WOMAN’S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1927, Page 19

WOMAN’S WORLD

SOCIAL AND GENERAL NEWS

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN

COLOUR AT COVENT GARDEN. (From Our Lady Correspondent.) London, May 19. Covent Garden opera is still Society’s smartest rendezous. You see more diamonds scintillating in the foyer of the Opera Hou. • between the acts than at the most fashionable ball in London, and the ropes of pearls which appear round the throats of the women in the stalls would fetch an incredibly large sum if they were all collected and sold. Opera cloaks and shawls are quite as attractive as jewels, and although there is a craze at the moment for white fur cloaks and those are worn more than anything else, I counted at least a score of magnificently embroidered shawls at a performance the other night. The colourings made a wonderful splash of colour, and the stitchery was so exquisite that people were making excuses to pass and re-pass little groups of women wearing shawls in order to admire it. JOINT ENTERTAINING. Although not a new idea, the joint dance, organised by two hostesses for the entertainment of their mutual friends, is more a feature of this Season’s entertaining than it has ever been before. A glance at the mantelpieces of a young bachelor friend of mine, who is something of a social light, revealed over a dozen invitation cards relating to joint dances between now and the end of July. There was an important ease in point when Lady Aberconway and Lady Norman were the hostesses. Often the two hostesses are each bringing out a debutante daughter as are Mrs. Angus Hambro and Mrs. James Ismay at the end of this month. An interesting June dance is the one being given by Countess Gurowska and the Hon. Mrs. Portal. Miss Gurowska is said to be a very charming girl. A GROWING FASHION. The number of joint coming-out parties and dances will indeed be an outstanding feature of the present season. Some of the lucky “debs” will in this way be taken under the wing of two or three notable hostesses. Lady Farquhar and Lady Ardee, as great friends as are their daughters, Miss Ruth Farquhar and the Hon. Maureen Brabazon, will see that both their girls have a good time, and will act as joint hostesses on their behalf. Sometimes the amalgamation is in the interests of economy; but more often because the “debs” are bosom chums or are related to each other. Other hostess alliances include Lady Ampthill and Lady Agnes Peel, for the Hon. Phyllis Russell; the Countess of Antrim and Lady Sybil Smith for Lady Rose McDonnell and Miss Honor Smith; Lady Stracey and Gertrude Lady Dunnfor, Miss Rosalind Stracey and the Misses Kathleen and Joan Dunn; and Lady Clodagh Anson and Mrs. Burrell for Miss Clodagh Anson and Miss Marion Burrell. * THE PREMIER’S HEALTH. Mrs. Baldwin, who is a good deal concerned about the health of her husband, has decided, for a time at least, to abandon th weekly “at homes” at 10 Downing-street. The announcement has occasioned a good deal of regret, for if the gatherings do not bring together the same gathering of “stars” that “Margot” brought around her they were nevertheless a pleasant feature of the London season. e luncheon parties to the wives of Conservative M.P.’s are also being dropped, and there will be little entertaining at the Prime Minister's official residence this year. There will be two garden parties at the end of June and the beginning of July. Apart from these the mandate has gone forth that the “P.M.” is to have as quiet a time as possible. THE MODERN “DEB.” Nearly everybody is commenting on the charm and good looks of the girls who are this year’s debutantes. Each Season sees some outstandingly pretty girl among those who make their debut, but the 1927 “buds” grouped together in a ballroom make as attractive a group as anyone could wish for. The shy, self-conscious debutante belongs to the past. When *he girl of to-day eomes out she has a delightful air of assurance,, and .none of. the gauche of other days, which is a great relief to those who have to . entertain for her. She can generally' hold her own in the discussions on questions of the day in which the “youngest of all”, set indulge. This change for the better is undoubtedly due to the fact that the daughters of even the best titled familes go to a good public school these days instead of being educated at home by a governess and sent abroad for a year at a finishing school. THE AMERICAN INVASION. Society, hostesses are looking for houses outside London this Season. Arne, rieans entertaining for debutante daughters and their compatriots in Mayfair have snapped up every available large house in the fashionable streets, thus affording the “new poor” opportunities of making fabulous sums of money with very little trouble. They have, at the same time, driven them to seek temporary homes at Hampstead, Wimbledon, and even farther afield, and the craze for living out of town has spread to wealthy English people who could quite well afford to secure convenient town house#. So after the dances and the dinner parties, a whole string of which are in full swing, high powered cars set out from the West End with merry parties of young people and their elders to seek sleep in the quiet suburbs. GILDED CHAIRS. I have been trying to find a large London house where the ballroom chairs are not gilded. Even Princess Mary has introduced them into her ballroom at Chesterfield House, but she has covered the cane seats with ruby brocade which matches her lovely curtains and so the ■ effect is not quite so glaring as it al- ■ ways appears to be in every other house. ■< The Princess has excellent taste in ' furnishing, but the most' striking thing i of all about her London house is its

spotless cleanliness and its general air of being well kept. There is a magnificient white marble staircase going up from a wide marble hall; all the windows are beautifully polished, and paint and paper look as fresh to-day as when they were put on a year or two ago. A DELIGHTFUL HOSTESS. One of Mayfair’s most charming hostesses is the Hon. Mrs. Gerald Montagu, of whom a recent picture, incidentally reveals her as the “double” of the Duchess of York. The fringe—and the smile — make the likeness quite startling. Mrs. Montagu’s Curzon-Street house has a fascinating drawing-room with an old gold ceiling, old gold walls, a goldenbrown carpet, and Chinese lacquer furniture in black and gold; while curtains and cushions of peacock green and petunia make a gorgeous contrasting splash of colour. This popular hostess is as clever as she is charming, and one of her many hobbies is play-writing. Two of her comedies were produced by well-known amateur societies with great success. CABARETS AT HOME. Mayfair is trying to devise some new 7 form of entertainment to take the place of the night elub. After several years of tremendous popularity these Bohemian haunts where people sup and dance after the play are beginning to lose their place in popular favour, and there is a distinct demand for some more intimate form of amusement. More and more Society people are adopting the habit of collecting little groups of friends in the vestibule of the theatre during the intervals of a play, and making up parties to take home with them for supper and an impromptu entertainment. Very often, the “turns” are provided by the guests themselves, for it is becoming the fashion again for girls and young men to take up the arts seriously. Music is very popular with them and Society can boast quite a number of good pianists, violinists, and harpists. RIVERSIDE NIGHTS. The Thames is already ablaze with colour. Pretty girls, pretty frocks and parasols, and gay masculine blazers. Murray’s—which started off with a gala dinner at the beginning of the month—is more popular than ever, and the jolly ' little glass dance floor is in great demand. Lighting up under a big shady tree on the itrald lawns, it makes a charming picture. Equally alluring is the verandah overlooking the club grounds sloping down to the silver stream. An ideal vantage-point for afternoon tea of dinner. And Mr. Jack May has brought ack with him from New York a collection of recipes for the most wonderful hot-weather American drinks. “OLDISH” TWENTY FIVE. The engagement of Lord Weymouth to the Hon. Daphne Vivian at the age of 22 is a reminder that marriages in the very early twenties are “quite the thing” in really smart society. A young girl described a young man of our mutual acquaintance the other day as “oldish” when I knew he had not yet reached 26 years of age. But a bachelor of over 26 is comparatively speaking a rarity,, and if he manages to remain unmarried at the age of 30 he runs the risk of being regarded as a survival fropf a former generation. Among professional men, who must work to keep themselves and their wives, the age of marriage is becoming later. Few doctors or barristers are now married until after 30. UP-TO-DATE DUCHESS. The Duchess of Bedford, whose flying exploits at 63 years of age have" excited widespread interest, is a feminist of the best type. Before she married the eleventh Duke of Bedford, she was a Miss Tribe, daughter of Archdeacon Tribe, and she was educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Zurich. Her hobbies are natural history, fishing, shooting, and radiography. She is one of the foremost living experts at the latter science. Her recent aerial tour, during which she flew from beautiful Woburn Abbey, to Paris, through Italy, Germany and Spain, was mainly inten'ied to enableeher to make a close study of ornithologv, on which the Duchess has written a good deal in the scientific journals. In addition to her other accomplishments this most un-Victorian Victorian lady is an expert sculler, and I believe once took lessons in that art op the Serpentine from the professional who keeps one of the boathouses there. CAUSE AND EFFECT! Colonel Day’s questioning of the Health Minister as to the possibilitv of lipstick poisoning has. aroused remarkable passion. One enthusiastic feminist writes to the papers, pointing out how much healthier women are nowadays than formerly, and drawing the obviously logical conclusion that lipstick and power-puff must be contributory causes! A doctor friend points out, however, that possibly their more hygienic clothing, and especially their greater addiction to fresh air and exercise, may be enough to counteract whatever unhealthy ellects lipsticking and nose-powdering might produce. The same authority is disposed, moreover, rather to challenge the assertion that ( modern women are healthier than our revered Victorian ladies. That they are far more energetic is certain, but energy does not necessarily mean health. After al], the present generation has yet to be tested in the matter of its longevity, and everybody knows that the. \ ictorian dames generally outlived their masculine contemporaries. PAGEANT OF GREAT LOVERS. One of the star features of Marie Tempest's matinee in aid of the Save Ihe Children Fund v. 1 be a pageant of the Great overs of Romance.” Miss Olga Lynne is rehearsing famous .Society beauties in their roles. Numbers c well-known Vlk are taking part in it, including Miss Zita I ungman and Lady Pamela IS -h as Romeo and Juliet, V iola Tree as / Helen of Troy f' ld , Hon - Mrg - Bichard Norton as Titania, Gli. ’yg Cooper as Ariadne, Miss Poppy P....ing as Seheharazade,. and Tallullah Bankhead as Persephone.