Georgian Styles.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 1, 5 July 1911, Page 69

Georgian Styles.

GOWNS AND CAPS COPIED FROM OLD COLOUR PRINTS. Picture teagowns will represent one of the most fashionable items for evening wear during the remaining months of the winter. These are the latest excuse evolved l>y women of to-day for introducing the wearing of a cap, and the piquant touch of “negligee” they give to a costume has caused them to be adopted for simple dinner wear at home. A teagown of this description, to be correct in every respect, must be carried out in period style, and is usually copied bodily from some quaint old colourprint. ’S.i It lends itself, however, to all manner of little individual touches, of which the model dressmaker is not slow to take advantage. The old Georgian silks, powdered with bunches of moss rosebuds or picotees, are very charming for the purpose, and are made with a demure fichu of snowy chiffon or the finest lawn folded round the shoulders. Often a kind of overdress or coat of chiffon, draped in qnasi-pannier form at the sides, is likewise introduced. The sleeves are short, and finished with ruffles of creamy lace, and in some cases with a touch of fur, while a little market posy of cottage flowers, or a single pink rose, is tucked into the folds of the fichu.

The cap which accompanies it is a fascinating item, and without it the gown loses half its eharm and character. It is usually carried out in mob-cap form, only softer and flatter than the original mob-cap, and is finished with a deep frill of lace of a mellow creamy tint, framing the face most becomingly, while there are tiny bunches of rosebuds in satin or in faded shades of tissue introduced at the sides. Some of the teagowns are, besides, made with genuine “sacques” of taffetas, or in some cases of the richest brocade, while the caps to accompany these are very piquant, being tied under the chin with lace strings, a big bow resting on the front of the gown. With the more fanciful of the teagowns there are very quaint and delightful little satin caps, which closely resemble the polichinelle caps which appear on the French chocolate boxes.