HERSELF.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9303, 1 August 1908, Page 3

HERSELF.

(By DION CLAYTON CALTHROP, in the " Daily Mail.")

Woman, whatever she wears, is always charming. I bow. But what woman wears is often the reverse of charming. The world is for ever being surprised by its women. They aro Classic ono day and Pompadour the next; after that, who knows? Nobody.

At the present moment we are noticing an extraordinary person at the restaurants, at the theatres, in the streets. Sho has sprung up in the night. Her waist has vanished, her hair is not as it was, her hat has outmatineeJ matinee hats. The Directoire Lady lias appeared in. There is scarcely a woman in England who is not aware of the fact. There is scarcely a woman who is not looking mentally at her wardrobe and wondering how to model last year's dress to meet the fashion, for fashion is a sovereign power, and I will bet that even the lady, I forget her name, who rings a bell at political meetings is thinking about her hats.

' This is woman's strength, that she is always coming out in come fresh allurement — like children who make,surprising remarks and draw all attention. THE HELEN GIRL. ' There is no doubt that Troy, in those dim and distant ages, woke up one morning to discover a now woman taking the air in the Trojan streets. The advent of Helen, although marked by no milliner, made, I am sure, a terrible stir among the Trojan ladies. They became affected by the Greek idea, they developed Greek figures, and adopted the Helen walk.

One can notice these things by casting an eye over the pageant of history ; one can see the change com© over the cave ladies' beads, over the style oi wearing a skin ; see the British woman eyeing the coiffure of Roman matrons; see Norman ladies astonishing the Saxon with their Frenoh fashions, and so come straight down the path of history, etrewn with cast-off garments, and arrive at to-day, .and notice how women of to-day are looking over their shoulders, at the figures of tihe ladies of the Directoire. THE CLEOPATRA GIRL. There is something about indigestible things that is always most appetising; clothes, if I may say so, follow suit. It must have been a moment of anxiety in Egypt when Cleopatra's dominating personality pervaded everything. The slim brown ladies of Egypt had to consider their figures very carefully. The pleated, almost transparent, drapery they wore showed very perfectly the moulding of their bodies. I am willing to risk a statement that the Egyptian streets were full of mock Cleopatras in a very short space ol time, and that Egyptian jewellers were busy making ornaments and embroiderers busy sewing things in the Tery latest mode. It was not a fashion which could suit everybody, but it had to be followed for some subtle reason which has always been at the back of women's brains. THE ELIZABETH GIRL. One of the most peculiar and interesting things to watch was the growth of the ruff in England. At first it was nothing but the topmost tuck of a chemisette running from shoulder to shoulder. You can see it grow in the piotures of men and women slowly but surely like a great linen flower opening ite pleated petals. When Henry VIL died it was in its infancy. In the reign of Henry VIII. it began to grow on men's shirts, had reached well up to the neck, and was beginning to stand out a little. Those were days of very strict fashions; to wear black genet you must be royal ; to wear sable you had to rank above a viscount; to wear marten or velvet trimming you had to be worth over 200 marks a year.

The reigns of Edward VI. and Queen Mary passed without much event, but suddenly Queen Elizabeth and hundreds of imitators begjan to appear. In 1564 the ruff came into full bloom. Mistress Dingham van der Plasse, of Flanders, taught the art of folding, cutting and pinohing ruffs at £5 a lesson, and the art of starching cambric and of making starch at £1.

Wo may meet his beruffed lady m the streets until, on a day it seems, she vanishes, and there in her stead is a lady with bare neck, broad lace co'lar over her shoulders, no whalebone round her hips, no hoop in her skirts, no padding on her shoulders — a lady dressed in a sort if immaculate carelessness, talking to a gentleman looking like a glorified art student. THE .LEECH GIRL. The faces change, that is the peculiar part of it. The Early Victorian face has vanished altogether. Whore is that pretty, demure, dovelike creature with sloping shoulders, dancing ringlets, and big, baby eyesr She has gone so utterly that it must seem one oan kill a typo as utterly as one can kill a fashion. Wo are just far enough away from tho Leech girls to think them quaint, picturesque, even pretty, and certainly , crinoline and all, wonderfully charming. Gone they most certainly are; no longer do these graceful creatures play cats-cradle with whiskered guardsmen. The chignon is as dead as the bustle, and the awful huge jewellery as out of date as powdered hair and oanniered skirts. THE GREENERY-YALLERY GIRL. Out of the rag-bag of Time one picks curious things, and none more curious than the testhetic young person who has but lately died. Those full throats, those limp, boneless bodies, those faded art colours, that look of intenseness — gone. The drawing-rooms that welcomed them would laugh at them now. The Directoire lady would stare through her long spy-glass ( I suppose those will come in with the other absurdities) and marye? that women could ever look «so foolish. Yes, 1^ tsuppose we shall have to suffer the single spy-glass, and the hall cane with a big bow, and the Greek sandals. THE GIBSON GIRL. And yet another on the' page of fashion, following on many peculiar people, following really on the heels of the girl Dv Maurier diew; the streets wore full of them not very long ago. For a moment there id a passing vision of an awful person called The Now Woman. A creature determined to kill grace, beauty, charm, all those gifts by which women rule tho world; a creature of short hair and long ideas ; a creature who wore masculine boots and tweed suits and stiff ehirt collars. To kill and end this being came a rather lovable person ; ; trim-waisted, 6hort»frockedj hrown-ekinned by open air, with a fearless face and a square chin. Tie streets, were full of nor; one never knew there was so much, health, in. England before her day. THE FLAPPER. Her day went, and, only yesterday there was an astonishing girl who oo onpied the street. She vijas woaderf ujly young, her hair w«s still tied at the back, her short skirt revealed dainty pettiooata. She had a vivacious air, and was apparently easy to copy, since she poured out of every house, and had a certain cbic which was very catching. She yaa cesentiallf a Cock-.

ney, and was invented, I imagine, in some musical comedy. Anyhow, there eke was, only yesterday, very young, pert, pretty, small. THE DIRECTOIRE GIRL. Now one ie just aware of the new girl with her lack of petticoat, her swathed body, her enormous hat. Chic is dead, aJia something at present undefinable has taken its place. And you will find that, after the first shock, women will mould themselves in this fashion, and big women will become mysteriously slim and elegant, and a now lace will appear, a face of the correct date, a face that will fit the clothes ' , One thing I feel most deeply, and that is that the world, from a picture point of view, will never be perfect until every woman has a fashion of her own, a fashion absolutely fitting to her figure, to her face, to her own individuality. That day will come when taste will be consulted before fashion, and we shall see the streets full of varied typos of beauty, of hundreds of different r-tyles, of multitudinous forms of coiffure, of all the colours of the rainbow, and tho fashions of ©very ige. _____—»»—.