A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Taranaki Daily News, 17 March 1928, Page 21

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN. (From Our Own Correspondent). London, Jan. 26. Black and white. So far the dressfcakers do not seem to be able to get past either one or the other of these for our evening frocks. They suggest, "with a good deal of hesitation, this colour and that, and then they advise us to play for safety if we must have new frocks before the Paris dress shows, and choose black velvet or white satin. Leaders of fashion, who can afford to set the dress pace for themselves, seem to have grown a little tired of this hesitancy. They are launching out into charming little schemes of their own, ■which accounts for quite a new idea in flowered chiffon frocks which was sponsored by Mrs. Wilfred Ashley the other night. A HOME ARTS DIRECTOR. Mrs. Ashley lias just joined anothei Well-known Society woman the Hon. Mrs. Richard Norton, in the screen world. Mrs. Norton manages one of the best run picture houses in the West End of London. Mrs. Ashley is going to have even more intimate acquaintance with films than that. She is going to help with the direction of British films as they are made at the new film colony at Elstree. She has been appointed because she is a leader of Society and her knowledge of manners and customs of English life will bo of tremendous value where modern screen studies are concerned. She has studied house furnishing and decoration actually tn the workshops during the last year or two, and has a lovely house in Westminster, all the rooms of which are carried out to her own furnishing designs. So she should prove an ideal Home Arts director, which is what the film people have called her. Mrs. Ashley was entertained a night or two ago by some of the people with whom she is going to work, and it was then that I saw her in her charming flowered chiffon frock. The foundation was ivory, but it was fully patterned with soft leaf green that it reminded you of the gown of a wood nymph.

AND GREEN SLIPPERS. A V neck line and cross-over bodice effect gave that long line which is not only very becoming but gives one a slim appearance. The skirt seemed to have no fullness, and yet it was a mass of loose panels of uneven length, falling one above the other. They had been so arranged that they fell perfectly flat and, while giving freedom for walking and preserving the youthful, slender silhouette, there was' nothing of the skimpy effect about the frock. That is one of the first things to guard against In any chiffon frock which Is not made with a bouffant skirt. Below the chiffon was a straight under-dress of jade crepe de chine, and this was exactly matched by some satin slippers. I emphasise the brightness of the satin, because slippers for evening wear are no longer content to tone in with one's frock. They stand out very definitely. Multi-col-oured brocades are slipping out of favour on this account. Slippers must be seen now, and a great many women who dance a lot wear, either a bright satin or a polished silver kid. Either is charming. Both attract attention. PRETTIER SHINGLES. The French hairdressers say quite definitely that smart women are not allowing their hair to grow long. There is no doubt, though, that the closelyeropped shingle has gone forever. A few people have adopted the little bunches of curls over the ears, but far more have resorted to a style between a bob and a shingle, In which the hair is allowed to grow much thicker at the back, is waved in deep, naturallooking waves, and brushed across to one side or the other. At the side of the face the full waves are caught back by a slide. The effect Is very much prettier. In fact, the 1928 shingle is a most attractive affair. THE LITTLE SEASON. London's Little Season, which begins nt the end of this month and continues till Easter, is becoming more than a prelude to the summer season. It is becoming part of it. The Little Season is a period of debuntantes* dances and informal dinners before the serious business of hectic pleasure begins in May. This growth of the Little Season and its development into part of the summer season has brought about a great Increase in the trade of the West End. This year the Little Season, which opens with the return of the Court from Sandringham, will be made the more gay and interesting by the visit of the King and Queen of Afghanistan, and perhaps a visit by Prince Leopold of Gelglum and his pretty wife, the former Princess Astrid of Sweden. There are a greater number of dances and dinners than have been held in the early part of previous years. One hotel alone has two private dances a night for the whole of February and March. The number of foreign visitors here, too, looks like becoming a record. It was possible to hear 17 languages spoken at one hotel yesterday. LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S. TASK.

Fitting a quart into a pint pot is •’ways the January task of the Lord Chamberlain's department, in view of the summer Courts. As yet he task is only in its preliminary stage. But, as a matter of precautionary routine, quite a number of applicants desirous to attend have already had to bs Informed that they have been placed on the “supplementary list.” Such an intimation does not bar the door against hope, for their Majesties may decide to bold more than four Court*, in which event quite a number of the "‘supplerm utaln” will achieve their hearts’ detire. This early compilation of supple

| mental lists presages a busy London ! season, and one which should bring joy ■ to the shopkeepers. j WOMEN GRADUATES AND BUSES. I The University Women's Cub—which ' nas its premises in South Audley Street, and is the only club which opens Its ■ doors only . to University women—has been having a few words with London omnibus drivers. Members going to ana from the club have complained that 'buses refuse to stop opposite Stanhope Gate, but have sailed past with a blind eye. So a solemn letter of protest was addressed to the omnibus company, and a most polite reply has come back that drivers have been given particular Instructions to pick up passengers at Stanhope Gate. The amusing feature of the whole thing is that the younger members of the club declare they have no difficulty in “catching the eye” of th* drivers, but find drivers most ready to pick them up. They are a little scornful at the failure of the few. POSITION TELLS. A training college for women students has for some years had a telephone with a penny-in-the-slot appliance for the use of students. The treasurer complained that it wag used so little that the pennies collected from the box did not pay for the quarterly rental. She suggested that, as the students evidently did not use it much, the Instrument might be removed. It happened that the telephone was in the entrance hall, where all who passed might overhear. A junior member of the training staff suggested thai if the instrument were moved to a less public spot it might be used more freely. A month ago It was placed in a small room. Last week the box had to be. emptied because it contained so many pennies that no more could be pressed in.

ROYALTY AT ST. MORITZ. A friend just back from St, Moritz tells me that both the King and Queen of the Belgians made themselves exceedingly popular with the ordinary winter sports visitors. They mixed freely with the guests in the hotel, joined in the entertainments, and were to be seen strolling about like mere commoners. But what impressed everyone most strongly was the untiring way in which the Queen took up skating. She skated ail day, starting in the morning when the rink was empty, and going on after it was dark. Even the professional instructor, a world-famous skater, admitted to my friend that she could outstay him. THE “NEWEST” DANCE. The Riviera, which is positively dance mad this season, and pirouettes from 6 o'clock in the evening till the clock gets round to the same hour in the morning, is in ecstasies over a new dance. The great discovery which has taken all the life and wriggle out of tho Yale Blues or Charleston, may be recollected dimly by the more elderly habitues o’ the ballroom. It is called the Lancers. The younger generation, however, had never seen or heard of it until they came across it at the gay winter resort. Sc, not bearing the stigma of a bucknumber to them, they simply have fallen in love with it, and are clamouring for immediate lessons. Perhaps, therefore, given a really smart environment, many other old-time European dances might be brought back into vogue. Why not resurrect the polinaise or the mazurka ? PRESENTS TOR BENEDICTS. The masculine wedding present is an intriguing affair these days. I mean the present that either men or women friends give to the bridegroom-elect. It used to be an umbrella or a shootingstick, a pair of field-glasses or a barometer. Now it is nearly always jewellery, and the kind of jewellery known to the best shops as ‘ evening wear.” There are not only studs and sleevelinks lor

evening clothes, but a specially thin watch, the finest of platinum chains, and a fob or semi-precious stone attached to a black moire ribbon. Ono Society (bridegroom had 30 pieces of jewellery Recently sent to him as pei-sonal wed|ding gifts, and a glass show-case had to be provided in which to display them. POLO PLATES. Society is smiling at a new idea in china introduced by a go-ahead firm. Hostesses with country mansions were the recipients recently of .miniature plates or cups and saucers upon which had been painted in the most delicate style a view of their house or some part of the grounds. As a result, a good many people are commissioning artists to paint table ware for them with some favourite scene or even to depict an incident connected with their particular family history. For the country home of one well-known countess, whose family are poted polo players, a service of plates has just been completed on each one of which there is a scene from a polo contest. THE SEXES. During the next few weeks a great many people will be paying a visit to Burlington House to inspect the masterpieces of the fine Iveagh collection and the work of recently-demised R.A’s. They can hardly fail, if they examine the pictures .attentively, to be struck by one remarkable fact. Most of the exhibits are portraits, and whilst moss of the modern women portraits show the fair sex as greatly improved in looks and dress compared with the beauties depicted on the Old Masters’ canvases, quite the reverse is true of the male portraits. Judging by these old and modern pictures, shown in close juxtaposition at the Royal Academy, men have not grown better looking, like their sisters, and have, again unlike them, greatly deteriorated in sartorial artistry. Viewed from this not unimportant human angle, the Royal Academy’s Winter Show is certainly another triumph for feminism. WOMAN AIR CHAMPION. The Faris League of International Aviators has paid the highest compliment to British women’s pluck and sportsmanship by awarding the title of “Lady Champion Aviator of the World” to Lady Bailey. Although she has not yet rivalled the feat of Lindbergh, the male champion, Lady Bailey can claim to have been her own pilot in the world’s height record (18,000 feet) she holds for light aeroplanes; to have been the first woman to fly alone across the Irish Sea, and the only one to compete in the King’s Air Cup race. Her husband, Sir Abe Bailey, said to be South Africa’s richest man. came originally from Keighley, Yorkshire, and Lady Bailey was the Hon. Mary Westenra, daughter of the fifth Lord Rossmore. Though she lias .five children, two being twins, she enjoys piloting her “Moth” whenever the fancy takes her as- much as any schoolboy might.