FEMININE INTERESTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18584, 3 June 1930, Page 3

FEMININE INTERESTS

PERSONAL AND FASHION NOTES. Lady Bledir-loe’s Visit to Hamilton: A receptioh given by the combined Women’s Societies of Hamilton was tendered tp Her Excellency Lady Bledisloe, on the occasion of her first visit to Hamilton. The function took place at the Y.M.C.A. Hall. One corner of the room was arranged like a drawing-room, with rugs, cosy chairs and gaily-hued cushions. Small tables were arranged with Iceland poppies and shaded chrysanthemums. The walls were arranged with decorations of feathery bamboo and graceful toi toi plumes, and on brackets were brass bowls containing brilliant chrysanthemums and scarlet berries. Supper was served in the lounge, and the supper tables were adorned with bowls of red and old gold chrysanthemums. Lady Bledisloe, accompanied by the Mayoress, Mrs J. R. Fow, and Mrs Wardell, was met on arrival by Dr. de la Mare, convener of the reception committee, and entered the hall between a guard formed of captains of the Girl Guide companies. Here the representatives of the different women’s societies were presented to Lady Bledisloe. Dr. de la Mare made a speech of welcome, on behalf of the women present, and expressed the pleasure it gave them to have Her Excellency with them. Her Excellency acknowledged the hearty welcome extended to her on her first visit to Hamilton, and referred to the good work done by the women of New Zealand, and the importance of the help given by the different women’s organisations. Lady Bledisloe wore a frock of crystal beaded ivory tulle over fuchsia shaded georgette, with a silver fringe, and an ermine cloak. She was presented w’ith a bouquet of flowers. The official opening of the new dormitory block took place at the Waikato Diocesan School for Girls during the Vice-Regal visit to Hamilton. The ceremony was in the presence of a large gathering of parents and friends. Lord and Lady Bledisloe were welcomed on arrival by Archdeacon C. G. Bell, vicar-general of the diocese, and by Mr D. Hay, chairman of the trustees. Lady Bledisloe was presented with a bouquet in autumn-tinted flowers by one of the pupils of the school, and the headmistress, Miss B. E. Edwards, also received a bouquet. Her Excellency wore an ensemble of biscuit georgette and a velour coat of the same shade, trimmed with fox fur. Artist’s Daughter Prepares for Wedding: Miss Doris Jack, the daughter of Richard Jack, the artist, who has painted all sorts of celebrities from the King downwards, is being married at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. Her fiance. Mr Victor Whitehead, whom she met in Canada, when she was over there with her father, has arrived in London with his mother and best man. They are busy planning arrangements for their wedding. Miss Jack went to Liverpool to meet her fiance. They will be faced with the problem of finding a house to live in whe nthey return to Montreal, for he is an insurance broker, but they will have a delightful country residence in i the summer, on the St. Lawrence river for he is Commodore of the St. Lawrence Yacht Club. Miss Jack, who does not paint like her father, has inherited his artistic tastes. She has designed her own wedding gown, which is to be in an oyster shade of velvet modelled on mediaeval lines with a very long train. She will wear an early Italian headdress, and will carry a bouquet of gardenias and roses made on a frame of white heather. Three bridesmaids, who are all grown-up, are to wear picture frocks of apple-green net, and a headdress of artificial spring flowers mixed with 1 glass and mother-of-pearl. Miss Jack i has gone to infinite pains to choose j suitable bouquets for them, and they | are to consist of spring flowers, with j a yellow arum lily in the centre, red 1 roses, iris, yellow roses, laburnum, i tulips, anemones, pussy willows, nar- i cissi and double daffodils. One little page, in a suit of apple-green satin, j will carry her- train. Already the bride’s presents have began to flow, in, and she will be very busy re-packing them when she re- , turns from her honeymoon, for they I all have to be taken to Canada. Her father has given her a piano, ] for she is a very clever musician, and ! her mother has given her linen and a beautiful set of cross fox furs. A very useful gift came .rom Mrs Alec Rea, a Persian rug and three cookery books, and Miss Jack intends to have one or two adventures in the kitchen before her wedding day. From Dress Parades: Chiffon frocks, with enormous patterns, are still to be much worn in the evening. Even tennis frocks have their cape-scarves; usually these have scalloped edges, and are tied to one side. Many evening frocks have brooches at the waistiine behind, but as they . are also to be found in front, this is no guide to which way the frock is to be worn. Often you must guess nowadays. Sometimes mannequins guess wrong. Paul Caret has sent across from t Paris a good deal of geranium red. j Tuck-in blouses have a tab from; a yoke behind, which buttons to the j skirt. A little “blazer” coatee of geranium : red chiffon velvet is worn with a white satin frock. ; Flat rose-pink flowers are arranged in a row. mid-way between knee and ankle on the skirt of a very long black frock. Row upon row of narrow black cire ribbon—about thirty rows in all— • decorate the tiered flounces of a filmy i black tulle frock. Black frocks and white frocks are : the favourites with pale coral shades , next; dahlia, prune, and amethyst- , purple are fancied by the older j woman. Large garnet-red beads are worn in a long string “back to front,” chokerwise in front, and hanging straight down the very decollete back of an all white frock. New Zealander Lectures in Japan: Miss Crichtcn-Imrie, formerly of New Zealand, recently addressed a meeting of 600 sudents in the Yokohama Commercial School, Japan. The lecture was illustrated by moving pictures showing various phases of life in New Zealand, the methods followed in training boys in agricultural and pastoral work, and, as well, the scenic beauties of the Dominion. The headmaster, Mr S. Tadano, thanked Miss Crichton-Imrie for her address, and Mr Eric Bell, a New Zealander, wellknown in the teaching profession of Japan, on behalf of the teachers and pupils, presented Miss Imrie with a bouquet of flowers. Mayfair Housecraft: Many a lover of Old London will get a thrill at the coming functions, when, on entering some interesting Mayfair drawing-room, with its Queen Anne green panelling, old tapestry hangings and perhaps a petit point screen and stool which the hostess has worked herself, they also find the old flowers which have been so long out of favour. -fit- very old-fashioned love-in-the-mist is among past favourites that

will reign again. The interesting thing about this, as about many other of the old flowers, contrasted with their modern successors, it that it is less pretty, but has more character. It is bigger, darker, stronger and less lacey. All the old mallows, too, will come back; the deep purple ones are darker than the varieties we know now. Even old bowls are coming into the scheme, for hostesses are having them filled with artificial flowers copied from old flower prints. The chatelaine of an old Georgian house possesses a very early papier mache bowl inlaid with mother of pearl, which she has had filled with lilies and other flowers made in metal, glass, wax, and wood, to get the lovely effect of different textures. The flowers were copied from a period painting, and the bowl now looks like an old picture itself.

Delphic Festival: A great and unusual work has been undertaken by Mme. Eva Sikelianos, the American wife of the Greek poet Angelo Sikeliafios, who, with her husband, is the moving spirit behind the great Festival of Delphi, which is being held in Athens this month for the second time in 1500 years, says a London correspondent. Delphi was in ancient times the seat of a neutral culture, in which people met together animated by the love of art, and not material ambition. That is what they are trying to recreate at this festival.

An Antique Custom: Special interest attaches to three of the customs observed at a Chinese dinner. The passing round of the bowl and napkin in the East is a common practice of great antiquity. Reference is made to it in the Second Book of Kings, when Elisha offers the bowl and towel to Elijah. Between courses, toward the end of a meal, the chi-moee game is played. Two diners simultaneously raise a hand, and at once call out how many fingers are extended. The loser has to drink, not stand, a bowl of wine. Much as the game looks like chance, a Chinese nearly always beats a foreigner at it. A variation of chi-moee is found in which the two diners take it in turn to hold up a hand, some fingers being closed and some extended. The man challenged has to make an instant guess as his neighbour’s arm shoots out. In the Beni Hassim temples and the fresco paintings of Thebes, ancient Egyptians are shown playing this game.. Later it passed on to Athens and to Rome. Peasants play it in Italy to this day. Princess Mary Sings: v_ Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood. gave great pleasure when she joined in the community choruses at the concert of the London and North Eastern Railways Musical Society at Leeds. She has inherited the full contralto voice of the Queen, and, like her mother, prefers an English song to any other. On her side, the Princess must have appreciated the glorious voices of the Yorkshire men and women, to which a famous Italian conductor once paid the great tribute: “I never heaijd such voices anywhere as in Leeds. Ours in Italy are poor in comparison.”

Portrait of the Queen: One of the pictures of the year at the Royal Academy will undoubtedly be the new portrait of the Queen, which has been done by Mr David Jagger. Sittings for this took place at Buckingham Palace, and the Queen herself chose the jewels for the portrait from her collection of famous gems. Mr and Mrs Jagger have a delightful little house in Chelsea, which sports a tomato-red front door and an apple-green hall. Attractive Bedrooms: Some of the most attractive bedrooms in London are those belonging to the nurses at the Preliminary Training School of University College Hospital, whose new premises are to be officially opened by Prince George next Wednesday. They have yellow walls and blue curtains, running hot and cold water, a bookcase, a built-in wardrobe, a chest of drawers, dressing-table and writing desk all in one. The demonstration room is fitted up just like a ward in order to accustom these twenty-year-olds to the big hospital wards where they go after two months’ training at the school. There are even dummy patients which take to pieces, and which cost as touch as £2O each. They are washable and non-breakable. The white-tiled demonstration kitchen is both hygienic and attractive.