FEMININE INTERESTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18539, 9 April 1930, Page 3

FEMININE INTERESTS.

PERSONAL AND FASHION NOTES. I I Guests in a Temple: Mrs Laurence Binyon, the wife of the \ Poet and Deputy-Keeper of the London . Museum, has a delightful house at the . Museum, to which they have recently } returned after a round-the-world tour, , in the course of which Mr Binyon gave ( a series of lectures at Tokio on “Lands- • cape in English Poetry and Painting,” I and exhibited 50 British water-colours. ( Japanese life fascinated Mrs Binyon, f who was so fortunate as to stay with , her husband at the Shojoshinin Temple ( on Mount Koya, where she saw some- • thing of Japan that the ordinary tour- , ist is denied. There are no tables or , chairs or beds in Japanese houses; , they are very bare of furniture. For a j bed a thick mat does duty. “I suffered , agonies of cramp at meal, for women ■ must sit on their heels all the time, ’ • said this tall, attractive woman, j “though men may sit cross-legged for , a change.” The Japanese go to any amount of trouble for their guests and consider their wishes in every way. They even ■ gratified the desire of the Binyons to see the famous old picture. “Red Fudo,” which is not generally shown to visitors, and is so sacred that Mr Binyon was requested to cover his . mouth with his hand as a sign or respect, when he looked at it, and Mrs Binyon was only permitted to gaze at it from afar. But the Japanese are making great strides now in the emancipation of women. Not so very long ago Mrs. Binyon said she would only have been allowed half-way up the mountain to the Temple. The Crown Prince of Japan and Princess Chichibu all attended M* Binyon’s lectures. Mrs Binyon has great admiration for the little Geisha girls of Japan. They not only wait on you at meals in the restaurants, and entertain you with conversation, but afterwards they provide a cabaret in the form of dancing and music. Where Girls Learn Poise: Schools which teach poise and deportment to girls and women from 15 to 50 are becoming increasingly popular | throughout England. “I visited one of j these in (he West End,” said aj correspondent. “Officially it is a \ mannequin training school, but women j who have no intention of ever be- j coming mannequins are paying as j much as £lO 10s to learn how to walk i and wear clothes. To the smooth rhythm : of a waltz, plaved by gramophone, they; learn the difficult art cf graceful movement. Girls who have just left j school are sent to learn what to do | with their hands and how to sit, stand,' and walk. To many these establisn- j meets are their finishing schools. ! Debutantes, before being presented at j Court, here learn to curtsey gracefully.! Well-to-do \v en bv the dozen are to be seen at this particular establish-! ment. For an hour each day they do! exercises to correct any faults in their j figures. They are told what is wrong j with their clothes, what colours are i best for them, and, if necessary, their i hairdressing*is criticised. Several women, it was said, were' taking lessons because they were about. | to “make good marriages,” and they | wanted their deportment to be in keeping with their more advanced position in life. A country woman who is marrying a wealthy city merchant has been transformed, in three weeks, from a somewhat nervous, and ungraceful woman into a well-poised, senpossessed, and infinitely better dressed woman. But many of the woman between 35 and 50 are going to become mannequins. At the moment there is a great demand by fashion houses for models! with matronly figures, and an even j greater demand for white-haired! mannequins. A Duchess’s “Furs”: All is not fur that looks like it. So the Duchess of Hamilton proved to a large party of men and women, when she presided •at an At Home given by Lady Chalmers at her flat in Carlyle Mansion. Chelsea, where Miss Lind-af-Hageby spoke in favour of the Humane Slaughter Bill which c.ame before the House of Commons the nexi day. Many of the women present, including the Duchess, Lady Blomfield. (he Hon. Mrs Walter Forbes, Lady Neave, Lady Chalmers, and many of her friends, were wearing beautiful coats that looked just like real fur, but in reality were artificial. The Duchess of Hamilton said f;nat there are now some forty to lnty different Kinds of fur fabric, as the material of which these lovely warm coats are made, is called. Made mostly of wool, but in some cases of silk and wool, it is largely manufactured in the United States, but British firms have now started manufacturing it, and the Duchess hopes that, besides saving animals from agonising deaths at the hands of trappers, it will, when it becomes really popular, help towards solving the unemployment problem.

The Duchess herself never wears real fur, but she possesses three oeaiuiful fur fabric coats, so wonderfully made that most people take them to be real.

Lansdownc House: i The Marquis of Lansdowne. another of England’s leading noblemen, is selling all the things in Lansdowne House, the old London residence belonging to the family. This beautiful place has been let to Gordon Selfridge, . the millionaire shopkeeper, whose American gold has been welcome to jet another famous English family, and now the lease is up, and if i amour speaks the truth it is to be sold and . pulled down, like its ancient historic ! neighbour, Devonshire House. Thu 3 is the face of London altering. All the j magnificant furnishings, and a great ! many of the pictures, are to be sold, | and these numbering fifty-six, includ- j ing seven portraits by Reynolds, one by Gainsborough, one by Lawrence, and j others by Valesquez, Titian, Giorgione, | Eckhardt, Tintoretto, and Ferdinand : 801. The Gainsborough is a fine 1 portrait of David Middleton, who was surgeon-general in the Army and 1 surgeon to George 111., and Dr. John- j son, and his friends are conspicuous j in the Reynolds group. There is one i of the doctor himself, another of David I Garrick, a fine vivid picture of Henry j Thrale, the wealthy brewer, in red ! velvet coat, and a self-portrait of the i painter as president of the Royal ! Academy. Lawrence’s portrait is of the i first Lord Auckland, that of Velasquez 1 is Pope Innocent X. Then probably 1 Lansdowne marbles, renowned through- • out the world, will all come under the ! hammer. “How are the mighty fallen," comes to one’s mind, but it is not the mighty only, but the big staff necessary to keep these beautiful homes going who suffer, for they have to find employment, and it is not any sort of work they can take on. Indoor servants in a nobleman’s house must be thoroughly trained and trustworthy. They have priceless valuables and antiques in their care, and must be responsible people. A Dietitian: Now in Melbourne supervising the j establishment of a dietary department and dietitians’ training school at the Alfred Hospital is Miss Mabel Flanley, B.Sc., of Washington. During her interesting career she has been dietitian to the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and for five years was ■ chief. dietitian at the Seattle General , Hospital. A Champion Bricklayer: The Soviet Government has con- ' ferred on Sophie Merans, of Moscow, the title of Champion Bricklayer of Russia, and she receives extra pay and special food concessions. Originally she sold sweets in the streets of Moscow, but took up bricklaying when the Government called for women to work on public buildings. How Was it Done: Writing about one of the farewell parties given to Lady Stonehaven in Melbourne, a correspondent says:— “My friend and I went out by tram. Sitting opposite us was a well-known society woman. She wore a tweed coat and skirt, with a check blouse, and she had the new fashionable shoes —brown kid faced with white in a rather striking manner. We were mildly surprised that she was not going to the party, for she was not dressed for a reception. Ten minutes aftei we had arrived my friend touched me on the arm. “Where have I seen those shoes before?” she said. They j were brown kid. faced with white. Our gaze travelled slowly upwards. It was the same lady, but in less than ten minutes—for she had to get home and presumably come on by car—she had performed a transformation. She was clad in a trailing frock of flowered chiffon with a marvellous coat of palest green, with a deep collar of grey fox, and she wore one of the small, close-fitting turbans of green and silver cloth. She had not time to change her shoes and stockings and by those wt knew her.” The Royal Dinner Table: When the occasion is an informal one. the Queen prefers that the flowers on her dinner table shall be arranged i in sparkling old English cut glass, rather than in gold and silver vases—and it’s certain they look beautiful like that. Lady Ravensdale will have it that brightly-coloured blossoms show up best in blacic glass; Lady Diana Cooper is all for iridescent glass; Lady Alexander very prettily arranges the yellow flowers of spring in clear blue glass.