A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1930, Page 13

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN. THE KING’S RHEUMATISM. (From Our Lady Correspondent.) London, May'29. The absence of the King from Tuesday night’s Court was a great disappointment, as well as a surprise. Up tul the morning His Majesty quite hoped to be present, but the rheumatism to which he has been a martyr since he got over the worst part of his illness has returned again, and he was comx pellcd, reluctantly, to give up the idea of appearing in the Throne Room with the Queen. The result of the announcement of this return of rheumatism set in motion again the rumours .. of a possible visit by the King to a Cou- , tinental spa. It has been common : knowledge, for some time, that Lord Dawson is very anxious for him to try the Pistany waters, and that he has j. paid a personal visit to Czecho-Slovaßia to make inquiries. Now everybody is ■ wondering whether His Majesty will ’ consent to take a “cure” there in the autumn. THE AGA KILIN'S BRIDE. There was tremendous interest in the fact that the vivacious, typically French bride of the Aga Khan was being presented at Court witli other French presentees." None of the beautiful clothes in her much-talked-df trousseau could compare with the exquisite gown which a'famous Paris dressmaker had made for the great occasion. It was of the softest hand-woven brocade in a very «ale ivory tone, the pattern of the tocade picked out in silver, and embroidered with glittering diamante. The Court train was fastened on either shoulder, and looked like a sheet of diamonds as its wearer moved, for it was embroidered all over in diamante. Her jewels were diamonds, and she wore a magnificent diamond diadem on her hair. ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHS. The portrait of the Queen, which was published this week on Her Majesty’s birthday, and was taken by the Duke of York, came from a very fine collection of amateur pictures at Buckingham Palace. Members of the Royal Family have always been fond of snapshots and, from quite an early age, the Prince of Wales and his brothers and sister had their own cameras and were encouraged to take pictures on all kinds of family •‘occasions,” Queen Alexandra had her own camera, so had Princess Victoria, and,, the Queen-Mother had a famous album of informal pictures. The best amateur photographers in the family are the Duke of York and Princess Mary, although the Prince of Wales has run them very close since his last African trip. "Princess Mary has some charming studies of her two boys, and the Duchess of. York possesses several of Princess. Elizabeth. MRS- SNOWDEN AT HOME. Mrs. Snowden must be one of the busiest women in London these days, but in spite of all her work she never complains of being tired and can always be prevailed upon to undertake “just one more thing.”. And “Number Eleven,” the Chancellor’s private residence, is a delightful place to visit. There seems to have been little truth in all the stories which were told about Mrs. Snowden’s colour schemes and furnishing notions. All the rooms are quite iimple, in excellent, - quiet taste, and most restful. You lose the idea of officialdom immediately you are admitted; Mrs. Snowden’s, personality pervades the whole house and . makes it friendly. There are books everywhere, lots of flowering plants, and in spite of the hive of industry which the whole place is in, there is a great sense of unhurried peace. CHURCH IN SPAIN. King Alfonso has so many friends in England —from the Court down to that drayman who held his hat in hand for the whole length of St. James’, Spanish place, when His Catholic Majesty was last there—that his chances of retaining the throne form the first question put to anybody returning to London from the Peninsula. The reply is curiously contradictory, according to the part of the country that has been visited. Go to Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville, and at each the impression of the others seems corrected. Barcelona is too cosmopolitan, perhaps, for any national pulse to be felt, and Madrid so sharply divided between student and citizen . that honours there between royal and republican sentiment remain pretty easy. But in sunny Seville where the heat means prolonged siestas and much of the business is lightheartedly transacted in open-air cafes, where the women go twice a day to worship, the Kina and his English consort are the most welcome sight in the streets. In fact, the usual suggestion is that the !’ church will save Spain for the monarchy—and itself. • SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT! I am sorry the stunt London Press has shown its usual inaccuracy about Miss 'Amy Johnson’s age. Most of ns pictured the heroine of this amazing air epic as a mere flapper. Now we know she is not just 22, but very nearly 27," her exploit docs assume a slightly different aura, But what it loses in sheer romantic impudence it gains in export adult determination. It seemed rather miraculous that one who was supposed to be little more than a schoolgirl could display such adroit savoir faire, and sustain such an ordeal of nervous . strain over so many days. I sec our pride in Miss Johnson’s prowess is now . ..a trifle subdued, moreover, by Denmark’s ancestral claims. Her grandone Anders Jorgenson, born . 78 years ago on Fycn Island, and still

living to-day at Bridlington. So in Miss Amy° Johnson we may salute a worthy heiress of the old Viking tradition. EPSTEIN MADONNA. The whole quarrel between formal and characteristic beauty is staged again at the Epstein exhibition now on view at Messrs. Knoedler's galleries in Old Broad Street. Throw over the Athenian conception, and what is there to prevent a genius with a ruthless belief in himself, like Epstein, casting round for other models? When any Italian village, as the British Tommy discovered for himself during the war, can supply types of the conventional Madonna and Child, why should not this expert sculptor seek something strange farther East? This he has certainly done in his big bronze, and the pity of it,is that, though he has sought to glorify motherhood, so many English women cry “Horrible!” It is not horrible at all, except perhaps from a Victorian standpoint, but it is vaguely disturbing. One curious comment on the impression produced by this, by two small bronze heads.of girls, and two score ■ drawings on the wall, again mainly concerned with “Mother and Son,” is the silence,, or at most the whispers,. of the visitors. DINNER TIME. The restaurants are all making their plans for the summer on the footing that most dinner parties will not take place before 9 p.m. This is definitely becoming the smart hour for runner, once summer time has become effective, and is at least half-an-hour later than the hour most commonly adopted last year. The lateness of 'the hour is very largely due to the increasing popularity of the cocktail party, which is nearly always arranged to follow, an afternoon spent playing tennis or golf. By the time the cocktail drinking is over, and everyone has had a bath and changed into evening kit, it is too late to contemplate dinner before nine at least. This late dining hour may be partly responsible for the theatre slump, which is now particularly bad. BLUE BELLS IN BELGRAVIA. I am told that enormous quantities of blue bells have passed through Covent Garden Market during the last few days. It seems they are finding a ready market this spring, not in the humble homes of suburbia, but in the stately mansions of Mayfair, and Belgravia. The market attributes their popularity to the cult of the simple life, and there is undoubtedly a movement in favour of country flowers in preference to more exotic blooms. For the cheery little marigolds-in particular there is always a steady and continuous market. Last week glorious bunches of tulips were being sold wholesale at Covent Garden at twopence or threepence a dozen The unfortunate growers cannot get much profit out of this, but the flower trade grows with every year that passes. The turnover of one firm alone in Co vent Garden last year exceeded a million sterling. STILL SHINGLING. A West End hairdresser assured me to-day that he sees no sign so far of women growing long hair again. A few impetuous votaries of fashion have grown their locks, but in many cases only to have them shorn off again. At the moment the tendency is to get right back to the shingle. According to my experienced informant, the Rue de la Paix has been routed by the handmirror. ’ Women were instinctively drawn to the idea of a change in the first place, and that feminine impulse was strengthened by the ehie new hats, with old-fashioned brims, with which Paris tried to coax the fair sex back .to Mother Eve. But the woman who lets her hair grow, after being bobbed or shingled, invariably gets a fright. When she carefully studies the result in a glass, she discovers she has added 10 years to her ostensible age. EXERCISING. At the beginning of the year the woman with a “rounded figure,” which is the dressmaker’s euphemistic name for plumpness, was led to believe that a little flesh was going to be fashionable again. She has been disappointed. In spite of longer hair, long skirts, and more femininity, fashion still demands a slim outline and a boyish figure. Indeed, the demand for slimness seems to become more imperative, and I am told that the beauty parlours, which offer physical exercises at .a guinea or more a “treatment,” are increasing their custom, and not losing it. Between 11 and 1 o’clock mid-day is the proper time for these exercises, which would be more successful in achieving weight reduction if they did not engender such appetites for lunch. AMERICANS IN LONDON FLATS. Our American visitors are “trying out” a new experience this year. Instead of staying in hotels in the West End, or even farther out, they are renting flats wherever they can get them, and making special demand of ' the agents for those over a mews, or some “quaint” spot. Their reason, they say, is that last year’s crash on Wall Street has hit them so hard that they have to economise. But once they have settled in to their furnished flat, there is little sign of eceonomy about their way of aoina on. A woman from New York, who°arrived last week in advance of her husband, took a tiny place in Westminster for a stay of four months. A small yard in which the refuse bin was kept did not please her, and she ordered expensive tubs and boxes of plants, and had boxes fitted to all the windowsills. On the inside of the house she spent a matter of £5O in making improvements. SPOILING AN EVENING. Leaders of fashion in London are very careful these days about their model dresses, and only on rare occasions does one come across two frocks of exactly the same style and materi&P being-worn hy different women at a’feb&a'l'fOTiction.

This did happen, however, this week, when Miss Gladys Cooper and her husband, Sir Neville Pearson, were at'the opera. Miss Cooper came into the foyer with a party of friends, looking very charming in a black and white chiffon frock of°particularly attractive cut. She had hardly been there more than a moment or two when another tall, fair woman arrived, wearing an exactly similar gown. Neither knew the other, and I doubt whether Miss Cooper noticed the frock particularly. If she did, she gave no sign. I wondered whether the other wearer discovered the “tragedy.” For many women it would have 3 meant an evening entirely spoiled. On this occasion it gave people something to talk and smile about in the intervals. WHAT TO WEAR? In these days of international travel the vagaries of fashion in different towns and countries are causing a great deal of inconvenience for American tourists as well as for English ones. As regards evening wear there is no difficulty at all. for the evening dresses must be long. It is the day frock which is so troublesome. English and . American girls have made a stand against the dictates of Paris, and although some of them are drooping their skirts a little below the knees, business and sports girls are remaining loyal to the 1929 fashion book. In France and Belgium it is quite different. I bad a letter this morning from a friend staying in Brussels. She tells me she positively dare not go out in some of the clothes she took over with her, as she attracts almost universal attention. No shop abroad is selling the kind of “rig-out” that is being worn in England. FABRIC BEDS. The fashionable tendency at the moment is directed towards brighter bedrooms. The rose-pink bedroom with shaded lights and dim upholstery is not nearly so smart as the room witli bright walls, gay upholstery, and brightly coloured pictures. This tendency is often given expression in bed-ends, which are made of plain wood up- j bolstered in the same colours as the chairs and settees, instead of being of polished wood. The woodwork is padded with cotton-wool, and covered with a silk material which is often buttoned like the back of a settee. One of the most effective rooms I have seen lately was the bedroom of a young viscountess, the bed of which had been upholstered in buttercup yellow to match the shade of the sheets, counterpane, and curtains.. An upholstered bed can easily be altered, if its owner decides to change the colour scheme of the room. YOUTH TO BE SERVED. The British Youth Hostel Association is the latest fad, but it promises to be a good one. Tn Germany walking is still the national recreation, and a network of hostels exists for the comfort and service of those sturdy Teutons of both sexes whose habit it is to hump' their rucksack. The newly-organised B.Y.H.A. aims at providing similar accommodation in this country, and during recent years quite a number of hostels have been opened in suitable localities, particularly in the north country. Now that the post-war flapper has taken to tramping the open roads, and still more the sequestered footpaths, additional impetus should be given to the movement, though some strollers will always prefer either the old-fashion-ed country inn or the providential cottage.

KEEP SYDAL HANDY. To ensure your hands being smooth and soft you need Sydal all through the day. A little rubbed into your hands while doing housework, another “Sydalling” before your afternoon wash, and before you retire rub a little well in and leave it. It heals while you sleep. SUPERFLUOUS HAIR destroyed by “RUSMA” (Regd.). Signed, stamped, guaranteed cure, £5 12s fid. . Florence Hullen, G.M.D., 7 Courtenay Place, Wellington. Send stamped, addressed envelope for particulars. Woods’ Great Pepperrnint Cure For Coughs and Colds n er fails.