OUR LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue XIII, 31 March 1900, Page 613

OUR LONDON LETTER.

Dear Bee, February 16. We are having a “khaki” boom at present, and are promised a “khaki” spring, although the nipping frosts which have compelled us to garb ourselves in the warmest furs, make the clothing of our thin brown line look anything but seasonable. Nevertheless, wherever you go you seem to be confronted by khaki. We are told that the electors at York voted neither blue nor yellow, but khaki. In the shop windows everything of a brown tint is put prominently forward. There are khaki jerseys, and khaki sleeping suits, khaki Jaegers, khaki ties and khaki handkerchiefs, khaki purses and khaki photograph frames, khaki notebooks, with sheets of paper which can be folded so as to convert themselves into envelopes, and khaki menu cards, with a Union Jack or a bow of red, white and blue ribbon. The very dolls make their appearance in khaki, and for half a guinea you can have a counterfeit presentment of the “Absent-minded Beggar” or of a New South Wales Lancer. Before long some enterprising person will be giving a khaki dinner party, at which all the victuals will no doubt be “done brown.” Glasgow, in its exhibition of pictures for an Artists’ War Fund, lined the walls with khaki, covered the tables with khaki cloths, and organised a corps of khaki waitresses for active service upon a public only too willing to surrender unconditionally. I wonder whether you know the origin of the term “khaki”? The Persian word for dust is “khaki,” and the material used for uniforms in hot climates is called “khaki ” simply because it is “dust-coloured.” Although a good many of the fashionable shops seem to be making a specialty of khaki serge. 1 do not think that the colour is really likely to be much worn. It is altogether too unbecoming for fashionable 1 wear, and although no doubt brightened --with crimson or violet, claretor tnaroon. it may achieve a certain measure of popularity for golf or

cycling, or for country or seaside use. 1 don't believe that we shall see it much in evidence in London. Certainly not at the church parade in Hyde Park. Still, as a khaki costume might be much more serviceable to you in the colony than to us in this damp, chilly climate, here are a couple of suggestions. In the first costume the cloth skirt is cut up in front to represent an over and an underskirt, the upper one being edged with beaver and otter. The bodice coat is tightfitting at the back and sides, with a sort of reved cape of khaki-coloured velvet, bordered with the fur. At the neck is worn a jabot of cream or string-coloured lace to relieve the shade. A velvet muff, adorned with violets, and a smart toque, trimmed with plumes and the same flowers, would set off the costume.* In the other ease, the gown is also of a thin, soft faeed cloth, the skirt fitting very tightly to the hips, and widening out gracefully at the bottom. From waist to knee the skirt is tucked on the hips, leaving a panel appearance in front, and the same at the back. The sleeves and bodice are also tucked to match the skirt. The bodice lias a stitched sailor collar, and is finished in front with a curved stitched piece of the cloth, with clusters of buttons. Over the short, soft cream tucked silk muslin vest a crimson fringed cravat gives the necessary touch of colour that is required to complete the effect. An attempt is also being made to introduce the headgear of the South African trooper, so as to give us all the appearance of khaki-garbed Amazons. There is the ladv - ’s trooper hat in khaki-colour correct felt, in the same style as supplied to the officers of the Imperial Yeomanry, with a trimmed brown or khaki-colour silk puggaree, rosette and quill, which you can get for 18/6. or with simple khaki material and fittings, as worn by the officers, by which you can “heighten your patriotic appearance,” for 15/. These hats seem only to catch on with the shop-girl class, although I should have thought that for equestriennes

they would be more picturesque and more comfortable than the small hard bowler, which that autocrat. Fashion, insists upon our wearing when on horseback. IRISH FRIEZES AND PASTEL TONES. What, however, appears to me to be a much more suitable material for winter and early spring is the Irish frieze, which is lieing so widely worn just now, and which—judging by the shop windows—will continue to be the fashion until the swallows and the summer return. It is made in a variety of colours, but the most fashionable are “pastel” tones (a term which explains itself), in frame. heliotrope, blue and green. Walking costumes of this frieze are both warm and smart, and their colour lights up the gloom of these dark days. A smart girl whom I noticed the other day wore a coat and skirt of heliotrope. The skirt had two box pleats on either side, fastened down with three lines of stitched strapping, coming onlv part of the way down the skirt, and gradually diminishing in length from the front to the back. The back was cut entire and formed a box pleat, which started quite narrow, at the top and widened out as it descended. The coat, which was short, open in front, and outlined by the same strapping, had an abbreviated basque, rounded at the corners and scalloped. The revers were of a darker shade panne velvet, and the pleated vest was of soft ivory silk: for cold days a high waistcoat of cloth, with doublebreasted front, could be substituted. One of the prettiest ideas that I have seen worked out in a pastel tone was the charming afternoon gown worn by Miss Julie Oppin in the “Prisoner of Zenda.” It was of a pastel shade of pink cloth, the Eton bodice turned back, with a slightly waved collar of pale pink panne, fastened with two large buttons of panne, the upper part of the sleeve was tucked, and finished with a band of panne, edged with fringe. The pointed cuffs were also of panne. The vest was of black and white flowered net, with

rosette and scarf of the same in front. The skirt was deftly pleated, and the whole effect was novel and picturesque.