A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON GOWN.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 46, 31 March 1914, Page 4

A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON GOWN.

Afternoon gowns have never before jreached such a pitch of richness and elegance as at the present : moment. Dressmakers, just now, seem to devote more time and attention to the afternoon gown than to any other garment in the feminine wardrobe, and the result is, of course, a perfection of beauty and finish such as we have never seen before.

The very lovely gown sliown in our sketch Is typical of the best modes of to-day. It is carried out.in chiffon velvet in a rather pale and unusually pretty shade of mole, a tone that has just a suggestion of pink in its e'ompdsition. There is comparatively little velvet in the bodice, the larger part of •which is made of lace which is .dyed to exactly the same shade of fnole. In front the velvet is arranged ,in two points, which are caught on the shoulder "by very hand-some buttons of deep, royal blue enamel set in dull silver rims. A narrow band of jjkunk edges tJjese points on either side. The back of the bodice is simply a plain piece of the

velvet, cut well away from the a rms, and hollowed a little at the neck. A hand of fur edges the top and Hide* of this velvet back, which, by the way, in pouched a little at the waist. The tinder-bodice is entirely made of the dyed lace, and is mounted upon ivory cfaiffon, which, in its turn, is lined with the palest flesh coloured ninon. This lining of chiffon, with its faint flesh-coloured doublure, shows above the top of the lace bodice, which is cut to a point in front. A little wired collar of very transparent ivory lace finishes this chiffon vest. Bands of fur finish the long, plain sleeves at the wrist. These sleeves are cut in one with the lace bodice.

The skirt is made with a "Persian" tunic of the velvet, which is gathered all round the waist. A sort of flounce of chiffon in precisely the same shade as the velvet finishes the this tunic. The under-skirt, also of the velvet, is slightly but most charmingly draped, and is extremely graceful in effeet. This beautiful and most becoming toilette is completed by a broad, draped sash of wonderfully rich brocade in a tone which is almost, but not quite, royal blue.

land. When Mr Theo. Queree (who has just returned from London) first met Miss Buckmann at Home she was booked to sing at no fewer than eighty concerts.

The Oriental idea about the glory of a "man child" is exactly reversed in America when it comes to adopting children. The Illinois Children's Home Society refused over a hundred requests of would-be foster parents who were anxious to adopt a blue-eyed, curly haired baby girl to brighten their home at Christmas. Mrs Julia Wray, the head of the ehikl-placing department of the Chicago Home and Aid Society, also declares that female in the colour scheme of Burne-Jones angels are in such great request that they have become extremely scarce. This society, which has 1214 children now under its care, found homes in private families for 307 children last year, p.nd 140 babies were boarded in family homes, because the object of the society is not to break up homes, but to assist mothers to keep their own children whenever possible. Each home is carefully^investigated before a child is sent there. After the child is taken into the home it is visited regularly by officers of the .society until its adoption or until it reaches eighteen years of age. The spring umbrella is the gayest thing imaginable, says aa, English writer in an exchange. It is coloured fairly sedately as far as the silk is concerned, but the handles'show the brightest of possible green and yellow parrots, red and . blue ducks, multicoloured pelicans, and other curious fowl. The heads only are used in most cases, but one realistic model showed a bright yellow hen sitting on a pale green nest. One wonders what colour the chicks will be?

The question whether it becomes the wives ami daughters, of Austro-Hun-garian officers to wear slit skirts has kd to the retirement of the Commander of the Budapest Garrison, General Fckete. This officer, noticing at a recent concert that the slit skirts worn by a number of the officers' wives and daughters and lady friends displeased <he Commander of the Army Corps, issued an order to the officers declar-

ing that these skirts clicl not become their wives and daughters. Thereupon the Budapest Press attacked both genorals. Apparently this pained the Corps Comfnander so much that he found fault with the prohibition. Consequently General Fekete asked for leave, from whicli he will not return, tc the great satisfaction of the ladies who wear slit skirts.