WOMEN’S WINDOW

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16340, 14 May 1927, Page 12

WOMEN’S WINDOW

LONDON FASHIONS-.

STRIPES, SPOTS, ANT) FLOWERS,

LONDON, March 20.

Color is Iho groat note of spring elotlies. Ft expresses itself in various wavs according (o taste, ami is unusually strong in day clothes ami millinerv.

Many sports clothes exhibit an exuberance of stripes,, circular on jumpers that are worn with plain-colored skirts and perpendicular on skirts that are worn with plain jumpers trimmed with the striped material. Tn other day elothes colored pleats open to rereal another color, and there are silks with vivid spots and flower motifs. Indeed, experiment with color is one of the interests of clothes for the daytime. Evening dress, however, despite some two-color evening gowns in pastel shades, is relieved less by mixed colors than by embroideries, probably because where there is a low-cut bodies? the mixing of colors with flesh tones might be crude. But in the daytime there appear to be few colors ihat are not possible, though there are some decided preferences. Stripes vary from groups of contrasting colors in some woollens to shaded stripes, overchecks, minute cheeks, and occasionally plaids and errissbars. In silks there are also bayadere stripes and a few carefully designed chiffon plaids. But lines of color rather than fanciful patterns are found chiefly in woollens.

The mixing of color is illustrated in the new solid color for strappings or simulated tucks against each other in sports clothes, or the short, coat which, as part of the sports three-piece, secures an alliance of two colors for linings, trimmings, or facings. The bright silk cowboy ’kerchief has reappeared,, and lends an unconventional’! ty to clothes that may look too much tailored; it. is also made, of the same silk or foulard as the pleated skirls that are sometimes worn with velveteen tailored coats. Bows of various fabrics are being tried as alternatives to shoulder flowers; big bows of tulle are shown on some of the’new evening gowns, where they are at, the back of

the neck in a contrasting color if the gown is white or black; and Lows tied on otic side to the shoulder are put on simple day clothes.

The present great variety of woollen materials and their mixture with cotton* silk, and artificial silk show a strong attempt to break down last year’s preference for silk dresses for all hours of the day. Many of the new woollen or mixed materials are as light, as silk, and aro meant for occasions when silk would have been thought unsuitable. Such, for instance, are tlie new woollen georgettes and crepes de chine, and there are woollen tussores and. chiffons which are almost like the crepe of which they are copies. They are admirable for all kinds of simple frocks and ensembles. The new open-work dishcloth-like fiskas also give variety to simple frocks, and ale often allied with the new jersey fabrics for informal and simple dressing. For more formal occasions they are allied with crepe de chine. Crepella is a popular material for simple styles and is now proofed for rough wear out of doors. Many materials can now be proofed, but the proofing must always be done before the making up, or there may be a. shrinkage. Some of the small spotted and patterned silks are now made in neat designs with colored pipings and floating panels; long semi-bishop sleeves gathered in at the wrist often finish these simple frocks. Exaggerated sleeves on simple clothes are not much liked, though embroidered sleeves are to be seen on some of the more elaborate day clothes. When an afternoon frock is of a bordered material the patterned part of the border may give fullness to the sleeve. Some of the new bordered silks are of gefnt beauty, and have colored open work and embroidery, while into the borders of others lace is introduced.

There are a good many new liats on view, including the usual rod hats for the early spring, some of which are unusual in their decoration. A. tight: fitting high-crowned hat that is rolled oil' the face and has a movement lowards one side has boon made of blight red gros-graiu, and rod violets massed on the crown drop over oil one side. Other hats are made of the now straws and mixtures of straw and fabric. While most of the crowns arc high and moulded tightly to the head, they are not as high as they were. The carflap felt with a point'at the back has not lasted long; it has been succeeded by the small peaked high hat, which looks almost like a. bohhet except that it is moulded to the head at the back. The peak sometimes carries a tortoiseshell pin or some small decoration. Contrasted with the peaked hat is the softstitched felt hat moulded closely round the head arid rolled slightly back. There are several small rounded hats witli narrow brims, but no design is meant to look obvious and easy.

The desire for two or more colors is illustrated in hats, for there are new felts which have been cut. from several different hoods. Blues are in demand for the spring, and one blue felt has a navy-blue front and two broad bands of different blues brought right over the crown, while the back is of a very dark navy blue; Felt; hats with a crown of one color and a brim of another finished with gros-grain ribbon and neat buckle go well with tailormades. There are straw hats also of the same kind. Small clusters of flowers to match the buttonhole continue to appear oa the down-turned sides of many small straw hats.

THE NEW ATOM AN IN CHINA

MAKING HERSELF FELT TN

HOME LIFE

ECLIPSING THE MEN

The average person away from China thinks of the Chinese woman as a little (•aged bird, imprisoned in a red and golden carved room, playing the dulcimer or painting willow patterns on porcelain,, and utterly ignorant of the world about her. Ft is perhaps a beautiful illusion, but it is utterly untrue.

The Chinese woman in the remotest parts of the country, in distant Szechuan, in mountainous Kunnan, in interior ICaifeng, has demanded those things which her nineteenth-century sisters in the West called emancipation. This Women’s Movement is more fundamental, more virile, and more basically important than all the political bomb-shells which fill first pages of the newspapers here and. abroad. Tlu! modernised Chinese woman will breed a new race untainted by the vicious traditions of the past; more free in her personal actions and ideas, and more ready to branch out for herself. It is a curious phenomenon that the women of China seem to be more progressive in their views and in their habits than the men.

SUBMISSION. That may be explained in this way: China, in the past, has been a, man’s country. Man could do anything lie pleased, and woman had to submit to his opinions and wishes. If ho introduced other women into his home, his wife usually welcomed them as younger sisters. She sacrificed every Finer characteristic to please her lord and master.

Not so the new woman! She lias ways of her own. Before marrying she exacts promises from her husband, and has been known to leave the husband’s house and board when the promises were broken. Most of (he new women want to live in houses of their own, away from the mothers-in-law and the various wives and sons’ wives who compose an old-fashioned Chinese family. The girls are not always foreigneducated; In fact, the foreign-educat-ed young woman seems to return to China somewhat subdued, and often, suffering from a frightful inferiority complex. The young woman educated in the mission or Government schools and colleges of China,, the girl who has played basket-ball and hockey on Chinese fields, and has marched in nationalistic student demonstrations, litis a way and a will of her own, which, no foreign education can effect. She is a strong type.

SCARLET FLOWERS ON STOCKING'S. NEW FASHION ASTONISHES A RAGE MEETING. LONDON,. May 10. A slim girl, with brilliant scarlet flowers hand-paiiited on her stockings, nearly upset both betting and racing at the Grand Military Meeting at, SandoWil Park. She was a mystery woman. No one knew who she was. She was an Oliveeomplexioned, scarlet-lipped, blaeklmired, brOwn-eyed slip of a tiling, and above her black hair a flaming cloche hat of pillar-box scarlet rode triumphant. Her navy blue crepe-de-chine frock was relieved by further touches of the pillar-box color. Collars and cuffs of the dangerous red drew attention to her. Navy blue kid shoes with red heels and a thin red litie criss-crossing the uppers added to an effect which, although distinctly attractive, was at the same time quaintly beautiful; but most extraordinary of all were the brilliant scarlet flowers on her stockings.

She was typical of womankind at the meeting. Pillar-box scarlet and navy blue were almost everywhere; round about the paddocks, in the stand and on the lawn.

ScilHot hats, checks in which scarlet was the predominating color, scarlet collars and cuft's, walking-sticks with ivory handles stained scarlet, scarlet handkerchiefs, seemed to he the motive of the fashion brought about by the brilliant sunshine.

TOO MANY CLOTHES,

DOCTOR AND ‘HYGIENIC CRIME’ LONDON, March 24. “The present generation of young women will certainly go bald,’’ said Dr. Leonard Williams, in a lecture on the subject of suitable clothing, given under the auspices of the New Health Society at Chandos street last evening. “Most women are now shingled,” he said, “and they wear tight hats like men, with the result that, when they got to the age of about 30 or 40 they will find their falling out. Most people,” said Dr. Williams, “were gosssly overclothed. If the individual was J'ool enonght. to clothe himself to such tin extent as to prevent any cool air penetrating to his skin, then he must suffer the consequences. The best material to wear next to the skin was one which would absorb moisture readily. Linen, cotton, or silk were the best materials. “Why anyone wants to wear winter underclothing 1 ciinnot imagine,,” exclaimed Dr. Williams. “It is quite sufficient to vary one’s clothing by wearing overcoats during the winter. The same amount of underclothing should lie worn all the year round. Garters are objectionable. They give rise to varicose veins. High heels are bad. One of the hygienic crimes that high heels perpetrate is that they make the ankles thick. The tight high collars worn by men at the present time are a serious menace, not only to their intellectuality, if they happen to have any, but to their health. On the other hand, a limp collar pulled tight by a tie is worse still.”

GARTER-SKIRTS,

WOMEN’S SPRING FASHIONS.

LONDON, March 28.

What women will wear this spring was more or less decided yesterday by the buyers at the Drapery Exhibition, at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, North. The garter-skirt was launched at the exhibition. It solves the problem of short, light skirts and summer winds. The fulness is gathered into garters, which can be worn above or below the knee.

The skirt somewhat resembles the child’s nursery “crawler,” and is made for dancing as well as for sport.

Women buyers are unanimous in liking the new 0-piece suit. The coat now has no sleeves, while the jumper has sleeves, and the coat can be dispensed with at will. A particularly pretty suit was in red with decorative cuts to show cream. The jumper and sleeves were cream,, heavily embroidered, A loose-flowing tie, fastened with a bow under the collar, or tied with rabbits’ ears at tlie side, is making a bid for popularity. Scarves of all kinds accompany the gowns, with, or without fringe.

£00,000,000 WIDOW,

SUZUKI & CO. IN DIFFICULTIES,

WOMAN HEAD OF GREAT FIRM.

LONDON, April (1,

Behind an announcement by Reuter’s Tokio correspondent that the firm of Suzuki stales that it is obliged to suspend all new business transactions as well as the payment of bills, lies the romance of a world-famous business organisation built up by a woman. Living the secluded life of a Japanese woman of the old regime, and yet possessing a fortune estimated at more than £110,000,000, Madame Yone Suzuki is one of the most remarkable women in the world to-day. Anybody who saw her wearing native dress and squatting on a mat oh the floor of her moderately-sized house at Kobe would find it hard to believe that she was the head of the great organisation of Suzuki and Co., and owned a fleet of ship?}, ship-building yards, steel works, sugar refineries, flour mills, cotton mills, alcohol refineries, celluloid factories, rubber factories, breweries, insurance companies, and banks; had almost rt world monopoly of crude camphor; and traded on the largest scale in rice, wheat, sugar, beans, and other produce. Although she is well known by name and photograph to the Japanese—and was indeed at one time the best-hated woman in the country —few people have seen her,, for she leads a very secluded life. Not for hiany years has she actually controlled the great enterprises which she owns, but she still takes the keenest interest in the pro.gress of her affairs. A Japanese business man in London who knows her said yesterday:— Madame Ritzuki has never been out of Japan, and does not travel about Japan much. While she does not dress in a European way or lead a European life, she does not scorn all modern inventions. She uses the telephone, travels by motor car, and uses up-to-date methods of lighting and heating. She is (he widow of a man who started a sugar refinery with a small number of employees. About 1905 iter husband died, leaving her a widow with two sons. The sugar-refining business came to her, and from that slowly was built up the great organisation of Suzuki and Co. Towards the end of the Great War she became very unpopular because the price of rice went up when Suzuki and Co. were one of the three or four firms importing rice under Government instructions.

The offices of the company in Tokio wore burnt down and Mmc. Suzuki had to flee for safety.

The manager of the London branch of Suzuki and Co., which occupies large offices in Mincing-lane, E.C., told a Daily Mail reporter that he had not received any instructions not to rindortake any new business. He shid: All the various factories owned by Suzuki and Ob. are legally independent and, I should imagine, arc still working.

The organisation has about 30 agencies throughout the world. It possesses a fleet of 10 cargo ships, and has a shipbuilding yard at Kobe. Its steel works are also at. Kobe. About half the produce in which we-trade is sold in Japan.