WOMAN’S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1929, Page 21

WOMAN’S WORLD

A MAID IN MAYFAIR GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN. THE QUEEN’S GIFTS. (From Our Lady Correspondent.) London, May 16. There was something very charming about tho Queen’s farewell to Bognor. Her Majesty had made many friends among all sorts and conditions of people during her stay, and in the day or two before she left she made a special point of saying “goodbye” to those who had done things for her, and of presenting delightful little gifts. She will be very much missed among the poorer folk at Aidwick, for, in the simple country life which she lias been leading at Craigwill House, to get into touch with her neighbours was one of her chief pleasures. The whole of her visit has been delightfully informal. I am told that she often went into the kitchens and discussed the menus rvith the staff, and on more than one occasion she baked “honey cakes,” a favourite delicacy of the King’s and stayed chatting with those who were on duty until the contents of her oven were properly “done.” A ROYAL THANK-OFFERING I hear that the Queen has had in mind for some time the idea of making a personal thank-offering for the King’s wonderful recovery. Bognor has had a very large share in bringing the King through a difficult stage of his illness towards convalescence, and the Queen feels that she would like her personal commemoration of her husband’s restoration to health to be associated with the town. The whole scheme is very much in the air at present, naturally, but it is thought that the Queen may like to follow the example of Queen Alexandra, ■who gave a gift to Sandringham church as ,a thank-offering after the illness of King Edward just before his Coronation. I thing it took the form of a carved lectern. What shape tho Queen’s gift will take, and whether it will be made to the little church at Pagham where Her Majesty has worshipped on several Sunday mornings while the Court has been at Bognor, is not yet decided. CRAIGWEIL HOUSE. I am told that no arrangements have been made yet about letting Craigwcil House again. Sir Arthur du Cros’ agents are likely to find it a little embarrassing to select a tenant from the many applications they have received, and I imagine they will never have the house on their hands again—at any rate for any length of time —for the next ten years. Certain alterations which were made for the King and Queen will, of course, be readjusted immediately. The little kitchenette in which the King’s meals were prepared was only a temporary affair and will bo taken away, and various invalid “gadgets” which were introduced in tho suite which His Majesty used will not to remain. Americans are very keen indeed to get a lease of the house, I hear, but there are English families, too, who would give a great deal to entertain their friends in a “Royal residence” —even though it was Royal for only three months." THE PRINCE’S WALK. The Prince of Wales has set a new fashion in morning constitutionals. The debutantes, especially the American ones, tare following it with great delight. The Prince calls at Buckingham Palace every morning after he has gone through his own letters —usually about 10 o’clock — and to give his small cairn terrier, Cora, a run, he walks along tho Mall from St. James’s Palace to what the younger members of the Royal Family irreverently call “Buck House.” This little habit of his was discovered a week or two ago, and now you may find all the smartest and prettiest young ladies, in neat tailor-mades and trim walking.-'shoes, parading the Mall for their morning exercise. St. James’s Palace has always fascinated the American girls. . Immediately they begin to arrive in London for the season, you come across them in little groups, passing in and out of the winding passages which lead to the various “Courts,” but always keeping the entrance to York House well in view. KING’S WALKING STICKS. Though the King has received over SO walking sticks sent to .him since his convalescence by all sorts of admirers, His Majesty’s collection cannot compare with that of his father, which is still carefully preserved almost intact at Sandringham. Owing to his great weight in later years, a walking stick was a necessity to King Edward, and he developed into almost a collector. Besides many he purchased for himself, both here and abroad, King Edward’s collection contains wonderful presentations from illustrious people, and one from most contemporary European rulers. Amongst King George’s is an Irish blackthorn with the royal cipher- in gold from County Down, which is almost as magnificent a specimen of the genuine shillelagh as the one given to Lord Carson during the Home Rule crisis. DUCHESS’ DRESSMAKER. I discovered this week, when I was shown the lovely silver-embroidered frock which the Duchess of York had ordered for one of the Courts, that the Duchess has never changed her dressmaker since her marriage. An old-estab-lished firm in Bond Street has always made her frocks for functions from the time she had party dresses as a very little girl, and when she “came out” they were responsible for the simple gown in which, as a debutante, she made her curtsey to the King and Queen. Her wedding dress was ordered from them, and they rather expected then that that might be the last gown they would make for her. As Duchess of York it was conceivable that she might prefer to go to tho Queen’s dressmaker or to one of the smart firms run by titled women. But she has remained faithful to her old dressmaker, and is as much adored by the fitters and other workers with whom she comes in contact as by everybody else who has work, to do for her. * The Prince of Wales betrays no longTng to enter into possession of Marlborough House — and who shall blame

him? The quarters ho has so long occupied at York House are ideally comfortable for a bachelor, and possess the additional advantage of being less costly in the matter of upkeep than would be Marlborough House. H.R.H.’s tastes are simple, and he simply loathes the thought of the army of servants the larger residence would necessitate. Moreover, just recently he has been at pains to demonstrate the social possibilities of St. James’s Palace by the interesting series of dinner parties he has been giving there—parties large enough to be comprehensive, but not too large for social intimacy. Tho guests have embraced a catholicity of interests—politics, diplomacy, the law, ex-Gpvernors, society, the services, and medicine have all been represented. Still, how long will H.R.H. bo able to postpone the inevitable removal? I say “inevitable” because it must be remembered that so long ago as 1927 Iler Majesty was busy superintending the scheme of decorations at Marlborough House for the Prince’s occupation —and the Queen is not given to wasting time! TALENTED HOSTESS PASSES. Most of tho talk in tho clubs at luncheon time this week was of the passing of Mrs. “Willie” James. Uiis generation does not remember her brilliant parties and the famous Edwardian circles of which she was one of the central figures, but older folk were recalling memories of happy days at West Dean Park where some, of the most wonderful and the most-talked-of houseparties of King Edward’s reign took place. Tho King himself, and Queen Alexandra, were both entertained by Mrs. James, and tho King had a tremendous admiration for the wit and charm of his hostess. Other members of the Royal Family have been her guests, too, tiiiiiimiiiiiiminiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiii

bi<t of late years she spent the winters abroad and was not seen a great deal in London. She has passed on much of her beauty to her youngest daughter, Audrey, better known as Mrs. Dudley Coats, who belongs to the smart young set in society. THE DUCHESS’ DRESSES. Some beautiful gowns are being made just now for the Duchess of York’s visit to Scotland where she and the Duke are to be in residence at Holyrood Palace during the General Assembly in Edinburgh. It is very noticeable that the Duchess is departing from the simple girlish frocks in which she so charmed everybody for a year or two after her marriage, 'and is choosing now dresses of more elaborate design. For the Court last week, for instance, she wore a wonderfully embroidered and jewelled gown of golden material, and while she is at Edinburgh she will be seen in toilettes which befit her position as the Queen s representative at various afternoon and evening functions. The Duchess still wears, on occasion, some of Her Majesty’s beautiful jewellery in place of the simpler ornaments which she possessed when she married, and which were added to by the wedding gifts of friends. AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX. The editor of ‘'The Tailor and Cutter” has had his annuual dig at the Royal Academy suitings. But this time he turns his tape measure on the clothes worn by celebrities a.t the Private View as well, which I take to be an unconscious admission of an inferiority complex. It must strike the sartorial editor that there is a reason why all the women are painted in ordinary dress whereas most of the men are in uniform of one sort or other. The obvious explanation is that the women’s clothes are fit for R.A.’s to paint, but the men’s' suits fit only for heroes to bo painted in. Put a modern woman’s portrait in an old gallery, and it would handsomely hold its own. A modern man in similar company would look a nightmare. If there is anything wrong with I the sartorial side of the Royal Academy, | it is no.t the artists but the tailors who: aro to blame. MADAME KRASSIN, It is just a little difficult to tell how far prejudice against everything Russian will affect Madame Krassin’s book,

just published} of her* husband s life and relationships with the Soviet. They weie both most interesting personalities, and M. Krassin had an extremely difficult . task set him when ho was sent to London as Russia’s representative m matters of trade. Tho fact that ho was a sick man did not make things easier. Madame Krassin made an impression upon social and diplomatic London immediately she arrived and I think a great many people admired her courage even though they did not accept her invitations. She is a woman of much culture, widely read, and with the artistic tastes of the educated Russian. She brought interesting people together so far as she was allowed, and she refused to let tho difficulties of her position swamp her. Her daughter is doing very well at an English University. THE OPERA DINNER-PARTY. If vou are anywhere within a mile or 1 two of Covent Garden in the early evening just now, you may see numbers of people, in full evening dress by five o’clock, driving in apparent haste to keep appointments. They are the music lovers who refuse to miss a single note of “The Ring,” which is being sung mag-' nificently at the Opera House this year. The food problem has been solved most satisfactorily for them. They have a quite substantial tea at home before they leave, and half way through each performance there is a very long dinner interval which enables them to rush down in their cars to one of the hotels for what is known as “the Opera Dinner.” Most people book tables for it well in advance, and a great deal of entertaining is done. People who share their boxes take friends along with them, and others meet in the foyer and go off together for their meal. lam told that the hotels time the serving of the courses to the minute, and have even introduced the cocktail ingredients into the grape fruit dressing to save precious moments. AMERICAN CLOTH CURTAINS. A merchant who handles American cloth tells me that the fashion for this material for smart window curtains took many manufacturers by surprise, and it was only with difficulty that they could be persuaded to experiment with designs suitable for hangings. It is being extensively used by the smartest decorators in Mayfair, and has been proved surprising effective with the varnished and painted walls so popular with those who can afford them. A “sister” material, which is also being used, is oiled silk. Both American cloth and oiled silk are being employed to make fancy dresses of the extremely modern and fantastic variety worn at the studio parties, which are a feature of entertaining this season. ANITA RECANTS. Brunettes all over the world have heard with intense relief that Miss Anita Loos did not mean it. When she wrote that astonishingly popular book, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” she was either not quite serious, or she has since found cause to reconsider hei’ view about it. As dark ladies practically throughout the civilised globe outnumber the fair ones by at least five to one, and probably more, the news of this recantation is greatly consoling. But nothing can alter the fact, which Miss Anita Loos may or may not have pondered when she wrote her classic, that all the great masters of art have shown marked preference for blondes. Painters and writers seem to make their heroines fair and their wicked ladies dark. But it may be that things are changing. Blonde beauties may become as obsolete some day as Rubens’ fat ones have already done. THE COLLECTING FEVER. The latest news from the West End is that fashion plates are becoming all the rage and acquiring a purely fictitious market value that certainly bears no relation to artistic merit. Some people must always be collecting something. It it is not stamps or butterflies it is old maps or ancient sea etchings, and now the latest thing in connoisseurship is tho ordinary fashion plate. It is understandable that a complete “set”, of feminine ones might be amusing, since women’s fashions have changed so totally; but I fancy the masculine tailor’s fashion plate must exhibit a certain monotony. The collecting fever takes queer forms. A famous music hall artist collects jugs; a well-know actor concentrates on walking-sticks; one distinguished Harley Street specialist has a collection of policemen’s helmets, souvenirs of his medical student days, and everybody, more or less, collects umbrellas. NOT INTERESTED. The City is surprised at the public interest in the news that tile Royal Mail Company is no longer engaging girls for its staff. The announcement is merely in keeping’ with a fairly general tendency. For three years now, training schools for women secretaries have been advising pupils that city openings are becoming rarer, and that the chances of promotion are poor. The explanation is that not five per cent, of girls who take up typing want a “career.” They perform their jobs conscientiously enough, but neither expect nor ask for promotion. A commercial baronet told some friends this week that over a period of fifteen months he had asked 67- typists what they hoped to be doing at the age of 40. The general trend of their replies with one exception was, “Good gracious! I hope I’m not in any office then.” The one exceptiond is now his personal factotum, and is earning £6OO a year. ELECTION TROUSSEAUX. Dressmakers, who a few -weeks ago were inclined, to complain that the General Election would mean a loss of business owing to a decrease in entertaining, are now looking more cheerful. During the last fortnight the wives, daughters, sisters, and other female relations of election candidates have been buying new clothes with which to dazzle the electorate. Even if tailor-mades do not represent as big profits as dance frocks, the sudden rust of orders has been most welcome. Men’s tailors, I heard, are also doing -well. In the belief that the now women voters will have a discriminating eye for such things, candidates are equipping themselves with new clothes with '■ which to face their constituencies.