THE WORLD OF FASHION.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXX, Issue IX, 28 February 1903, Page 622

THE WORLD OF FASHION.

(By

MARGUERITE.)

SIMPLICITY THE KEYNOTE OF EVERY MOTHER’S SCHEME.

In the group of little children at play there are three tiny tots about three years old. The one in the extreme left corner wears a party frock of white nainsook, with real white torchon lace insertion, and an edging upon the skirt and to define the very deep waist over which the bodice part pouches, more insertion run through with narrow white satin ribbon.

A shallow yoke is a pretty feature of the bodice, for it is very much tucked, and so trimmed with lace as to form a square. The sleeves are baby puffs falling from a series of tucks. Tucks form the principal feature of the second very small child's frock, which is carried out in soft white silk, and has a group of pale blue ribbon rosettes upon the shoulder collar, which might match the Velasquez bow in the hair. The small boy wears Royal blue velvet, with a cream patent leather belt and a deep lace shoulder collar. The four elder girls are variously attired. The first on the left hand side wears pale blue nun’s veiling, made with a pleated bodice and skirt, the former quaintly decorated with a cream lace fichu collar edged with a kilting of silk. The blindfolded child is in white spotted muslin over a white taffetas slip, beautifully tucked and inserted with lace above a full flounce, and on the bodice in the form of a berthe. Another wee girl has a white book muslin gown stitched with white silk, also worn over white silk, charmingly trimmed with a crossed over band of Valenciennes lace and shoulder frills on the bodice, and on the skirt with a couple of frills head ed with lace; and yet another wears a soft white chiffon frock, gauged almost all over the bodice, sleeves, and skirt with narrow yellow Cluny lace to divide the puffings. English mothers are held up as patterns the wide world over for their marked ability for dressing their children becomingly, hygienically. and beautifully. Their prescription is a very easy one to follow. With the creed of simplicity her firm belief, she clothes her little ones for their parties in white, cream or the purest tones of blue and pink, gives their gowns a little lace and a great deal of neat tucking and stitching as their sole trimmings, and depends upon

child-like fabrics like muslin, lawn, cambric, soft silk, satin sheeting, crepe meteore, and the much less costly nun’s veilings and fine cashmeres that are so pretty, for her charming effects. All the materials she uses are good, and so is the lace.

Pale colours, tans and whites are to be this winter’s chosen favourites for the outdoor wear of young folks. Girls will be seen now in most graceful paletots shaped to the waist, with hidden pleats at the back that give plenty of “spring” to the coat; and little boys wear sack-back overcoats like their fathers’ made of mottled tweed, or the always picturesque highwayman coats with several capes and three-cornered hats to match. © ® ®

The combination of the Wilson skirt and Preston jacket will solve the problem of how to make a stylish sub for travelling or for general wear. The skirt, of the newest plaited style,

is extremely smart; it is cut with five gores and the joinings are concealed underneath the three-quarter inch plaits of which there are seven on each side, which turn backward from the middle of the front.

A double box-plait takes up the fulness at the back. The plaits are stitched down to about twelve inches from the bottom of the skirt, where they are released to give the necessary flare. The edge of the skirt may be finished with a bias band, or a three-inch hem stitched several times. ® © ®

Various festivities are even by now looming on the social horizon of most of us; so this suggestion for a pretty evening blouse will not co ne amiss. There are various ways in which it might be expressed, but perhaps the one. which would wear hugest is that in which black net plays a pi eminent part, made ever a slip of black or white silk. The bodice part is a succession of tucks, while a lace berthe finishes the dscclJelr.ge. In the centre front a pink conventional poppy is arranged. Across the shoulders pass two straps of pink velvet ribbon to match the poppy (though black could be substituted if preferred), finishing in a bow on the top of the left shoulder. From a band of lace and ribbon the loose

sleeves depend, leaving the upper part of the arm bare, and are caught again at the wrists by another twist of ribbon and lace. An old evening bodice or an afternoon blouse of delicate colour could soon be adapted to form the slip underneath, and the net blouse could be altered in colour to harmonise or contrast well with the lining. Instead of black a rose pink net blouse over white, finished with creamy lace and trimmings of black velvet ribbon and a black poppy, would be exceedingly smart wear. Indeed, those of us who look forward to a gay winter should take time by the forelock and make up a dainty blouse such as this without delay.

The gown shown in this figure is a green and blue combination. The material is a dark blue cashmere. The strappings are of dark green velvet. The upper part of the blouse-bodice is tucked perpendicularly to just below the bust, then allowed to fly freely. The shortened skirt is pleated from the waist to the feet, a strap of the velvet holding the pleats flat and in place over the hips, from whence they fall freely. These pleated skirts are very nattylooking, and are far more artistic than any of the double, triple, and other elab-

orated or trimmed skirts are. They also give more importance to a short skirt, which looks insignificant (however sensible and comfortable it m;<y be) after the long sweeping draperies we have become accustomed to again the last year or two.

FORECASTS FOR THE AUTUMN. NOVEL WRAPS THAT ARE BEING PREPARED FOR CHILLY DAYS. The chilly breezes of autumn strike no terror to the heart of the fashionable girl of to-day. Waiting for her to wear is a more varied catalogue of dainty wraps than usual. The dressmakers have concocted several in taffetas. Black is their favourite choice, because it goes with every kind of toilette and bestows elegance upon each figure. Under its influence the rotund look their slimmest, while the naturally thin woman looks graceful and not noticeably angular beneath its folds. There is quite a reminiscence of the picturesque pelisse that flourished half a century ago in the illustrated models shown on this page. The flowing lines of the black taffetas are highly to be admired; it is accentuated by the full flounces that adorn it, forming a fichu round the shoulders beneath the deep lace collar, and trimming the basque part of the wrap. The waist of this little coat is defined by black velvet ribbon, the long ends of which form in front part of the waterfall of loops that si art upon the lace collar. The double sleeve is pretty, and since it is allied to a sleevelet of lace, obviates the heavy appearance the coat otherwise might present.

The smart model illustrated in this figure is a broad-brimmed low-crowned shape of white felt. A full wreath of autumn leaves and berries encircles the small crown, and spreads well over the brim, and at the back—where the brim is brought flat down on to the hair—is fastened by a long, hanging cachepeigne of brown accordioned chiffon. This same model we also saw carried out in brown felt. One of quite the first flights in millinery is the large “Toreador” of soft Angora felt, or velvet, covered entirely by a silk network of smallish chenille pompons, a few larger ones banging by black silk cords in a bunch over the hair at the back.

A GOLF SUIT OF PEPPER AND SALT TWEED.

Englishwomen have set the fashior for sport among their sex the world over. It must be odd to a foreigner to visit a famous golf links expecting to see eofrectly-garbed girls in red coats and tweed skirts, when Fashion in the home of athleticism has set her face away from parade of that kind in every kind of pastime. What the searcher after fact would find on the links would be players wearing such a suit as the one sketched in this column; simply a well-cut blouse and skirt costume of pepper-and-salt tweed, or some other autumn mixture, like heather, homespun, or bronze frieze, not devoid of trimming, though it be of the simplest description—to wit, bands of cloth, silk, or leather stitched in a symmetrical design. A Tam-o’-Shanter is the correct type of headgear to wear while plav ing the game that hails from bonnic Scotland, modified from its native utilitarianism by means of a scarf of taffetas that rests comfortably upon the hair, and lifted in front to show a quill thrust through the taffetas.