WOMEN'S WINDOW.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 1701, 17 April 1926, Page 9

WOMEN'S WINDOW.

WHY GIRLS OF TO-DAY ARE TALLER. EFFECT OF GAMES IN THE OPEN AIR. TWO INCHES ADDED. Girls arc growing taller; they are two inches taller now than girls were in .1895. The discovery has been made by Dr. Mosher, Professor of Hygiene in Stanford University, California. She bases her results on an inspection she has made of the statistics taken of the heights of more than one thousand girls ranging aver the last thirty years. She found that, in audition to their increase in height, girls on an average Weigh three or four more pounds than their mothers and grandmothers did at the same age. Correspondingly, and in keeping with the dictates of fashion, they have lost about half the clothing they wore' thirty years ago, and more than a foot of material has disappeared from their shirts. Thirty years .ago most women were content to call themselves tall if they were .Ift. Sin.,, which wa's then the average height,of a girl. Now most of thorn.are discovered.to-bo.ut least sft. fti.n. Professors of hygiene and gymnastic, instructors in. London yestcrdny all said that in' their opinion girls of eighteen arc taller than girls of eighteen were in the generations before theni. Not only that, but the girls of eighteen to-day will continue to grow ; , a. couple, of inches,-,.while their mothers''and grandmothers stopped growingat'a much earlier age. The chief instructor of n leading physical training college, where women have been trained as gymnastic teachers for the past quarter of a century, explained that modern girls grow at a later age than most women did formerly because of the amount of exercise they take and the games they play in the open air. As they grow, so they develop and add to their weight GRANDMOTHERS' DRESSES. As an example of how much longer modern girls are than t-'-e women of one op two generations- Ujjo, she recalled an experience when a number of girls, all physical culture enthusiasts, were taking part in amateur theatricals. Majiy borrowed dresses that had belonged to their grandmothers and great aunts, and not on'o of them could wear her dress, owing to the fact that it was mueh too small. Tall women who now have girl babies will speculate whether they will grow into Amazons, in view of the fact that schoolgirls of each successive decade spend more time in sports and games, LONDON FASHIONS. SILKS ANITcHIFFONS. LONDON, Feb, 20. The new silks and chiffons for the coming season suggest various pleasing uses, states the London Times' lady correspondent. Many of them aro sclf'trhnmed, being decorated with gorgeous borders or pattorns picked out in metal or silk embroidery;, and there arc now ways of block-printing which give a raised look to bold designs. A useful innovation is the new width of 50 inches in which «oma silks and chiffons are manufactured. ' Roses are frequent in nlLovcr patterns, and also in many bordered materials.. In silk muslin there are pretty natural rose designs on a black ground, and many of them have double borders that will presently be used. in. incrustations and anther devices. Tho borders are deeper than those of last year, and in building rip'the rose pattorus other greens are used for the leaves than the natural rose leaf. Some of the rose designs on chiffon are set in stripes I'ike the, pattern on a Nottingham lace curtain. Clearness of design depends much on the grouping of the colors; some piee.es are lifeless and -others full of beauty. This is specially noticeable among the chiffons, the fliik muslins, and the georgettes.

While floral designs appear most numerous in the lighter materials there are beautiful eonveutional allover designs in the. crepe do Chines. On burnt ivory grounds navy and black, patterns "Otne up Very clearly; they are of tho geometric, typo with occasional spots. Thorn are also a few over-all spotted materials which will be. used in conjunction with solid colors. Stripes with lozenge designs in darker colors are also appearing, probably for frocks with 'two pieces' and for coat linings.

There arc said to be 120 new designs and colorings in georgette alone this year. Georgette now varies in weight, and certain elaborate emliroidcrod georgettes are much more solid than those intended for dance frocks. One of these, suitable for bridge coats, boleros, or panels, has shadow roses on a Prussian blue ground and brilliant silk spots embroidered at intervals. Other embroidered fabries are in rich crepe dc Chine in printed patehwurk colors on a dark ground and. embroidered with metal thread, These materials are expensive, Maroeain appoars to be in favor again,, sometimes with gold borders. One, a new pastel grass green', scroll -bolder in gold 6in. deep. A handsome border is block printed in vivid tea roses on a white maroeain, and is finished by a band of black' with a silver effect to imitato fringe. The names of the new colors are not easy to remember. A warm tinge of pink runs through many new greys, from dove-grey to a tone that is almost beige. Now beiges and new colors called "crevette" and *'chair" aro among the pink torses, and there is a so,called brandy-anjbmiljt color that is finding favor. There are several blues called *>wt they have a mauvetone; and there.are new variations of amethyst, some of which aro very.pale: Another new color is a terracotta whieh belongs to & range of colors that enda in a cherry rod. But the curious violence with which colors are blended and broken ;is best seen in some of the patterned

crepe do Chines. An example of this vandalism is shown iu a cherry-red check, one stripe, of which is in rose pink, and black dots are strewn over it at intervals to hold the colors together. Patterns of the closer kind show such a disorder that great caro is needed if garishncss is to be avoided. In solid colors there is a distinct reversion to the pink beiges, though the pink greys and the colors with a clash of mulberry are also already popular. The return of black, alleviated with color, as in gorgeous rosestrewn black silk muslins, or with metal, as in certain new gold and black evening frocks, will be noticeable in Ihe spring. SEMI-QUAVER FROCKS. DESIGN OF SHARPS AND FLATS. QUAINT FASHION. Music is giving its charms to dress in a most material sense. The musical model which is one of fashion's spring sensations is the creation of a dress house numbered among the most exclusive and conservative of the world's dressmakers, which adds to its piquancy* For day-time wear navy blue crepe do Chine and white organdie are the materials of the model gown displayed ,in the Paris salon of this house. The white organdie, front, and full tindersleeves are embroidered in navy blue cotton —not silk —in a curious design made up of quavers and semiquavers, sharps nnd flats, and, in fact, all the various units of musical notation. The same unusual musical decoration is introduced into the evening gown, but in a different medium. A diaphanous tullo evening frock, for .example, is. strikingly decorated with music notes in cut-out silver tissue. SPORTS GIRL'S SUCCESS. FIRST ENGLISH "QUEEN" IN FRANCE. PARIS, Feb. 26. For the first time in history an. English girl has been elected a French "queen." She is Miss Andree Gardner, 20 years old, who is a remarkably good lawn tennis player, nnd she has been elected "sports queen" of Maisons Laffitto, the Paris suburb known as the "Newmarket of France" on account of its importance as a training centre for racehorses. Miss Gardner's father is English and her mother French. IN DEFENCE OF MODERN GIRLS. In his' lecture at the Institute of Hygiene on "The Prevention of Nervous Affections in Children," Dr. J. S. Risien Russell, the neurologist, made some sweeping remarks about the modern girl and tho sort of life she leads that strikes us as being nonsense, states the London Daily Mail. Because a certain number of girls run wild and drink cocktails and go, night after night, to dance clubs it is perfectly preposterous to treat them as typical of the whole race of English girls. So false an idea docs a great deal of harmi It tends to make the girls who arc living decent, normal lives feel that they are wasting their opportunities and losing much pleasure which' they might otherwise enjoy. Probably the entire number of girls who go to night clubs is not equal to the feminine population of { any considerable provincial town. . To stigmatise modern girls as a class on account of a foOlish minority is thoroughly misleading and can only do harm. England i? full of girls who follow a normal existence —work, play, sports, household duties,' and nil sorts of various nctivitios-'-and such girls are a pride to their parents and a pleasure to their friends. They aro healthy in mind and body and have a very poor opinion of the dope fiends and' dance maniacs and cocktail girls. TURKISH WOMEN'S NEW RIGHTSCONSTANTINOPLE, Feb. 26. The Minister of Justice, introducing the new Civil code in the Angora Assembly, said the two sexes were treat-, ed on an equal footing in the regulations concerning family life. The Turkish woman, he said, was still how a slave, the, 'saddest and most pitiable figure in their history, but the new law would sin-round her with respect. BRAVE WOMEN OF THE WAR. BISHOP'S DISCLOSURE. NURSE'S BAFFLING DISEASE. : j CAUGHT AT VERDUN. The Bishop of: London, in dedicating a memorial chapel to brave Women of the war in Holy Trinity Church, Gray's Inn-road, London, disclosed the fact that a nurse who served five years in the war, braved tho horrors of Verdun, and was wounded twice, still suffers from a terrible disease due to a gorm that all the skill of the best surgeons and medical doctors in the country could not trace or diagnose. Tho Bishop was speaking of tho splendid courage and devotion of the women in the war, the doctors, nurses, workers, mothers who sent out son after son to make the supremo sacrifice. <<lt is a very striking thing," he said, "that in this parish of my diocese a memorial should bo dedicated to these bravo women seven years after tho war." TORPEDOED THREE TIMES. The Bishop related that he knew other instances of women who still suffered. One was a nurse who was on board three difforent ships that were torpedoed. On one occasion sho was in the water for three hours. hm u i.'uiiww—wwm in I'm mi ii " ' " . 88l

Sho is new .suffering, he said, from permanent rheumatism. Recalling u personal experience, he praised the heroism of 00 London women and girl workers who made bandages for the wounded in the evening after their day's work. They were engaged one night in their room in Ebury street, when a bomb fell and knocked them all to the floor. None were killed, though all suffered from shock, but next night every one of those DO women was again on duty working for their country. "We arc faced," added the Bishop, "with terrible poverty, unemployment, and industrial disputes, but let us take our example from ihese great women, remembering the dangers that they faced; and if wo work in the same spirit we shall overcome all our troubles while we still have a country worthy of the sacrifice." FASHIONS SEENIN THE RIVIERA FOOTWEAR TO MATCH. FROCKS. A very famous dress designer has announced the approaching demise of of the flesh-pink or "sunburnt" silk stocking. The wish is not always father of the deed, but it must be admitted that undo hosiery has been rather overdone of laic. It is charming on occasion; but there are ofher cases. BLACK'HOSIERY RUMOR. t< Certain it is that at least twp leading dressmakers of Paris are making their mannequins wear cobweb black silk stockings with black, and black-and-white, models, reserving the fleshpink shades exclusively for evening use and with frocks of pale color. One hardly dares to predict the speedy return of 'black silk stockings, but they are looming on the dress horizon. .., .At .Monte Carlo and , Cannes .'ninny chic'women have been wearing pale grey silk stockings with navy blue, black or grey dresser?, and very'attractive they look. 'There is a .certain thin grey silk stocking that shows silver gleams when on the foot.

Another innovation connected with what the Americans call "footwear" is the matching stocking—green with a green dress, the shoes black glace adorned with cut steel buckles: brown with brown; dark blue serge with silk 'stockings of the same shade. ! This idea has been tried with some j little success, but my personal opinion .is that we shall find silver-grey stoek- ! ings often worn this spring and ! coming summer; and it is more than probable that certain chic Parisicnncs will wear the thinnest of thin black silk stockings with black or magpietinted gowns. GAY HE~ELS FOR SHQES. Pew people probably realise how large an industry is that of malting heels for shoes. Heels of celluloid in all the shades of the rainbow are made. Others represent mother-o'-pearl, tortoiseshell, and some have a multi-colored effect. . FOR TROPICAL CLIMES. "We export large quantities of colored heels to warm tropical countries [for. outdoor ■wear," said one manuI'faeturer, "but in England wo sell them for slippers and evening shoos only." Very pretty are those in hand-paint-ed satin. These are most frequently decorated with a floral design on delicate colors and white and black, and for fancy dress there are a number of bizarre designs. A flaming Mephistopholos, for -. instance, ornaments a black satin heel, "Felix" is painted on another, while a third - depicts a red and white swastika' on a black ground. 1027 TO BE ENGLAND'S "ICE AGE.'' PRESERVED~FOOD BAN. BUYING DAY BY rDAY. A revolution in housekeeping, involving the adoption of new shopping methods by the housewife, and the installation of a "refrigerator" or ice box in every home, is predicted to take place at the beginning? of next year. It will be brought about by the new : Ministry of Health regulations which practically ban the use of preservatives in food. i These regulations come into force lon January 1. The ban placed on | boric acid, the most important prcsor- ; vativb used in the provision trades, will mean that new methods must be devised by the housewife for keeping food fresh. Women who now order their household supplies twice or three times weekly must, either instal ice-boxes, as in America, or buy small quantities of perishable food every day. Butter and many other foodstuffs will, if purchased on Saturday, be uneatable by the following Monday morning. NEW PRESERVATIVE SOUGHT. Scientists are working night and day in an effort to discover fives which, while as effective as boric acid, will be free from the harmful elements which tho Ministry of Health apparently believes boric acid contains. Preservative in cream will be . allowed until 1925, Tho dairy trade pressed strongly for ample time to find a substitute for the preservative now in use. "The regulations framed by the Ministry of Health aim at preventing the sale of injurious food to the public," said an official of- the Ministry to a. "Daily Express" representative yesterday. '.'lf was suggested,, when the committee issued its 'report that increased use should bo made of cold "storage." Traders have vehemently opposed the new proposals, and they will be discussed in Parliament before they are finally put.into execution. In the meantime experts are predicting a remarkable increase in the practice of eating ice-cream. LIFE IN THE ICE AGE. "It will be a natural corollary to the necessity of having refrigerators and ice-boxes in the homei" said a leading provision expert, yesterday. Another food expert said: "1 can See nothing for the housewife to do but to bravo tho expense of buying an ice-box. There is no home, however humble, in America, without one, and I imagine that the same thing will happen here. Only two chemicals are permitted under the new regulations, and these are limited to" so few foods that, in effect, one may soy that, all preservatives,are banned. . . "No one lias found out why the use of boric acid is to be forbidden. Tho evidence which was given before the committee of chemical experts has not been made public. It is suggested that appendicitis and dyspepsia may be due, to the use of preservatives, but it has never been proved."