THE WORLD OF FASHION.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue XXIV, 15 December 1900, Page 1140

THE WORLD OF FASHION.

By

MARGUERITE

NEW STYLES FOR LITTLE GIRLS. Children's frocks seem to have more style this year than they did last, owing probably to the fact that there is more attempt at the fitting of skirts and bodice than was formerly considered necessary, ami more attention is paid to choosing a design that is becoming to a child’s figure. The plain skirt was never becoming to children, and the wide box-plait in the back is not suitable, either, although it is very often seen. A gored skirt is more becoming to any except a quite young child, but just at the back there should lie some fullness — either a triple box-plait that is not fastened down farther than an inch below the waist or several rows of gathering. Skirts must be sufficiently wide to have quite a flare, and are now often made trimmed with ruffles or flounces, not deep enough to make it stand out well. These ruffles or flounces are trimmed with rows of narrow ribbon or black velvet and have bands above them of the same material. Bodices made with yokes, or to be worn with guimpes, are considered too youthful for girls over 12 years, and they wear instead bolero jacket fronts, fichus, or the folds of the material are crossed in surplice fashion, or are drawn together at the bust and tied in a soft bow without ends. There should be caps or some sort of trimming at the top of the sleeve of any bodice for a young girl, for until a girl is IB or 18 her figure is rarely developed, and she needs all the width possible across the shoulders. This is only gained by long shoulder seams, or the effect of long shoulder seams, or a. fichu drapery. The bolero jackets made of lace and embroidery that are intended to be worn by young girls bn Me short sleeves that are really only' bands that cover the top of the arm and give the desired broad effect. While the fashion of wearing the necks of gowns cut round and rather low and finished with lace or embroidered collars is the newest style, young girls still wear with some of their frocks the stock collar and ribbon, finished with a small bow and ends in front, or a narrow sailor knot with wide ends. The coat and skirt suits for children are most practicable and useful, while the inexpensive fancy silk or wash blouses that are worn with them make it possible to have quite a variety. A silk blouse with a pretty ribl>on tie and belt makes a serge or eheviot suit look quite smart enough for afternoon or church wear, while with light flannel or some wash material blouse this same froek is the best possible school dress that a child can have. The ready-made suits are good in shape this year. There are one or two quite distinct styles —the plain coat and skirt with no trimming but pretty buttons and rows of machine-stitching, and the much more elaborate skirt and coat trimmed with some contrasting material and made with fancy vest and revers. One of the prettiest of these more fancy' suits is of a light tan cloth trimmed with bands of Scotch plaid in bright colours and made to wear with a silk blouse. It is a dainty little frock, more suitable for a girl of 12 or 14 than for a younger child. Another vogue for small beings that is at onee the height of fashion and most decidedly appropriate is that for pure white muslin, with insertions and tiny frills of Valenciennes lace. Little girl babies of from two or three up to seven look even quainter in this combination of materials than in soft smocked silk. They wear round their waists a silk sash of azure blue, and sometimes their little frocks are made over a blue silk slip, though after all white is much more becoming to extreme youth than any colour. Flop hats are in again for children, and so are big bonnets, with soft frills of muslin round them. The muslin is insertioned and edged with lace in both cases. Quaint crinoline straws are becoming to them, trimmed very simply with a soft sash of

silk tied in a bow in front, and with fringed ends hanging at the back. Flowers for little children are never quite successful excepting in the form of tiny daisies wreathed round the crown of the hat like the chains the small beings sometimes like to make themselves, or more commonly to have made for them. J (?) ® SIMMER FROCKS FOR YOUNG GIRLS. And now to our page of sketches. The first for description is only a simple cotton, but one of certain grace and charm to the young wearer. The material selected is a pale pink cambric, striped narrowly with white, and trimmed with an inch wide insertion in cream, rather a coarse make of lace is selected. The skirt is plain and somewhat full, the back being arranged in close gathers, not pleats. The hem of the skirt is relieved from any appearance of scantiness by' three rows of the insertion, put on in equal vandykes at about a distance of three inches apart. I now allude to the rows of trimming.

The bodice is only a variation of the ever-beloved blouse design, folding over on the left side, which fastens invisibly. The top has a collar and revers of plain white linen, trimmed with a narrow vandyke of lace, which trimming is carried down the front. The sleeves are bishop shaped, adorned with straps of embroidery at the top, and round cuffs trimmed same. The second design is a pretty idea for a best summer frock for a girl of the same age, viz., thirteen to sixteen. The fabric selected is one of the soft foulards or washing silks so much in vogue now. The colour is dark blue, pin-spotted with white (I have hit upon this pattern as being very suitable for young wear, any large or floral design looking too elaborate), and trimmed with white glace silk and narrow blue ribbon velvet. Here again the skirt is plain as to the upper part, but has at the foot a shaped flounce, five inches wide, trimmed with three rows of the ribbon velvet, each row put on about an inch apart from the other. The bodice is gathered slightly, put on to a small yoke at the back, and opening narrow-

ly in front over a vest of tucked Indian muslin ending at the neck line with a transparent band of lace. A collar cut square, and ending short at each side in front is made of white glace, trimmed with a waving band of blue velvet. The sleeves are not quite tight, and are gathered into a round cuff of glace, edged velvet to match collar. The waistbelt is in blue velvet, fastened in front with a plain silver buckle. This is a very effective little frock, and to my mind comes as suitable accompaniment to it a hat, in cream coarse straw', trimmed with big rosettes of Indian muslin and smaller ones of velvet and glace. Very dainty is the sketch which comes third. This is designed for a wearer between nine and thirteen, and is in a blue batiste, the colour being a bright, not pale blue. The bodice is gathered from a transparent yoke of cream spotted muslin, with loose sleeves of the same. From the back of the yoke come ribbons of blue glace brought round to front, and tied in a smart wide bow having no ends; the skirt has two narrow frills of muslin, and

a belt of batiste finishes the waist. For a younger child of seven or eight this design could be made as a smock, and be very pretty. The last sketch is suitable for a child the same age, or even a couple of years younger. For its designing I have chosen nothing more original than the oldfashioned book muslin, a fairly good quality being used. This is made up in conjunction with the same thing pin-spotted. The bodice is nothing more than a sailor blouse with collar, vest, and cuffs of the pin-spotted material, the two former edged with a half-inch insertion threaded through with deep cream or coloured baby ribbon. The waist has a sash of the muslin, trimmed to match, and a sailor knot of silk to match, threaded with ribbon completes the front. The skirt is full and plain. To give some general idea of quantity, I may suggest that for the first sketch eight yards of cambric and sixteen of insertion will be required. For the second nine to ten yards of foulard will be needed, with a piece of ribbon velvet measuring thirty-six yards, three-quarters of a yard of glace, and half of muslin. The third design would take five and a half yards of batiste and two and a half of muslin, while the last sketch could be evolved from six yards of muslin and one and a half of spotted, with ten to twelve yards of insertion. © ® © Another smart style of dress for a young girl is seen in my sketch, and consists of a white woollen skirt and blouse covered by a loose sac coat of scarlet serge with a white collar. A little red coat such as is depicted can

be worn in conjunction with almost any costume, whether cotton or woollen, and looks very" smart fastened either by large white mother-of-pearl buttons or those of a smaller size of bright gold. All the costumes described by me will stand a considerable amount of hard wear, and are not easily torn or discoloured by sea water, the last a very important item, as the joy of dabbling in water is irresistible to young folks. The wisest plan for children who are fond of wading, and spend most of their time on the sands, spade in hand, is to provide them with a pair of overall drawers, into which the skirt is neatly packed—or possibly altogether discarded. Thus protected they can paddle peacefully about without detriment to any of their under garments. These drawers should be made of some rather elastic woollen material, and present very much the appearance of boys’ bathing pants, with only a very much abbreviated portion allowed for the leg. © © © Now that we are near the holiday season, there will be a. chance for the juveniles to work off some of the exuberant spirits which are apt to prove something of a trial to their seniors, in the erection of sand castles, or the joys of hay-making. Having personally taken part in the exodus from town to the seaside, occasionally I have gazed with an observant eye on the various children who swarm on all sides, with a view to arriving at some sort of an idea as to what kind of clothes can be recommended as in every way advisable for the youngsters when occupied in the serious task of making the most of

their holidays. The conclusion I have come to is one not merely theoretical, but is based on the appearance of a family, who were sojourning in an adjacent villa, and who number—apart from the necessary and useful complement of parents —two little girls and a boy, all under twelve

years of age. 1 will not enter into the minute details of the boy’s outfit—which, however, I may state, consists in hot weather of a fine white flannel shirt and knickers, and a shady white linen hat, along with a prettily-coloured silk tie and waist belt, and in wet or rainy weather.of a Norfolk tweed suit—but will endeavour, by means of a sketch, to evince to all interested mothers, the simple and suitable frocks which rendered the little girls distinguished above their companions. They wore smart little sailor frocks of navy blue serge, lined with white braid at the hem and on the collar, if the weather was stormy or cold; and when the sun shone in all its fierceness, and the air was warm and balmy, white duck or linen frocks trimmed with narrow, dark blue braid, were substituted, in both instances accompanied by broadbrimmed, white straw sailor hats, banded with black. Soft silk ties, either black or white, were knotted sailor fashion in front, and well-fit-ting fine black stockings, together with tan or white shoes, completed as nice an outfit as anyone could desire for a child. Any attempt at dressing a child in elaborate garments of complicated design, is a great mistake, as, to my mind, it appears to smother the simple grace of childhood, and yet this is an error many mothers make, and load their unfortunate offspring with waving ostrich plumes, and silks and satins. ® © © We are not all gay bachelors who have nothing to think about, when the pros and eons of holiday making are on the tapis, but our own various attractive items to be packed in the

trunk which are being weighed so much in the balance. Many of us have many small people in a wild state of excitement and general deshabille who share our holiday and require so much attention regarding their wardrobes that our own is but a sketchy affair rather than the finished tout en semble we promised ourselves —ere the preparations began in earnest —after all. It is an excellent maxim, which is always well ventilated, to “let the children run wild and enjoy themselves and never mind about their clothes,” but all who have any practical knowledge of the “young idea” know that, left to itself in this airy manner, it “shoots” infallibly in the direction of grubbiness and destruction to an extent that no self-respeeting parent could possibly suffer gladly, and that a reasonable amount of supervision and restraint is imperative. No rational mother, on the other hand, could wish her little ones to be haunted by the continual dread of spoiling their clothes or to see them lookinglike prim, dressed up dolls. There is the medium in this, as in all other matters which go to make up the whole of our brief lives, whether of married bliss or single blessedness. The thing to consider in this subject of the youngsters’

holiday clothes is something that looks fresh and clean, and is yet not easily soiled or damaged, and a few suggestions may be acceptable to “Mummie,” or “Mater,” with so many things to think of and so little leisure to to it in. There are, of course, so many pretty inexpensive shady hats and sun bonnets obtainable now that little difficulty in that direction need be experienced. but a novel, and at the same time, thoroughly useful and pretty idea shown us recently may commend itself to some of our readers. This we give in this figure, and it consists of a rather high erown of coarse fancy white straw, and a brim formed of a double row of white embroidery flouncing—Swiss in preference. When new this is stiff enough to stand out sufficiently if pleated, and a narrow band of the Swiss muslin finishes

neatly where the flouncing is sewn on. The advantages of this hat over many others are numerous. The straw erown is more protective than linen to the head. The muslin frills can bu much more easily washed and replaced than an entirely muslin or cambric hat, as they can be ironed flat and afterwards quickly pleated up and placed round the straw crown, two sets of frills, one in wear, and the other in the wash, will carry a little traveller through the entire holiday campaign. It is again very light, and Imth new and exceedingly pretty and inexpensive. To smarten it up for any special occasion a bunch of daisies or buttercups may be placed on the left sides towards the front. © © © The Susie frock shows the pretty new fashion of fastening children’s frocks at the left side. Apart from being a novel design, this dainty pat-

tern is one of the simplest and most practical of little house frocks for girls of 4, 6 and 8 years. It is made to wear with separate guimpes of wash goods or silk.