La Meri’s Wardrobe

Southland Times, Issue 22969, 15 August 1936, Page 9

La Meri’s Wardrobe

Fifteen changes of costume mean very much more in the concerts of La Meri than one would imagine, for with each change this superb dancer appears to become seeped in the characteristics, temperament and mannerisms of the nation each dance belongs to. In “Vida Breve” (the dance in the costume of Andalusian lace), she is a grand lady, somewhat languid; in “Antique Bolero,” in which she wears a ballet frock with short pink satin skirt held out with many petticoats, a wine-red velvet toreador jacket and a velvet cap to match, she is somebody very young and happy; in “Bolero, danced to music by Maurice Ravel, she is a smouldering, passionate piece of femininity, the long-trained, scarlet silk dress she wears corresponding perfectly with her mood; and in “Asturiana,” with its coloured skirt and bertha, its flat blue shoes and its amusing underclothes, she is a gauche hoyden, as shy as she is pretty. La Meri is a creative artist in the true sense and her remarkable (i an u vivid imagination was seen in “The White Peacock,” “Caprice Viennois and “Humoresque.” These dances she has created herself to well-known music. She is a perfect imitation of a peacock in a costume with a full train cascading from a closely fitting bodice with long tight sleeves, _ all in pure white. Capricious indeed is her frock of layer upon layer of frilled pale green organdie with, darker green ribbons worn for “Caprice Viennois. With it she wears a cream poke bonnet also trimmed with dark green ribbons. The costume La Meri considers, her prettiest is her geisha kimono. It is of lovely Oriental shades and is embroidered here and there in true Japanese fashion to throw the pattern into relief. In her collection is a rare and valuable Chinese court headdress. It is an intricate affair made of blue feathers from the breasts of pheasants appliqued on to gold and studded with jewels. It is rare because the work entailed in making it is now prohibited by the Chinese Government. It is so fine that it causes the maker to go blind, even before it is finished. From the headdress protrude three long pheasant feathers—three because they mean a prince at peace, while only one feather has a vastly different meaning —a general going to war. La Meri wears this wonderful creation in her Chinese impression of “Empress of Pagodas.”