FEMININE INTERESTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18500, 22 February 1930, Page 3

FEMININE INTERESTS.

PERSONAL AND FASHION NOTES. Debutantes for Coming Season: It seemes early days yet to talk of debutantes; but as a matter of fact the all-important question of who is to be presented at Court this year has already been decided in most family circles, for applications for presentation have to reach the Lord Chamberlain by the first post on New Years Day. Already hundreds of requests have been received from proud mothers, grandmothers and aunts to be permitted to bring bright young things to make their curtsies to the King and Queen, and thus perform the highest social rite, so to speak, which elevates the schoolgirl to the rank ana dignity of a young lady of fashion. So the New Year begins with an abundance of work for the Lord Chamberlain in the sorting out of the applications and careful scrutinising of the names. He holds the social destinies of many young girls in his hands.

Last year was noticeable for the fact that fewer of the illustrious and ancient families of the country than usual had debutante representatives au Court. This year it looks as if things would be different.

Lady Katharine Howard, the second sister of the young Duke of Norfolk, England’s premier Duke and Hereditary Earl Marshal, will head the list and be presented by her mother, the Duchess of Norfolk. Lady Katharine is slim and altogether of more fragile build than her sister, Lady Rachel, but both girls favour the same style in coiffure, and wear their long hair twisted in a coil at the nape of the neck.

Another very Important young presentee this season will, it is said, be the Hon. Mary Elizabeth Elphinstone, eldest daughter of Lord Elphinstone and a niece of the Duchess of York. She is in her nineteenth year, ana greatly resembles the Duchess in looks, having the same lovely nut brown hair with a chestnut glint in it, and pretty, frank blue eyes.

A descendant of the Earls of Erne—a granddaughter of the fourth Earl, to be precise, and a cousin, of the present peer—is another young gm who is destined to be well known socially this season. She is Miss Jean Crichton, daughter of the Hon. Arthur and Mrs Crichton, who made a preliminary debut at a hunt ball in preparation for her official debut at Court in the summer.

She will it is prophesised. be acclaimed one of the prettiest debutantes this year. Unlike her mother, who is darx and very vivacious, she is fair ana very composed, with wide-open, fearless blue eyes, hair that curies softly round her face, and the complexion of a wild rose. Mrs Crichton looks absurdly young to be the mother of a grown-up daughter, and the two, have more than once been taken for sisters.

The debut of Miss Diane Chamberlain, daughter of Sir Austen and Lady Chamberlain, is one of political interest. Like Miss Crichton, Miss Chamberlain is divinely fair. She is much more travelled and sophisticated than most girls of her years, even in these modern, emancipated days, for she has accompanied her parents on all their trips abroad.

Among the innumerable interesting experiences she has had are those of such diverse characters as a stay with “Doug.” and Mary at Hollywood: a discussion with Mussolini, which she carried on in fluent Italian, on sailing and probelms of the Soviet; and a visit to the Reichstag to hear German educational systepis discussed by the democrats.

Family Outfits: The very latest idea for winter sports outfits in Switzerland, is for the whole family to be dressed alike. Not only do the husband and wife have exactly the same cut of ski-ing suit, but their sweaters, the gaily-coloured flashings w’ound round the tops of their boots, and waterproof or knitted caps also match, and their children are also dressed exactly the same way. Now that skating has become so popular in London far more of the jounger' people are appearing on the rinks at St. Moritz than a year or two ago. It has been thought rather effeminate and lazy not to spend every possible moment ski-ing, and many of the younger people never learnt to skate at all because of this. Now, however, when they have learnt the joy of skating at one of London’s rinks, they are determined to get in a certain amount of practice while they are in Switzerland, and come back earlier from their ski-ing expedition so as to have an hour or two in the rink before it is dark.

Duchess Tires of Cloche: The Duchess of York has altered the style of her hats lately. Instead of the familiar cloche shape with long sidepoints, in which we are accustomed to see her, she now favours much smaller hats, untrimmed save for a jewelled ornament, and turned' back from the face as all the newest models are. writes a Londoner. Three of the Duchess’ new winter hats are powder blue, to match her pet ensemble of a powder blue coat heavily trimmed with chinchilla. Another little grey velour hat has an emerald brooch pinned at the left, so that it touches the forehead and there is a green felt that should suit the Duchess’ brown hair and fresh colouring excellently. The Duchess always insists that her handbag matches the particular hat that she is wearing, and prefers the flat pochettp shape in leather or suede bearing « single initial. Valuable Pewter:

Few people probably are aware that the Duke of Westminster, whost. engagement was annpunced recently, is one of the many notabilities who collect old English pewter. Others are Lady Evelyn Guiness ,whose guests at Grosvenor place dine regularly off pewter in a vast Gothic room, and Mr Kennerley Rumford. . The Duke of Westminster was fortunate enough to acquire not long ago several Elizabethan pewter tankards which were being disposed off by another ducal family. Small seventeenth century lidded pewter tankards, which oast only a few shillings when they were made, now often realise £3O or more apiece. Sixteenth-century examples are considerably rarer and more valuable. Probably the rarest of all pieces of old English pewter still in existence are the horned-headdress spoons whlcn were made only in the early fifteenth century, and are so called because the the stems are surmounted by the head of a girl with the peculiar horned or crescent-shaped headdress worn by the women of fashion in the days of Henry V. and Henry VI.

Lady Cunliffe-Owen’s New Home: When her house at Sunningdale is ready for her (and it will take a year to complete). Lady Cunliffe Owne will have four houses including one at Newmarket. The house that Lady Cunliffe Owen has bought at Sunningdale is an old Georgian one. She has had the inside removed bodily and only the shell remains. Within this she will have a house that is modern in every detail, including a swimming pool and a gymnasium for her boys. Lady Cunliffe Owen’s house in Upper Brook Street has a most unusual bathroom, the colour scheme being black and white. In this house her four children two boys and two girls, have their own flat, with a lift to reach it. Everybody is accommodated with a separate bathroom That for the use of the little girls has a decorative scheme of marble ande jade. They have their own reception room, which is as large as an ordinary drawing room, and the boys have a schoolroom in jade and rose du Barry colourings, furnished with chesterfields and a pile carpet.

Privileged Musician: Princess Beatrice* like many other members of the Royal Family, usually likes to escape from the rigours of the English winter to some warmer clime; but she has braved the rains and fogs this year in order to keep an engagement at the New Theatre on Wednesday, when she will attend a special matinee in aid of the Veterans’ Association, of which she is patroness. Like her daughter, the Queen of Spain, Princess Beatrice is fond of music, and it is in deference to this taste that the music during one of the intervals will be played by Colombo, the violinist, who is one of the favourites of the Royal Family. Queen Mary greatly admired his playing at a charity matinee last year, and recalled that he had played for her and for the King on the eve of their Majesties’ last visit to Italy.

Dinners in National Colours: The fashion for greeting foreign royalties with dinners typical of their native countries and with surroundings decked with the appropriate national colours is growing. After the red and arranged fot the Queen of Spam comes the red and white supper dance given by the Danish Society for the King and Queen of Denmark. Danish butter, transported from Denmark specially for the occasion to the hotel where the supper-dance was held, was utilised for cooking a wonderful dish of sole, poached in cream and white wine and accompanied by mushrooms. Red and white carnations were the table decorations, those being the Danish national colours; many of the guests, too, were in red and white, which happen to be popular winter colours at the moment. According to Danish custom, there were no fewer than nine cheers given when a toast was drunk to the King and Queen of Denmark.