahead of the times. Since then the times have caught up and passed us, and now we. know that we only thought we were thinking. She giggled in a fatuous way, thereby earning our youthful scorn. She was interested in paper patterns of blouses and other foolish things, and we lost sight of her -because she wasn’t up to our intellectual standard, nor did she even try to be.

As a souse of superiority always gives cause for content, those of us who had taken thinking seriously went on wilii it. and, as the photographs of great men and' women all remind us, our faces naturally developed those unequal proportions which arc the result, of mental effort —high foreheads, large noses, and jutting chins. Others of us had the eager, vegetarian eye, and some (chiefly the politicians), got the fanatic-face, and gradually the mask wo all wear registered the traces of our mental pilgrimage as youth vanished; even the classic liard-boiled-egg beauty-ftico of the 'nineties took some sort of character in the struggle. Jt- is a shock to see her again, because she cannot really still bo 25 ,or lit) now, for she used to have a tiny waist and ride a bicycle in a long skirt. But there she is, as plump and fresh and gigglosome as over. No problem-solving has given her crows’feet, no “Causes” have spoilt tlie contours of her face. She makes a jumper instead of a blouse —slio who has escaped scatheless, from the branding iron. Neither is her youth in any way artificial, for she does not make-up. Facial massage and an expensive beauty specialist have nothing to say to it. She just doesn’t bother. When everyone else believed in fresh air she kept her bedroom window shut. When everyone else rushed to the dentist, and had all their teeth out she went on using camphorated chalk and kept hers in her head (wrote Airs. V. Rickard in the Westminster Gazette.) She didn’t want a vote. Site didn’t want to travel. We always believed that she would bore her husband, but he seems quite happy. And the thinkers? There are lots of them about. On good days they look their age—on bad days a haggard hundred. WEAR NEW SHOES BEFORE CLEANING THEM SAYS SUPERSTITION. How many of us, no matter iiow we pretend to scorn such superstitions, would ask for trouble by placing a pair of boots or shoes upon a table, and how few would risk misfortune by cleaning a new pair of shoes before wearing them? Among the Scotch the belief si ill exists that to drop a pair of shoes before they have been worn is a sure portent of bad luck. Immunity can be bought, however, by burning (ho shoes or by burying them. To place new boots or shoes on a shelf higher than ones head is another harbinger of misfortune, according to a superstition which has prevailfal for centuries. It is also considered unlucky to place children’s shoes by themselves. They should always be accompanied by a pair belonging to a grown-up person, while diro disaster is supposed to overtake anyone foolhardy enough to, walk downstairs inside a house iu now shoes before having first walked up-

stairs in them. The only shoe sign that augurs good luck is the remote possibility of accidentally putting the right shoes on the left foot. In Norway, girls who want to make absolutely sure of getting married never put on new shoes for the first time unless the laces are tied by a married woman, preferably a mother of seven children. They also believe that if a girl’s laces are continually becoming untied, some young man is in love with her.

Arabs and Turks arc always particular ia placing their sandals and slippers side by side. They regard it as a sign of impending disaster if the toes are pointing away from each other. The Russian believes that an enemy is plotting against him if his shoes, when thrown down, laud with one toe on the top of the other. If a. German mother has the misfortune to lose the heel of her shoo sho believes that one of her children will die before the end of the year, In Spain old shoes are looked upon as mascots, and a pair is always kept in the house for luck. In Belgium the person who puts on the left shoe first is held to be lucky in love. USE FEW PILLOWS. THE BACKKEAUTIFUL. If you would possess a slim, straight and supple back, you must be prepared to make sacrifices for it. First, you must avoid 100 many pillows. One flat pillow and no bolster is all that should be allowed, and you must learn to sleep on your back, not “curled up” like a kitten. To lie flat on the back on a rug, stretched out on the floor, is an excellent treatment for beautifying the back. The woman who is too thin often suffers with prominent shoulder blades, which are rather unsightly in eveningdress. To remedy these, practise the following exercise for ten minutes twice daily:— Stand facing a door or wall, twelve inches from it. Place the palms of the hands flat against the door on a level with the shoulders, and press the body forward, resisting the pressure with the bands. Relax, then repeat. The chin should bo held well up and the back quite straight while practising. To improve the skin of the back, up* ply a paste of warm milk and oatmeal. Puns tlu: oatmeal through a fine siove, then mix with warm milk to a thin paste. Spread this over the skin and nil) in until the oatmeal comes off in tiny flakes. It will make the skin beautiiully soft, smooth, and will also whiten it. Only sufficient for one treatment should be mixed at a time.

THE UMBRELLA. Few women arc graceful with an umbrella, many are awkward, and some are positively dangerous when the clouds empty their contents upon the streets. . One of the worst offenders is the woman who grasps the handle tightlj and draws down the umbrella as close to her hat as possible, while- she forges her way through a mass of people without shifting her weapon of defence against the elements—and of “offence” against her fellow creatures —the fraction of an inch. . Another dangerous habit is the carrying of the umbrella under the ami, sticking out: at the back to jab ungently at the unwary. A less serious, but still a great nuisance, is the woman, who lets her umbrella slide all over a bus or railway carriage, tripping up the passengers who get in or out. Thero is usually a polite. “Oh! I’m so sorry,” as the owner disentangles her property from someone’s legs. But uuuy it slithers again in a little while till the next victim is sent sprawling over his fellow passengers.

HEAD-DRESSES. Shingled heads are so successful a fashion that tlio recent almost universal neglect of head-dresses for evening wear is readily understood. Of late, however, women are returning to the head-dress fashion for the evening, the type they are favoring being the aviator-helmet kind. These close-fitting head-dresses arc covered with embroideries in which sparkling jewels are generously mingled. A typical bandeau is made oi bright green enamel, rimmed with small rose diamonds, and with an ornament at the back taking butterfly form. Another of the same kind is made of lacquer-red enamel with a border of Oriental pearls and a flat baroque pearl at the back. Bandeaux of this kind look very chic when worn on close-cut hair. GLASS SERVICES. v Dinner services of glass arc attraetI iug smart hostesses, who arc buying the lovely shaded varieties now so popular. Of course, tlie whole tablo is likewise decorated, including tho condiment sets. The highly-polished dining table has given considerable opportunity for the making of embroidered and lace bordered dinner mats, which are carried out in white or colored linen, as one’s fancy dictates. China ornaments dotted about the dining-table arc considered very smart. These are delicately shaded to represent the object modelled, and shoals of Jish arc much in demand for decoration. CRETONNE COATS. One of tiie very useful adjuncts to the summer wardrobe is tho cretonne coat. To buy ready-made, however, they are distinctly expensive, and that has bedn the trouble. However, we have now learned liow easily and inexpensively they cab be made at- homo! The thing is to get a bright-colored cretonne, boldly patterned, some metal thread and embroidery silks, and just stitch round the design with these, sometimes using the one and sometimes tho other, just where you thiuk either will lift up tho pattern most effectively. It really does not matter much so long as you get the raised brocade appearance required. There is scarcely anything more appropriate for slipping on over summer frocks, and being of mixed colors these little jackets can be worn with practically any dress. BATHING SUITS. Bathing suits, especially tho plain woollen kind, may be so treated that they will last for two or three seasons. No suit should be put - Away -without being rinsed in fresh water. 'this will prevent the wool from hardening, and, if the suit is of a dark color, from getting a grey look. To avoid moths when the winter comes, wash the suit thoroughly in cold water, changing the water several limes, and then onec in clear, warm' water. . ...... ;