WISDOM FOR WOMENKIND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19346, 27 June 1925, Page 10

WISDOM FOR WOMENKIND

OUR PARIS LETTER (From Pauline Courlander..) (All Rights Reserved.) A great many suits for 'useful’ wear are offered in Paris. The coats arc short, the skirts are short and pleated, and are worn with beige or cream silk jumpers, beige stockings and brown kid shoes. Small ribbon or plaited straw hats generally accompany- these coats and skirts, and many varieties of charming walking sticks. There are malacca canes with the owners’ monograms on plain silver tops; there are polished ebony straight sticks with ivory knobs bearing carved and tinted monograms or designs. For town, there are lovely Chinese lacquer sticks in red and blue, and black and gold; and there are others with loss defiinite decorations in faded colours and Western designs. PLEATS AND PANELS Skirts that are not entirely pleated may have pleated panels inset into the sides or front; or they may have a shaped flounce or panel in front. Pleated side panels—quite narrow ones —arc sometimes surmounted by a shallow pocket exactly the same width as the panels. Fino needlework adorns all the more, elaborate blouses and frocks, cither in tho shape of drawn thread work and lingerie stitching, or of embroidery. It is a most important feature of the new fashions, and one which needs very careful consideration, as well as a goodly portion of our dress money. The favourite wear amongst the women who flock to witness the tennis in the South of France is pure and spotless white. Here and there arc spots of gay colour in the shape of a hat or a sunshade or a coat; but the general impression one gets of a tennis audience is virgin white.

FROCKS FOR THE TENNIS ENTHUSIAST Some of the prettiest frocks arc made of reps. One 1 like especially has a long, straight line from the square neck to tho hips. The straight line continues at the back, but it is interrupted in front by a full panel attached to the bodice by a trail of thick white embroidery. A long narrow scarf of the reps is also embroidered at each end in white. With this are worn white shoes and stockings, a small round hat, and a loose three-quarter coat of white duvetine, unlincd, but embroidered on the inside. A WHITE CREPE TWO-PIECE A charming tube-like frock is of w’hite heavy crepe de chino, quite straight and sleeveless. Had I not been told that the chemise frock is no more, I would certainly have called it a chemise frock! About two inches from the hem is a broad row of cropped white marabout, and, apparently growing out of that, a trail of embroidered peach blossom of Japanese design. The white crepe coats comes exactly to tho marabout, which, therefore. becc*.nes a trimming to the coat as well as to the frock. SIAIPLE FROCKS AND SUITS Worthy of mention is a suit of cream Kasha, with the lower part of the sleeves, the hem of the dress, and a line down each side of the coat, of red and black check silk. With this are worn cream stockings, ajid black patent leatehr shoes with red buckles. A simple frock of white crepe has a rather high neck from which a black mousseline de soie kilted frill falls diagonally from the loft shoulder to the right hip. A hip pocket likewise has a kilted flap and two more bits of kilting decorate tho long tight sleeves from elbow to wrist. A'larocain underskirts are worn with pleated georgette tunics; the pleats are set into embroidered yokes, and there arc generally short, simple sleeves. NECKWEAR NOTES Scarves are as much worn as ever. They may be strips of chiffon or crepe hemstitched or hemmed -with a thin line of another colour; or they may be elaborate .embroideredaffairs of lace or tulle or georgette. Here and there we meet a frock with a neat high collar and a business-like tie. Hardly any day dresses have verylow necks. NO MORE “TOO-OLDS.” “Don’t you think I am too old to wear that colour?” an Englishwoman asked her modiste. “Madame,” was the reply, “no Frenchwoman of to-day would dream of asking that question. On the Continent there are no old women. One remains young even when one is a grandmother. Never ask such a question again; if you do the chances are that you may feel old, and that would be fatal.”

Tho French modiste was right! Formerly it was considered foolish, almost grotesque, for a woman of forty or fifty to wear the same kind of clothes as a girl in her twenties. Go to Paris or to Biarritz to-day and you will find that a woman in the forties or fifties who does not garb herself like a young girl, is considered both foolish and grotesque. Short skirts aud shingled hair are for everywoman; and, somehow or other, everyone, no matter what her figure, manages to look well and becomingly attired. There are no old women, except, perhaps, a few Hower sellers in the Alarket Place, and a fishwife or two in the Halles. “There’s many a good tune in an old fiddle” is the motto that should be inscribed above the portals of every casino, every dance-club, every restaur ant, in every city. For every woman is busy at present living up to it. How much the mental outlook affects the physical condition is exemplified by the success with which her efforts arc attended. «. L. G. S. NEW WAYS WITH REFRIGERATORS (By Airs. Hamilton) Ingenuity distinguishes the latest refrigerators. Alany of the models require no ice at all in order to keep the food fresh and sweet. In the majority of cases, use is made of the fact that air passing over a damp surface through which it can roach the articles to be kept cool, brings with it an atmosphere many degrees lower than that on the outer side. One safe, or larder, of which the ! shelves are made of slate (itself sufficiently cold to keep foodstuffs cool under ordinarily warm conditions) is truesformed into vcrdable refrigerator 1 by means of roller blinds, fixed above the DCrforated At Uui

base of each side is a small trough, to be filled with water. The blinds, when pulled down, rest in the trough, so that the material is kept thoroughly soaked. The hotter the weather, the more effectual docs the arrangement appear to be. In another type of larder, a water tank is fitted at the top. To this are fixed two strips of flapnel long enough | to descend at each side to the base of the box. The strips are in contact with the hessian of which the sides of the safe are made, so that the larder is surrounded by a wet surface over which the process of condensation is continually taking place. The hessian must be kept scrubbed every week or so, in order to allow the process to proceed satisfactorily. Especially in places where block ice would be difficult to 1 obtain is this method of supreme value. The frame of the safe is of teak—especially hygienic because of its hard, ! smooth surface, which is very discouraging to germs.

KITCHEN CORNER A USEFUL ‘STAND-BY’ SPICED BEEF * Spiced beef is always served cold and eaten with salad or pickles. Here is an excellent recipe. Procure a good sized piece of beef, rub all over with half a pound of granulated sugar, and place it in an earthen basin for twelve hours. Mix on a plate a tablespoonful each of thyme, ground all spice, and grated nutmeg, half a teaspoonful each of ground ginger, powdered mace, cinnamon, powdered cloves and bay leaf, a teaspoonful of ground black pepper, and an ounce of saltpetre. Thoroughly rub the beef with this mixture, replace in basin and leave again for twelve hours. Rub in a pound of common salt, cover with a cloth and allow to infuse for six days, rubbing the beef all over twice daily. After the sixth day soak in cold water for two hours, place in a stewpan with enough water to cover, add two carrots and two onions sliced, two heads of garlic and a little parsley. Cover the pan, leave to boil for ten minutes, and set in the oven for four and a half hours, turning the beef once in a while. Allow the beef to cool off in the pan, then take it up, wrap in a cloth, and place in a cool part of the larder. THE LONELY MAN (By His Typist.) The Lonely Man sat in his sumptuous I office and wondered if anything were j worth while. With a weary gesture he | reached for one of his expensive cigars, | donned hat, and overcoat, and hailed a I taxi. He had a luncheon appointment , with the Big Man who was making use i of him—of his fresh and vigorous I genius—in the promotion of an import- 1 ant enterprise. “Sickening,” murmured the Lonely Man under his breath. “Always spend- j ing a small fortune to get in with the j right people; always trying to reach up ■ to where I don’t belong. I’m like a| rotten tree with no roots anywhere. All j pretence. ...” In the vestibule of an expensive ' hotel the Big Man was tapping the i floor impatiently and frowning upon I the world in general. “Awful bore, this! Why the dickens couldn’t the fellow have suggested a chop in a grill-room? One wants to talk affairs, not wade through a long i luncheon, with little or nothing settled • at the end. Queer eggs, these parvenu i pretenders. They don’t belong any-I where. Pity! He’d be quite a likeable '

chap if he let himself be natural. He, could afford it. He’s indispensable enough in his own sphere. But as it is he’s impossible. No roots in any sort of soil. All this pretence....” RENOVATING METALLIC LACE To clean embroidery or lace in which metallic threads are lavishly used, sprinkle with magnesia or a little jeweller’s rouge, and rub vigorously. Then brush carefully to remove the powder.

Finally rub with a soft, leather, and the fabric will look as good as new. CORD FOR LOOSE COVERS If vo uarc making new loose covers for your furniture, don’t forget tnat the rather thick cord used for piping is very apt to shrink the fir«t tin Ih-* covers are washed, causing the scales to have an ugly, pucker 'd appearance. You can overcome this difficulty by washing, boiling, and drying the cord before you use it,