Women and the Home

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16939, 13 January 1923, Page 15

Women and the Home

FURBELOWS. ’ f WHERE THE RAINBOW BEGINS. (By “ JUNE/’) So it has come ! This threatened outburst of brilliant colours. Everywhere we find women parading like beautiful peacocks in raiment, of the brightest! Bright, greens, vivid reds, and gorgeous blues are all about us. And some of the “ colour disciples " look remarkably attractive. But it is a pity thoy don’t all study their type l>efore entering so whole-heartedly on the business of cheering up the world. A brunette looks adorable in the most striking of poppy red;., but do let the mousey girl hare a rare lest she be rendered grotesque by the use of the same colour. And while she of the red locks has a charming foil in bright green, the dark beauty is apt, to look rather garish and the fair one rather faded. The best taste is undoubtedly shown by women who are content to rely upon the sweet, subtle suggestion of oldworld garden flowers in their colour schemes. What is more seductive, for instance, than the delicate shade of lavender in full bloom; or forget-me-nots; or tea-rose; or anv of the paste! cyclamen .shades? In any case, they always look cord. But imagine a heated lady in a bright red frock, or a large one in green .' To obliterate as far as possible the effects of atmosphere and the unkindness of Nature should be our object in choosing colours no less than ms t-e rials. To take a lavender theme : Buy some of the new spotted muslin, very much like the old-fashioned Swiss muslin with which we used to drape our “Duchess” dressing-tables, beds, windows. and anything else we could find to drape. Only this new muslin is “ do soie ” : that is to say. it has the appearance of being half silk, soft and supple to the touch. And it falls in graceful lines without having the appearance* of being either starched or

CONTRIBUTIONS BY SPECIAL WRITERS

washed oai. Mairve spots on white or white spots on mauve— it*a all the same and delightful. Out the frock with a waist —elastic run through an inside casing will do nothing tight nor taut, but all free and simple. The bodice should be Magyar, and the skirt. I fear, must be nearly ankle length and rather full. Now put a little plain organdi collar and cuffs (the sleeves reach the elbow) either in mauve or n bite, according to the colour of the spots, and add a little picotted frill if you like. If frills on the .skirt appeal, it is quite permissible to put two or three narrow ones just above the hem. And (here von have as pretty a picture of cool youth and beauty as you could wish. Moreover, whether you be lair or dark, or that unfortunate “between " colour, your little frock will bring out all that is good in your appearance and take away all that is bad. I he new blue—soft as a hazy summer sky— is also a good colour. Organdi, °f the “prepared” kind, that is guaranteed not to crush like a faded flower as soon as you sit down in it, is made in this shade. And it is very charming. So charming, in fact, that you feel you must “ live” in it, and it be- i comes a positive effort to adopt another colour. By the way, striped washing silk 'rocks have lost none of their old attraction. Only they are even more ! beautiful than they were last year, and Bio stripes are growing larger, and. in : -ome cases, brighter. Two or three •olours are often found on’one frock, but they seem right, because the neutral ground tones them down. Yellow and blue, mauve and green, brown and grey are often found together, but per haps the \ most effective is our old friend the black and white stripe. For shady summer hats, crinoline is ideal. The soft kind, that can he crushed into any shape to suit the individual wearer. All shades of brown i are good for these hats, from nigger, tabac and russet to the palest honey colour.

EVANESCENT FEMININE FRIENDSHIPS. WHY THEY FAIL. (By HELEN SEVREZ.) A girl was expressing the opinion, the other day, that feminine friendi ships were or short duration because ; trequently as snakes changed theii skins. An unhappy analogy, in the first place! One rebels against that slimy, treacherous juxtaposition of I«Jvt and the serpent! And I do not think slie was quit* right in her psychological analysis. A meaning that simply does not exist Tne disgruntled woman friend, as u rule, is she who thinks her society ought to suffice for a woman with » peculiarly rich temperament who muki ( mix occasional caviare with her bread j and butter 1 Exclusive friendship* grew increasingly impossible in these j days of myriad activities, myriad interests, myriad acquaintances, myriad to--1 rninine types. The ability to take life including j feminine friendships with an oceii--1 lor women. Many a friendship has j been rudely broken off. for instance ! by a woman oi maturity who has won, I ail unwittingly, the somewhat terrifying affection ot a woman younger lr : years- and centuries younger in experi-ence--than herself. A sense of liumout has done manj such friendships tc death! When life and experience have endowed a woman with the easy graciousaess, the ready laughter, the ability to wear gifts and talents lightly that mark out the woman of the world, in the best sense, from the tyro, the former is comprehensibly impatient of the cramping effect of an exclusive friendship that refuses mirth and dwells in cavernous depths of seriousMoreover. in so far as the ordinary everyday aspects of life are concerned, when will women have the good sense to be able, to say to each other, as one man would to another, “ Don’t- talk to me now, old chap, I’m working against time.” Or, “ I can’t possibly stop to give you tea just now, old thing; but there’s the teapot and the caddy. Help yourself.” Men’s friendships endure because they take each other beautifully for granted. But they wouldn’t endure for five minutes if the average man made half the demands on his chum’s nervous system that the average woman makes on the average feminine friend,’* s . That is why feminine friendships fail : why women are labelled “cats”; and some of the best of them, in the end, wail lonely serenades to the distant, unobtrusive moon ! AS OTHERS SEE US. (By SONIA GREY.) She was a tall, angular girl, with large, irregular features and untidy hair, and “considering her size,” as my aunt whispered to me. “ she was really behaving rather foolishly.” T. too, thought that Mary would have looked better on a. straight-backed chair talking decorously to the Dean, than sprawling kitten wise on the hearthrug indulging in airy persiflage with the vicar’s son. And when at length she rose and came to sit at my side, I stared a,t her curiously. “ T know Avhat you are thinking, dear.” she began, “but T can’t help making an ass of myself sometimes. Here am T. with all the appearance of hates men—and yet,” she added in a burst of confidence, “ T loathe being independent; I’d give anything to be one of those blue-eyed. curly-haired dolls that get looked after and petted. And T can’t help my nature coming out occasionally,” she finished rather wistfully. There must be hundreds of people, in the world who live and die with their real nature unrevealed. Such is the force of circumstances. We are expected to be what we appear to be, and any deviation from the type we represent is regarded as laughable, or. worse B• ill. pathetic. There doesn’t- seem to he much use in having the courage of a Nelson if It- is encased in a weedy. anaemic frame: feminine wiles, fascination, the spirit of Delilah herself, can have little effect when they emanate from a a mousey, dlill-looking woman ; and what is the use of a oredilection for Plato and the Greek philosophers if the student’s mighty brain i = covered villi a riot, of golden curls and her mouth is <‘up-id’s how? one out of the slough of" physical setback. It, was not always the darling f t the regiment who won the Y.C. ; and history gives us such names ns Caesar. Nelson. Napoleon and Wolfe- men who not merely rose superior to their physical deficiencies, but (a far harder task) made other people believe that it i - the spirit that counts, whatever Lb- 1 body that holds it. A PAPER BOOK-COVER. It is a good thing when a frieirl lends one a book to provide it with u paper cover which will prevent it. iron* being soiled. The usual way of male ing a cover is to tuck roughly tin paper under the “ boards ” ot the book, with the result that it is constantly slipping off when the book is handled. To make a cover successfully lay the book on a piece of thin brown paper, and open the front cover of the book. Cut the paper, allowing about 2in on all edges for “turning in.” This margin may be more or less, accord ing to the size of the book. With the scissors remove a U-shapcd piece from the centre of the top and bottom endwithin a- quarter of an inch from tin* back. &LIT DOWN EACH fcIDE This quarter of an inch can be slit down at- each side and the paper pro jecting above the edges can then be tucked into the hollow at the‘back. This can he repeated at the top of the back. It. is worth doing so. as the top and bottom of the back ol a book Turn the top and bottom edges tin* paper over the boards and then told down the .’engthwuy edge of the paper. Grease a triangular piece the paper across at the corners, un., ' then. pu«di each corner inside between the lengthwav edge of the paper c-.-rer aud the outside ut tlie book.

POSTPONING MATRONHOOD There are some women who at the comparatively early ago of forty are clearly stamped ns matrons: there are others who cannot be so described until they are near! y three score years and ten. RETAINING HER YOUTH. ears ago a girl became first- a bride and a year Inter a matron, in spite of the fact that matron is defined in the dictionary ns an elderly married woman. Nowadays a girl retains her youth far longer than she did formerly. Her athletic life and the “ aids to nature ” at her disposal enable Tier to do so. so that even when she is elderly she may not look her age. It is every woman’s right to remain young for as long as she can. The matron of forty can only be so calle i because she has not devoted suffieie-.it time and rare to her personal appearance ; she has made no effort to conceal the ravages of the years. Tn making the best of herself a woman postpones matron hood. Vo grow old gracefully is often achieved as much by mental as by phvsicnl wellbeing. A beautiful nature is a help t-i this end. Therefore from childhood one is laying the foundation of age The retention of young friends and a sympathetic outlook are important aids Towards solving the secret of perpetual youth.