MODES OF THE MOMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5490, 15 February 1896, Page 3

MODES OF THE MOMENT.

(By Nita,' in thy QcniUxooman.) We all know ; the. reason why the miller wears a white .hat. But there appears to be no such logical cause to explain tiie ap•pearance of a white hat upon the head of a woman fashionable, for, honestly speaking, it is t not becoming ; yet it obtains -in an enormous vogue just now. You may meet it on the bicyclist under a perfectly simple guise, trimmed with black ribbons' and black quills; and, again, you may find it on the fair pedestrian at Brighton, trimmed •with a bunch of black feathers arid a ruche of black ribbon; while I have seen it gracing a wedding, trimmed with black ribbon, white gardenias, violets and pink roses, with a wide osprey waving its decorative influence over the crown. Occasionally the white felt hat is to be found lined with, black felt ; then, again, it is to be met faced with black velvet j but, more frequently than either; you will see it lined -with white, under whioh circumstances, as I'have previously observed, it cannot \be seriously voted -becoming: And whilst I am on the subject of hats I want to note the revived popularity of the Tain o' Shanter. This, in cloth, puts in its ap; pearance on the bicyclist, when it is par excellence the most comfortable and the most becoming head-gear. - But it may also be found crowning the most ordinary costume. A smart little, woman might have been seen yesterday in Bond Street wearing a blue cloth skirt, a sack-backed blue cloth jacket with a lovely collar of chinchilla, completed by a small Tam.o' Shanter of blue velvet, edged- with. ; chin-, chilla and three grey quills at one side fastened with the inevitable. paste ornament. Amongst the numerous pretty styles in which we make to-day our evening bodices, that which boasts the frilled fichu ought certainly to be allowed a prominent place, for the fichu, especially when made of the soft mousseline de soie, casts .a becoming influence on almost any figure, so that the folds may be draped either round-wards! or ,- downwards, according to the individual contour. In contrast with the elaborations of embroideries and sequins upon which fashion smiles, it is quite , pleasing to realise the immortal charms of' a plain white satin, with a fichu of white chiffon or mousseline de soie tied in the centre of the front into a bow, with a large bunch of pink roses thrust through the knot. .A remarkably pretty gown made in this style of .white striped silk I "sa^ '^eceritiyj jsho^ing.a torich' 'ictf' origin^^in' its.^chu of j black chiffori^and its waistband pf.l)rigi|t emerald green.' Again tippn this a'bunch of pink roses was an advamtaigei; ' But* such'gpwrisas thps§ are exceptions to the general rule of evening dresses, which display almost invariably the sequin. This is by no means an economical order of affairs. Sequins not alone trim the bodices, Wut extend their merry way down to the hem of the skirt ; while some skirts I have seen are entirely covered with a design in sequins — a star, a spot, or a crescent—and others are powdered all over with sequins. The satin skirt treated in this last fashion is pre-eminently effective, but the " labour it involved is necessarily immense, for the skirts to-day continue extremely full, and you feel in looking upon them when decked in this fashion that seven maids with seven needles might work for seven yeaxs — to misquote our dear friend Lewis Carroll — and tlten only achieve the completion of one such gown. ' However, as the proverb observes, it is an ill wind which blows nobody any good : and doubtless the popularity of the spangle has brought work to thousands of women who have to live by their needle.