WOMEN'S WINDOW

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16364, 11 June 1927, Page 12

WOMEN'S WINDOW

WOMAN WHO WAITS,

FOB IMPORTANT NEWS.

SUNDAY NIGHT VIGIL

It is just a cottage in an every-day suburb of Sydney (says the Sun). lint with inky wisps of cloud scud: din»- across the pale moon, and the wind shipping the window-panes, there is something about the cottage which creates vague apprehensions, a sense,of some impending event, a. feeling of uncertainty. That is justit. Something is going to happen. A woman, the sole occupant of the cottage, it would seem, is in the room, and .she comes frequently to the door, opens it, and gazes anxiously at the blue skein of clouds crossing the -moon. It is a homely room. A pile of linen, ready for the wash,, litters the table; a fire burns in the grate; and, as if to prove how the rising tide of radio is finding out the farthest creeks and inlets, a loud-

speaker in the corner is giving out music and talk from a broadcasting station.

It is upon .this that the woman's attention .seems fastened, when she is not at the door, and she regards it anxiously, in an attitude of expectane'v. <

Then conies the voice of tho an.nouncer; the woman's look .changes, and she draws nearer.

"The unsettled conditions are rapidly clearing,"' the announcer is saying; '"and but for a.shower or two in* scattered parts of the State, to-morrow should be fine, with light breezes." A sigh, of relief escapes from the woman. Turning, she scoops the dirty linen from the table into her arms, and flings it into the corner. "That's goodl .I'll .be able to wash to-morrow!"

VOGUE FOR .RIBBON A STUART FASHION. The more feminine trend of modern fashions has created once again a vogue tor ribbons, has created once again a vogue for ribbons. Colored ribbons figure en dark afternoon frocks, or trail in pastel shades from the sliouldors of evening frocks. Pretty straws,, -trimmed .with ribbons of petersham and gauze, or the lovely newseason yolonrs, are replacing : the severely undecked felts of yester-year. So much of the romance and e,vqn drama of dross .history centres around the ribbon that it, was certain of a :frcsh revival. Its greatest t\ay was perhaps the seventeenth century, when Stuart gentlemen .first realised its charm, and wore formal .loopod bunches of ribbon at waist .and drips and knees. " Ruffled wifjh ribband, like a pigeon's leg," said good Mr. Pepys, and thought the fashion "very tine and handsqmo," .It was probably these bunches of ribbon which formed the ".silk fops for jay : legs" ,which occur in that, famous sunimary,of the diarist's expen<.(iture that totalled.,£ss upon his own clothes and £l2 upon his wife's. Clips t and ; ocwit,s were trimmed with ribbon, too, scarlet upon black being very popular. Women -were quick to copy the vogue and .wear tho dainty breast and shoulder-knots of Lely's portraits, or ribboned caps like the -men, "pretty to see." , Ribbons were important in pplitics, too, for example, the sky-blue ribbons inscribed "Wilkes and Liberty" .which .pretty partisans .wore during the famous Middlesex .election, ,pr the buff and blue of Charles James Fox's supporters. The great balloon craze of the 1780's also expressed itself again in ribbons named after famous aeronauts. Lunardi blue was wore by tho Royal Princesses, and "Blnnehard's ,dovo," a #oft brown ribbon namotl after the balloonist who first crossed the Channel,, trimmed the popular "balloon caps" of the period. THE DRAMATIC TRICOLOR,

In 1780 French fashion decreed tho wearing of the most dramatic ribbon in history, the tricolor of France. Lovely classical designs, in black and terra-cotta, wore woven for First Empire dresses. Field ribbons, reflecting the interest in things ■Scottish,evoked by the novels of Sir Walter Scott, were immensely popular a few years later. The wide looped hat ribbon, matching liows and waist-bolt, shot or shaded or picot-edgod, came in with the leghorns of 1825. When skirts widened again, flounces, for a time superseded ribbon, as embroidery had done earlior. The 'seventies and 'eighties, however, re-, vived it again, adding ribbon ends and bows and loops to the, bunchy skirts that swathed the terrible bustle, as though the prottincss of the .ribbons,, which were very charming, were itself a protest against fashions so ugly and fussy.

It'is amusing to find ourselves today using ribbon in exactly the same way, in loops and ends and bows, but upon dresses as dainty as those of the 'eighties wore.hideous. Luckily "plus ca change" in fashion is .not quite invariably "plus (j'est la memo chose."

DANCES BY JJADIO

GIRLS AND HOSPITALS,

Radio dances seem ' to be coming into fashion. One was arranged for Tuesday, and another will take place on June 18 (slates a Sydney paper). ! On these evenings the -Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane broadcasting casting Stations will provide special dance music, so that listeners may dance in their own homes with tho aid of their loud speakers. Tho Tuesday dance was connected with Girls' Week, and Miss do Chair arranged a party of friends at Goverment House, .and relied pn- tho radio set for their music

'The radio dance evening on June .1.8 originated in a movement, in several country towns to provide funds to equip hospitals with radio sets. Special dance music will be broadcast from the A and li class stations in Sydney, and from the Brisbane and Melbourne stations.

LONDON FASHIONS

MILLINERY AND COLORS.

AH the best new hats lit closely and crowns are much lower and rounder than they wore. While most hats are vmall-brimmed, there are turbans within t brims, states the London Times.

These brimless turbans are made of various materials. For the afternoon and for dance teas they are made i)f tissue and galpn and for other occasions of .cire taffeta, stockinette, ntraw, or any suitable material. There )ire closeditting little hats with a movement to the side which are made of silk straw, grosgrain, and even feather, and also of two of these Materials mixed. There are soma (small models.of the shiny "waste" straw that is tubular and can be plaited and used alone or with felt. New small-brimmed buntals are trimmed with cricketing belts, since anything that is new is welcome in millinery. Some curious trimming is peing tried at the back of some of the

:!ose-fiiting hats; for instance, a gardenia or a camellia may be perched on,, or on a felt hat a cutting will follow the line of the shingle. 1 ' No one can say whether big hats will lie worn in the summer generally. There.are always some for Ascot and for Royal garden parties, but they are npt-e,aey to :keep on shingled .heads, and as there is this year an attempt to bring in collars of summer fur on filmy twotpiece dresses, wide-brimmed hats would not be comfortable. There are small-brimmed lace hats .which, give a fair amount of shade, while others are short at the back and have good wide brims. Among the definitely wide,brims are.a new sailor hat of coarse yellow straw with a top brim lined in velvet, ami .pariliuntal in primrose yellow 'with flat appliques of primroses and primrose leaves. Among f smail hats for what the .shops call "sports .wear, "there are many with stripes to repeat the colors of .striped jumpers; others arc trimmed with python or ealkskin, or colored leather variously cut.

"Sports" clothes are now often made in tworcolor effects and of two materials. .Clothes actually meant to play games in illustrate the desiro .to get away from ordinary jumper .suits. The new soft Angora wool material is freely used for sweaters and is often put with a fine jersey skirt or a erepo fie chine. Striped jumpers and sweaters are usually trimmed with some solid color and worn with a pleated skirt, -also of a solid color. .Others have,stripes made on the wool jersey with .a contrasting silk jersey. A.strip,ed sweater with a checked skirt, is another variation, and a colored hem of ii contrasting shade brings in on iinany skirts the stripe.of a sweater. Some skirts have the pleats sewn down closely to the hips and then freed.

Little coats-are worn .with all kinds of sports clothes. They vary from sleovoless cardigans of silk or wool jersey, to little sack "coats with the crepe-dc-chine, suits. In certain afternoon crepe-de-ohine jumper suits tho jumper is pieced in in contrasting.diamond squares, Many belts and buckles give variety, and narrow belts are arranged in two, to get a high and a low waist line/ Alpaca is being Used for some coatees and jumpers worn with contrasting skirts; it needs careful tailoring. Only one set of sleeves is seen on these sports models; if the jumper or sweater has sleeves the cardigan or coatee is sleeveless, and if the coat has sleeves the jumper has not. Different color tops and skirts do not always flatter; the figure may be shortened unless the colors are collected by careful trimmings. The hat, too, should be carefully chosen if mixed colors fire to look neat. .Casual dressing will not do.when several colors,have to be united.

Color may bo linked up by having all necosprios—shoes, bag, hat, scarf, and sunshade —in keeping. Grey goes well with navy blue, and it is fairly easy (o match the new beiges, putties, and pinks. The new pink is dull but becoming; it has a touch of grey in it. There are some new greens also that have a lime tone, and they are appearing in many fresh-looking spits, usually with string color. The disappearance pf true colors and the enormous range of new tones whipli bear a resqmblaneo to several colors without being true to any of them make color naming a difficulty. Most of the newcolors have names which mean very little. 'Among the favorite reds for hats is one that is better described as a "quenched geranium"'that cerise.

HAND-TINTED TABLE CLOTHS. At a small dinner party given recently by a society hostess (says the London Daily Telegraph), tho table was covered with a beautiful damask cloth on which the willow-plate design was delicately hand-painted in blue. The centre of the cloth was almost entirely taken up with the famous illustration, finely done in blue and white, and the design was also carried out in the connors. The dinner service, n,nd even the napkins, matched the cloth.

This effectiveand tasteful scheme of dressing the dinner table .was started in this -country some time, ago, and lias met with great success both in England and America, Tho West-end shops are showing exquisitely tine table damasks, designed after famous services, such as the Wedgwood. When they are used in conjunction with china in the same design the effect is most strikipg, particularly in the case of the cloths in which iho design is hand-tinted. These are a choice novelty, find the faint pinks, blues, and oilier shades help to .enhance tho decorative effect of flowers, glass and ■s.ilver. Collectors of original or modern Jacobean.glass and silver will be attracted by the idea, of setting these appointments out on a cloth of Jacobean design. These cloths can alsp be had' either liaud-tinted or plain. It might be thought, that these faint colors would promptly fade, but, on the contrary, the tinting is.guaranteed to last the life time of the cloth. Napkins to match are invariably boxed with the cloth. A 'wild "'ose and a famous Sevres dc'sign, very finely executed, nro among the most popular.

fHE BRACELET CRAZI

VOGUE FOR INDIAN BANGLES

"Although the very ornamental gold and jewelled bracelets originated in J?aris, a huge percentage of those now sold iii London are made in England," said a well-known Bond-street jeweller. "The majority are made either here or in Birmingham.

"Many bracelets we .sell are made at our own factories, where there is a special staff of designers. An elaborate jewelled bracelet takes about three weeks to make, and passes through, several workers' hands. First there is the mounter and frame-maker, then the setter, and finally the polisher. UP TO £4500. "Prices of the inch-wide diamond bracelets and those of other precious stones vary from £250 to £SOO or £OOO. The most expensive bracelet of this type I have seen was priced at £4500. ••The gold 'fetter' bracelets set with L:.i-.yii.w«j;;j stones we stock are [jiiuou front j.;> to '■i.lij. 'these are sold usually oniy for day wear.

"Three wide jewelled bracelets is ilie largest number I have sold at a time to any one customer. I. do not think English women wear so many as the Parisiennes, who frequently adorn themselves with bangles from wrist to elbow. COLORED GOLD ANKLETS.

'' There is a growing demand for anklets. These are not jewelled, but ■are made of finely chased gold in various colors. It may not be generally known that gold can be obtained in several different colors. ' I lutvo had personal experience of sellingitems of jewellery in green, white, red, and yellow gold. The color is obtained by a special process of-mixing various alloys with the gold," 1 MIT A TION V ARIETIES. "The.craze of the moment is to wear one dozen, or often two dozen, narrow "Indian' .bracelets either in silver or liras-S" .said the buyer at a "West End >t pre. A STOCK OF MANY THOUSANDS. "The bracelets are sold at ss. per dozen and we have a stock of many thousands. At the moment there are about 40011 in the department. One stand alone is holding seven gross! FASHION REVIVED AFTER h YEARS.

"The vogue for these bangles is a revival of the craze for the thin silver bracelets which were so popular in England 10 br .12 years ago. 1 believe the vogue was revived in America and ■ dopled recently in Paris and on the Ifi\ iota, and nuw has taken a Jinn lpld in Loudon.

"Tango bracelets are still selling in hundreds a week. -iSome of these are made with hollow metal links so that they are ,not too heavy when ;half a .dozen Or so are worn on one arm. , '' Fpr evening wear inch wide paste .bangles ;aml .bracelets of crystal and ■.pas jo are still having big.sales.