THE WEDDING HANDKERCHIEF.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5454, 4 January 1896, Page 3

THE WEDDING HANDKERCHIEF.

■ ■ The wedding handkerchief is a gift of the Duke,- a -wonderful historical piece of Venice point, given to Sarah, the famous Duchess, by no less a person than Queen Anne herself, and used by the" bride of every Marlborough Duke ever" since* The precious piece is to.. be mounted anew on a tiny heart-shaped centre of the finest lawn. Some of the lesser mouchpirs are white, broctied over with wee rose-buds, of .bits of pink linen, with. big medallions of black j lace let into them. A, A few are diamond- j shaped, white, sprinkled with infinitesimal blue stars; or round, with a white lace C embroidered down in the centre, and a wide frill of lace on the edge. . In all, there are 'ten dozen, not one over 9?in square. j MISS VANDEBBILT'B FURS. j The furs which have been specially j obtained for Miss Vanderbilt number the j most elaborate set of sables ever prepared J for one woman! The sleighing set includes j a cloak so long that the feet can be wrapped J in its' skirts, and is lined with moleskins. Then there is. a barrel muff, a cap and i gigantic collar, in which the whole head can be. hidden.. Besides, there is a carriage cape of gable, a boa reaching to the knees, of sable tails, , a- calling cape; a : skating jacket and a carriage robe lined with rich i cornflower blue. - In addition to the sables .are ,set» of • sealskins ■, ■. and-r-most costly of all -izbe fur garments—^cHinchilJa'dpera cspe, falling from: neck- to heels, and lined with rosy satin. Among these fur things was sent a curiously beautiful divan robe, made of eiderdown junplucked from the duck's skin,, and. pieced artfully together : like the pelt. It is. bordered with' feathers from the duck's throat, also in the dried' skin, and thes-whole of it weighs but a few ounces. .'•.-. I • '■• GORGEOUS STOCKINGS. Of the seventy-five gowns included in ' the trousseau not one will be sent out with- ' .out two pairs of its- own particular stockings. The majority of this footgear are of ■ silk, running through every known variation of "tint and shade; • One pair is ! powdered . with silver and iridescent ' paillettes/ sewed' on in crescent forms or ■ figured over with finely cut steel beads. There are lovely- ones in flesii-tinted silk, so embroidered in gold' threads and imitation jewels as to represent the gorgeous I anklets of Eastern women. Black ones I in spun silk are open worked nearly to I the knee with lacings of 'gold 'and- coloured silk threads. Sometimes in black and [white the open work is nothing less 1 than finest lace.' Such are .the white wedding stockings, having Brussels lace let' in over the instep,#he lace' showing a coronet in its meshes. Nothing could be more j charming than a set of stockings, in rioh bluetts blue silk, showing elaborate delf bine clocks ; and another pair in blue, with a flight of grey and white swallows over the instep,- are for wear with an elaborate blue dressing gown of thick creped silk, j lined with grey satin, and dear little heelI less, pointed, buskin slippers, made of blue i silk and blue leather, laced and tied with" silk cords.. ... .. :

The generous . mother, of the future duchess not ; only supplies all the trousseau, but the wedding fan as well, its white lace alone costing and mounted on pearl, the guard-stick showing the name " Consuelo" in diamonds.