FASHION IN FIJI.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143782, 4 May 1912, Page 3

FASHION IN FIJI.

THE NEW MODE IN LOINCLOTHS.

Says the London Daily Mail ; l —The critical point of the Fijian year of fashions has boon reached during the last week, with the arrival in London of Mr. S. L. Lazarus, of the firm of Brodziak ’ and Co., Suva, Fiji whose mission is to interpret,to English designers the latest tendency, of the Polynesian mode.

The tusk is one of some delicacy, for whims change quickly among tho indigenous high life of Suva. Tho promonador, for instance, who joined tho fashionable parade on tho beach on a Sunday afternoon, dressed in a red loincloth of floral design—such as was lately tho correct wear—would nowfind himself a social outcast. At present the host people are wearing no loincloths but those of blue jean with a conventional chintz pattern, two yards in width, but it would be premature to speak of tho probable disposition of folds and knot in which it will bo arranged, until the cue has been given by tho leaders of tho inner set when tho season opens at Suva with the first beach promeuado after the present hurricane mouths are over. As far as the loincloth is concerned, both sexes of Fiji society have common interests. For country wear it is unnecessary to cumber oneself with additional outfit. lu town, however, it is usual for men who lay claim to being really well dressed, to add a Manchester shirt of colour contrasting with tho tint of tho nothor garment. For women who aspire at all to a place in the movement of fashion, a silk “pinafore” is quite essential when visiting tho capital. Samoan ladies, of whom many have recently come to live in Fiji, often add a “wrapper,” but the doyennes of the most exclusive Fiji sots condemn the mode as exotic.