HITHER AND THITHER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 11, 14 January 1936, Page 2

HITHER AND THITHER

Quadrille Conies Back. There will undoubtedly be a comeback of the old-fashioned “set” dances as soon as the public sees some of the period films which are being made at present down at Elstree*. states a London correspondent. One film shows the waltz as it was first danced, disguised with surreptitious coyness by mingling it with the quadrille. Quentin Todd, well known in the musical world as the choreographer of Gershwin ’s “ Rhapsody in Blue, ” is directing many of the dance arrangements, and firmly believes that, the oldfashioned dances will return this winter. The idea is already welcomed in Mayfair, where hostesses bemoan the unsociable character of modern dancing, and long for the revival of the party spirit as fostered by the lancers anil quadrilles.

i) Belts for Autumn. Belts are still going to play a most important part in our autumn dress scheme. In the fashion collections they appear in wider and wider forms, anything from eight inches to I a much wider belt. When they are very wide they are usually made of a fairly supple material and carefully swathed, anil of course arc liable to crinkle up too much round the figures. The dress designers have a secret for ; keeping such belts in place and iuvisi ible hooks and eyes are again in use i for this purpose. The different methods I of fastening are equally interesting, i With a six or eight, inch belt enormous buttons and clasps are sometimes used, but with the wider belts and soft tie effect is preferred with tie and the bow, if there is one, kept quite flat. Soft suede, soft patent, very supple leathers are used for lightweight tweed frocks, while for afternoon and even frocks the same fabric as the dress is used, slightly stiffened by machine stitching or quilting, or heavy embroidery carried out in cfloured or brocade or gold thread or very fine, braid. It all sounds very A’ictorian! Permanent Wave Not New. A woman journalist wandering among the sculptures and friezes in the British Museum has discovered that the permanent wave, which flourished so mightily in this decade of this century, flourished also in ancient Rome and that there is nothing produced by electric, mechanical, and gentlv oily touches of the. hair of the head to-day that was not done in ancient Rome and done more, states a writer in the Australian AAorker. Every Roman head in the great lady class was rigidly waved or bunehily curled, and enclosed by what later centuries have known as the ‘‘chignon” —an atrocity, by the way, which is reported to be in fashion again and which in its previous periods of preeminence often insanitarily saved the trouble of 4 ‘doing up” the hair except occasionally—very occasionally. Among the great ladies of old Rome there *does not appear to have been anything so plebeian as natuial waves or curls. The slaves were theie in plenty to elaborate the artificiality, also the sculptors to “the styles” for all time, also Jhe beauty parlours with all the (unnecessary) paraphernalia. The Romance of Rayon. When buying and wearing the many beautiful articles of clothing now macle out of artificial silk, how many people give a thought to the fact that man has literally beaten the silk worm at its own job? The Chinese were the first to produce artificial threads from the liquid gum provided by the silk worm a thousand years before the Christian era, and many centuries later reasoning man endeavoured .to spin threads from gums and resins. For a while he was successful but to-day with the aid of modern science and marvellous mechanism he can manufacture artificial silk from various substances, including wood ( pulp. At first this new fabric did not wash and wear so well as the real vegetable fibres such as cotton or the animal fibres such as wool. This was owing

to the fact that the glutinous substance from which the artificial silk was made did not lend itself to the essential “twist” which is necessary to impart strength to all yarn for weaving purposes. To-day, however, by first producing the long stretch of filament and then cutting it into staple lengths and repeating the spinning process a yarn is produced which, when woven into cloth, retains the lustre of silk and also adds the durability of cotton and wool. “Rayon” is the name by which all artificial silk is now known, no matter what it is made from, and so great is the sale of articles made from it that the yearly world production exceeds 600,000,000 lbs. School of Drama. An Easter school of drama is to be held in Dunedin under the direction of i the British Drama League of New Zealand. Various lectures have already been arranged for, including Miss Elizabeth Loe, who has been for the past two years in training at the Elsie Fogarty School, London, and who will make her first appearance in New Zealand at this school, also Miss Barbara Williams, of Dunedin, who has spent the past year in London studying the art of dancing, and who will conduct classes in miming.