FASHION NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1933, Page 17 (Supplement)

FASHION NOTES

WAYS WITH STRIPED MATERIALS.

GREY THE POPULAR COLOUR.

(By Colline Rouff.) • London, Nov. 12.

One day recently I received an invitation to meet several smart women, with their husbands and brothers, to see a new home. The party was on a Sunday afternoon, and tea was specially mentioned. I had no doubts about the kind of dress to wear. I chose a very charming—so I thought—crepe de chine frock, with rather new sleeves, and a rather long skirt. But what a shock I received when I was shown into the drawing-room. Every woman, including my hostess, was wearing a sports frock or suit. Fortunately, no one need feel out-of-things about clothes to-day, because people wear what they fancy so long as it is suitable. My frock was not unsuitable, but it seems that it is better to wear very slim and “sporty” clothes all day now, in order to be “in tune” with everyone else. The frock of thin woollen material is rivalling the suit, though personally I think the suit is the smarter and more practical of the two. Very fine oatmealccloured wool made the suit I picked out as my favourite in this gathering. The skirt was gored in five narrow panels, and was not very full at the hem. The low waist line and the hem were finished by bands of stitching set close together, which gave a nice crisp look. The very slim girl needs no stiffening belt inside the waist-line, _ but for most of us a narrow webbing is better, as it keeps the waist trim. The plain little jacket -was on cardigan lines, but had revers, one of which was curved, laid back flat, and had many neat buttonholes in it. The other revers had flat wooden buttons sewn on in a curved line to take the buttonholes when the coat was fastened. A blouse of very fine stockinette striped brown, coral and oatmeal, with a high round neck and plain elbow sleeves, completed the suit.

The hostess was wearing a thin crimson wool frock with a narrow scarf tied in a loose bow at the throat.

STRIPED EFFECTS.

Stripes are having a great vogue just now. Lovely striped jersey-cloths, wool laces and stockinettes are being shown. Also there are striped chiffons and satins, the chiffons for evening frocks, and the satins for little capes,' inset collars and cuffs, blouses, and scarves. The woman who can wear a striped frock is fortunate. She is not necessarily very silm, but she is just above medium height, and very lissom. ' . Some designers make the frocks with the stripes going straight down, the four skirt panels very carefully put together in order not to show where the joins come. Then they add hem, neckline, binding and cuffs ■: of the material cut with the stripes on the bias. When the dress is made of plain and striped materials, it is not sufficient to let the stripes appear on the bodice alone. They must be somewhere on the skirt, too, or the effect is not good.

A striped blouse, with long plain sleeves, has a narrow cape collar of the plain material fastened on to the front with two rows of large buttons. The skirt is cut in straight panels of plam material and has slim striped gores let in down the seams from the kneeline. GREY A FAVOURITE COLOUR. The new material with a crinkled surface, known as elephant crepe, is very popular, and is obtainable in beautiful Colours. One good shade is rather like pale purple ink; another is a beautiful soft grey. How fashionable grey is at the moment. Perhaps it does not suit you, in which case do not wear it near the face, but 'use a softly contrasting colour with it. Many women refuse to wear grey because they say it makes them look sallow, but they could easily wear it if they introduced a' contrasting colour. Just now, a dark, warm red is being used with soft silvery grey. A blouse of crepe satin in this red tone looks delightful; so does one in real coral red. Some like jade green with grey. I do not. I think they are both difficult tones to wear alone, and when they are together they become even more difficult. A touch of sapphire blue is wonderful with some greys. It seems to bring out the best tints in the complexion and hair, and certainly all the best in blue, grey or hazel eyes. Few women think of emphasising the colour of their eyes with pieces .of jewellery or touches of trimming, though some of the most beautiful effects are to be secured in this way. SOME “SURPRISE” DISHES. (By F.F.) The classic “surprise dish” is, of course, the ice pudding which looks like a tart with meringue on tdp, but which conceals a firmly frozen ice under a hot covering. How it is prepared is a matter that concerns only the chef, since. It calls for much culinary skill. For the less initiated, there are many dishes of the “surprise” order, such as surprise cutlets, for the preparation of which you will need a set of aluminium cutlet moulds—useful little things that cost only a few pence apiece. Chop any remains of cold meat, add minced onion and parsley, season to taste, and bind with an egg. Line the moulds with the mixture to form beds for the “surprises, which consist of hard-boiled eggs cut in halves, one half being placed in eacn mould. Cover with more of the meat mixture, dredge the tops well with flour, and cook in boiling dripping in a deep pan. Batter can be used to conceal quite a number of “surprises” in the way of fillings. People who prefer cooked oysters to raw ones may roll the delicacies in fairly thick batter and fry them lightly. Though oysters are usually served at the beginning of the meal, this ‘.‘surprise” dish will furnish a delicious savoury at the end of it. There is nothing children love more than a surprise, no matter how simple it may be. So when you buy new blancmange moulds and cake tins, look out for those with inner compartments that afford opportunities for hiding unexpected fillings. When some apparently common-place blancmange has been put on, your plate, it is fun to discover that a small spoonful of grated chocolate or chopped ginger lurks within. As for the cake, it is quite sufficient to make the centre of the same mixture in a different colour.

THE PAINTED CHEST.

(By Elisabeth Kyle.) The chest stood in the middle of the room pulled out from the wall so that its new owner could the better raise and lower its heavy rounded lid. Not that the chest was now. It bore the painted characters of the year 1726 on the underpart of the lid, together with the initials of its first owner, an ancestress of the shy, silent girl who now knelt before it. The girl was packing sheets of handwoven linen, embroidered cushions, and the wall-hangings so beloved in the north, even as the first owner of the chest had packed her handiwork to take with her to her new home. Winter falls early in the north of Finland, and the wind was blustering against the pine long house walls. The sun had but lately gone down, and everything was bathed in that curious blue light, almost navy, which falls near the Arctic circle between sunset and dark. The young bride-to-be, still on her knees, fingered meditatively a coloured tablecloth which, after the revived fashion in Finnish country districts, she had made at the village weaving school’ as soon as her engagement had been announced. Her fiance was the local representative of a wealthy wood merchant, who lived in Helsingfors but owned vast tracks of woodland up in the north. She would not be going far from the trading station where her parents lived. Quiet-voiced, with heavy flaxen hair bound round her head, and the high cheek-bones and deep-set eyes of the Finn, she spoke four languages and had a good grip of contemporary European politics. But she had seldom been out of her own province, and only once to Helsingfors. She did not therefore dread the continuation of the only life she knew, a life cut off from almost everything which modern civilisation has

taught us is essential. She would go on her way, lighted during the short summers by a sun which shines all nlgnt long as well as all day, and during the long winters by the flickering brillance of the Northern Lights. “This chest came from lower down, near Vasa, on the coast,” she said, closing the top again and fastening the heavy lock of twisted metal. “We weren’t civilised enough, in those days, to make furniture like that up here in the north. It is our only piece of family furniture, and my mother has given it to me for a wedding present. She packed her own linen in it when she came up from the south to marry father. Some of the old farmhouses round Vasa still contain painted furniture. And I believe they are beginning to make modern pieces on the old lines, painted and decorated in Finnish designs, because many' of our people feel that they want their possessions to reflect our national taste. I am told it is no longer fashionable in Helsingfors to furnish in the German or Swedish style. Furniture must come from Viborg, where the modern painted replicas are being made, and fabrics from one or other of our spinning and weaving schools ...” “You are fortunate not to have to send' to Viborg for a marriage chest. You have an original one at home ...” “Yes,” she agreed thoughtfully. We both looked for a few moments at the chest, still gay with its coating of Indian red, and its pattern of blackbirds, open beaked, surveying an ornate arrangement of hearts and monograms. “A man came up from the south last summer, and father brought him home to supper. He offered us quite a lot of money for the chest, but of course we would not ‘sell it. Why should we? Then he asked if he might copy the design, to send to the workshops at Viborg. I saw no harm in that, but my mother forbade it. No other women, except those of our family, she said, were to pack their wedding linen in a chest like mine ...”

WHEN BONZO WAGS HIS TAIL.

A woman feels grateful for’ this friend who is consistently faithful. - A man knows he has found a pal—a living creature who will die for him if necessary.

A baby crows with delight, and holds out tiny hands in welcome. A child forgets his fit of temper, and smiles through his tears. The most pugnacious individual unclenches his fists—the better to stroke the little dog’s head.

Strangers smile at each other and become friendly. Enemies forget their differences for a while. Folk in trouble feel a little better. Perhaps they obtain comfort from whispering their tales of woe into a soft brown ear!

When a dog wags his tail, humanity is softened, and even the cruel grow kind! x

modern girl and war.

SOME GRIM CRITICISM. A man writing in a London daily waxes somewhat grim about the attitude of the modern young woman about war. He says that he never can cease to be astonished at it. While it is exercising most of the Cabinets of Europe and is the subject of serious discussion by the man in the street, the majority of young women either ignore it altogether, or if it happens to come under discussion, speak about it with about the same emotion as if they were talking about the weather! The men realise the frightfulness which they will be called upon to face, if such a horrible disaster as war should come upon the world in the present days, but a proportion of the girls talk about the “romance and excitement” of war, and are sorry that they were too young to share in it. . Their indifference and want of sense in the matter makes for a definite bitterness in the writer. He wishes that something would induce the women voters to concentrate against war politically, and he says: “If they did this, and I could assert with all confidence that if all the wives in Europe instead of

the Cabinets could be persuaded to sign an anti-war compact, there really would be no more war.” However, the writer feels that as things are at present, the women are not nearly interested enough in the prevention of war, which has no romance, and only a most unpleasant excitement attached to it. He suggests that the rulers of the countries should make it known that in each country it will be intended to call out the young women as well as the men, and conscription will apply equally to them. He feels that then there would be some real interest taken, and a real

zeal to prevent war. The foolish romanticising of quite a number of people which leads them to assume that noble young men are only too pleased to go forth to do battle for their country and womenkind, would settle down into the common-sense idea that there is no romance about it, only horror and barbarism, and that it is a hopeless way of settling international differences, as hopeless for the victor as for the vanquished. It is stated that it is not only the younger people who subscribe to • the “romantic” yiew, but it is done by older women who ought to know better. The writer then deals realistically with war as it really is, and makes the suggestion, made long ago by Professor Benjamin Kidd, that the young ones should here and now be brought up with a proper estimate of war and its consequences, and of the importance of international relations, taking the matters as simply as possible from the early days of both boys and girls. The aftermath of war, in the way of international debt, of obligations of nations to nations; the immense difficulties of dealing with these, and the sufferings brought upon millions of people who were not in the war, who had nothing to- do with it, who would not have consented to it had they had power to refuse, it is felt, should be realised by both young and old women, as they are by so many men.

SAVE OUR FAMILY LIFE. (By A.G.) The modern so-called “Intellectuals” would have us believe that family life is bad for us. They think we ought to herd together more, and so broaden our views and become one great family instead of a lot of little selfish families. But I say “Save Family Life!” Particularly family life as we know it. For there' we have the finest form of happiness it is possible to imagine. Look around your family circle some, evening. The children are playing with their dolls, their bricks, their trains; or else they are painting pictures, their little pink .tongues popping in and out as they strive for colour effects. Father is reading his newspaper—or indulging in “forty winks.” You have done all the little jobs you had to do, and the .maid, if you have one, is humming to herself as she prepares to go out. The dog is asleep, head between paws. Everything is peaceful and beautiful. Would you change all this for an “intellectual” lecture in a Community Hall? I think not. Yet this is what the Intellectuals would have you do. Guard your family life! Don’t let it slip from your grasp for one second. Don’t even think you are bored, don’t allow yourself to believe that you are behaving like a cabbage. Children, husbands and relatives may be a bother at times. They may even bring sorrow. But they are worth fighting for, worth suffering for. They are “The Family,” and family life is life as it should be—easy and hard in turns. God save our family lifel

HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS,

The Smell of Smoke. Stale smoke gives a most objectionable odour to a room. To avoid this, put a large bowl of cold water in the room where people have been smoking, and leave it all night. By morning, the smell will have been absorbed by the water. All tobacco-ash and cigarette-ends should, of course, be collected and burnt at night. «> Burnt Saucepans. A saucepan that has been burnt should not be filled with soda water, y Although this removes the burnt substance, it also makes the pan liable to bum again next time it is used. Fill it, instead, with salted water, leave for a few hours, then boil the water slowly. The burnt particles come off quite easily, and there will be no additional risk of burning again.

Waterproof Blacking for Shoes. One pound tallow, quarter-pound beeswax, half-pint castor or neatsfoot oil, half-ounce lamp-black. Mix these ingredients, put into a jar, and set the jar in a pan of boiling water. Stir occasionally. When thoroughly dissolved and blended, put the blacking in pots and cover with parchment. It will keep any length of time. How to Dry Celery.

Wash and thoroughly drain the celery, keeping the outer stalks as well as the heart. Dry it with a clean cloth, cut it into one-inch lengths, place these on a flat dish, and dry off on the plate-rack. The drying must be thorough and gradual, and should take a day or more. Turn the celery occasionally while drying, to ensure that no moisture is left. Let it get cold, then put it into widemouthed bottles and seal to exclude the air. This will keep for a year or more, and will prove useful as a flavouring for various dishes.

Door Steps and Window-sills. When mixing whiting or red ochre for steps, hearths, window-ledges and the like, use thin starch instead of plain water. It will make the whiting or ochre stick to the stone, instead of treading off, or being washed away or spotted by rain.

RECOMMENDED RECIPES

WELSH GIRDLE CAKES. This is one way of making Welsh girdle cakes, which are the very nicest things for tea. Put half a pound of flour into a basin, mix in half a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, and rub in a piece of butter the size of an egg. Take half a pint of milk—sour milk if you happen to have any—pouf it into the flour, and beat the whole to a smooth cream.' Leave it to rest for one huor. Now put the girdle over the fire, allow, it to get quite hot, butter it well, then drop on to it spoonsful of tne batter, and cook on one side only. Take care that the cakes do not stick or burn. When ready, cut each one in half, spread with butter, and serve hot. ■■>■■■■ nimiiinilllllllinil

SHOULDER WIDTH.

STILL INCREASING. Everyone marvelled at the determined progress of the cape, the shaped collar, and the wide berthe—slimming in effect below the waist, but always adding to' the shoulder-line (states the “Daily Telegraph”). Feather and fur are used in lavish manner to further this object. When, late in the summer, the feather boa appeared for the throat, it quickly dropped on to the shoulders and so widened them that it soon became first a standaway collar and then a cape. The marabout, ostrich, and coq’s cape are new being supplanted to a considerable degree by cloth or velvet, trimmed with borders or fur, or a cape entiely composed of fur. Soft short-haired pelts like ermine, chinchilla, sable, and sealskin are worn for night, and, always the is that widening shoulderline. Astrakhan,’ caracul, lynx, and fox are worn by day and are always employed to give the wide shoulder effect. It is clever, this move in the fashion world, because the modem dress designer discovered that he could not stress the slenderness of the new and graceful silhouette . except by contrast, for the smart women who do full justice to well-cut lines and gorgeous clothes will not for a moment be uncomfortable! The pinched waist and restricted movement may have been endured by their uncomplaining ancestors, but it is not for them.

So it is that fashion and commonsense agree and work, for the wider shoulder. It suits the modem girl better, for, as a rule, she is built on more generous proportions than the girls of the last generation. !

THE GIRL PROBLEM.

TYPING OR HOUSEWORK? “It is hot easy for the girl of to-day to forgo the many opportunities that she has seen opening up before her,” said the principal of Queen Margaret College, Miss Irene Wilson, in discussing what she called “the girl problem” at the annual prize distribution ceremony of the college. Miss Wilson said that the war, which involved millions of men, provided the opportunity for women to enter the economic world. Now, under the pressure of circumstances, that world was being closed to them. , When the question of the girl’s future was discussed in the home and the occupation she should follow, the father often said: “What does it. matter; she’ll easily get married.” “But will she? asked Miss Wilson. . “Will the girl of to-day marry as easily as her sister five years older, or, we hope, five years younger? We should at least do the girl the courtesy of recognising that it is not easy for her to stay unemployed long. Grandmother may not have tapped a typewriter, and may have stayed at home and helped with the housework, but grandmother did not have an electric stove or any of the other laboursaving devices which now enable the housework to be done much more easily and quickly.” Men’s Fashion Cycles.

Fashion cycles were recently discussed by Mr. Robert Wilson, general manager and secretary of the British Colour Association (states a correspondent). Have you noticed (he asked) the articles of the mere male’s wardrobe which have recently appealed to women trousers, waistcoats, severe coats cut on masculine lines, and bowler hats? These things have not come from the whim of a dress designer. Even Paton cannot make a fashion unless it 9 X * presses contemporary life. The adoption of masculine modes by women is not haphazard. It is inevitable in the logical sequence of evolution. People do not fully realise how woman’s outlook has changed in recent years. It is not very long since she was fighting for the vote. Now women are gradually capturing the positions that were regarded as the absolute possessions of men. and as woman in business is becoming more and more efficient, so must her clothes become more efficient, more lithe, in hurrying crowds, in busy streets, tubes, and buses. At the same time the emotions of woman will ever be controlled to a great extent by her heart and not by her head, and it is therefore understandable how this question of fashion is becoming more and more complex.

In Paris Night Clubs.

The fashion world of Paris turns upside down at irregular intervals, states a correspondent. This time it is the cafes which have reversed their policy. Cabaret turns are tending toward the highbrow. Some of the Montparnasse night clubs are featuring a five-minutes’ science talk, by a. young professor, amongst their cabaret attractions; at another, a young airman lectures on his plan to beat the world’s record parachute drop—his turn sandwiched between acrobatic dancing and an exhibition of the rumba; while at yet another, a spectacled professor took the floor recently and briefly sketched the effects of reparations on world economics! Then there is the new Montmartre— a “boite de nuit” built as a perfect and wonderful reproduction of an old-time square called the Place de Tertres. The workmanship is amazing, for the illusion is that one is really dancing out-of-doors. All round the room the quaint old houses, cafes, and hotels have been reproduced in miniature. Real trees grow in the centre, and the street is the dance floor. There are kiosks where you can buy papers, and the lamp-posts and the lights in the windows of the model houses give the only illumination. The ceiling is so aranged that it looks like the night sky.

Adventuring Abroad.

That Australian girls can make good overseas as well as the men one'hears so much about is exemplified in the easel of two Australian girls now employed abroad, states “Women’s World.”' Abou two years ago Miss Daisy Duggan and Miss Kate Murphy were employed $ typists in Government Departments al Canberra, Miss Murphy being attached to the Parliamentary house staff and Miss Duggan to the Customs Department. Then they both decided to 'se« the world. A year later found’ the* two adventurous girls in Sydney,' when they boarded a ship for San Francisco and duly arrived in America with oruy • few dollars, but with plenty of optimism Their luck was good right from the start as they at once secured positions,' '.on! at clerical work at a new hoteVand.th other in an office at another hoteh Bu the wanderlust lured-them away agau after twelve months, and they next se out' for the west coast, and then driftet into Vancouver. Here business was s bad that they decided to go East, an< it was not long after this that the twi young Amazons separated for the firs time, Miss Duggan securing a secretary position at Toronto and Miss Murph: one with the Hudson Bay Companj more than 300 miles separating then! They still correspond regularly, and seen happy and contented, but they botl sometimes long to be back in Australis