CHOOSING A HAT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2051, 30 November 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHOOSING A HAT.

(By A. Conor-O’Brien in - t-lie “Lone Hand.”) The head of a millinery sliow-room is tall—a triumph of corset-ting and chemically lightened hair. When tlio late Mr Buster-Cross engaged her be told liis partners (in the big Sydney firm of Buster-Cross, Jox and Sons) that she was the height for a tall woman —sft Tin—whose principal business would be to make women believe they would look as well in the liat she was trying to sell them as she herself did. Her neck, lie .said, was long, and her shoulders low, and, for such a slender figure, broad; and to the end of getting rid of the Hat in season, she would be just the means they were looking for. A Romney, a Tam o’ Shanter, or an old lady’s bonnet, would look equally well on her. “Yon all know, gentlemen, what money there is in millinery, and although many women take no opinion save their own when selecting a liat, the majority has no opinion, and has got to be hypnotised into making a choice.” The head of the millinery showroom dresses in all black —exquisite allblack. Her gown is a bewildering creation of silk, and lace, and embroidery, superimposed on someth’ng already elaborately decorated, toil don’t realiso liow elaborate, costly, and effective an all-blaclc gown may be until you go to buy a liat at tlio house of Buster-Cross, Jox and Sons. It is a trained gown, *nd tlie train follows tlic lady with a billowy majesty all its own. “I am not drawn,” says its silky whisper, “I am accompanying you of my own volition.’ and when the wearer stands, tho lull soft waves intimate, “Wo aro resting.” The Head has a 20-in waist, and round, small, but very obvious hips, over which tho gown fits as does tho young bark on a -sapling. When sho crosses the showroom to throw tho tactful ultimatum, “That hat would suit madame perfectly if a touch of turquoise blue were introduced, and tho ostrich tips moved further back”—at an assistant who is trying to sell a hat to a small woman ,in a -slop-made tailor-frock —she conies with a swift ,erect, unswaying motion that suggests that she is running on invisible, well-oiled skates. Hei elaborately-coiffed head is so smooth that you might think the bronzed, waved hair was pasted instead of brushed -into place. When sho poses (she would not do anything so commonplace as’put) a. liat with plumes, a wliirly brim, and a smother of flowers on her shining hair at the just-iiglit-to-a-lino angle—that is the time to see her at her best, as the Devil’s Advocate. She turns her well-made-up face, her faint, fixed smile, and the front view of the hat on to the woman whom she wishes to see possessed (of tlie Millinery Devil). Then, slowly turning, she presents a profile view to the woman desiring to bo possessed. Her train is swept to the front by the movement, and lies in crescent formation ; her round and obvious hips, tlie bend at the back of her small waist, the full bust that “balances” a lot of black plumes at the back of the hat, the bronze hair that heightens the effect of the asp-green “note” in the millinery—all this artfulness of her artificial grace is undermining the judgment of the customer. Suddenly turning her smart back (a paste-jewelled comb glimmering under tlie black plumes) on tlie tranced gazer, tlie Head sweeps a few yards away, then, describing a wide curve, glides buck saying: “It is absolutely tlie latest style. When our Paris agent sent this model out by last mail he wrote that the Lilitli would not be shown there, or in London. for another three weeks. Besides. we have no duplicate of this model, Mrs Bigwool, and, if you decide upon it, we will certainly not make one. I think dt such a satisfaction to wear a hat which you are

euro has no replica, don’t you? . . . Yos, by all means, try it on again . . Now that I seo it on you a second time, Mrs Bigwool, it scorns to mo it would be just perfect if you had tangerine substituted for thut-asp-green. , . . Yes, of course; your hair is such a beautiful shade of blackness . . . .

Do yo-ui always wear it coiled? It is so becoming to this stylo of model; besides, the slnipo of your head is just—o, did ho say that?” Sho laughs a little laugh that seems in harmony with her closely-laced waist and tinted hair. “Miss-Mealy” (to an assistant), “did you hear that? Mrs Bigwool says Mr Bigwool often says that it was the darkness of her hair that made him lose his way, and ask her to marry him. Heo, lice, heo, ball, hah.” Miss Mealy: “How clever!” The Head: “And liow true! Don’t you agree with me, Mrs. Bigwool, about tho tangerine? .... Yes, five and a half guineas. I’m so glad you have got it—you 'will really wear it. I should hate to seo -it only carried. Most women only carry their hats. . . Yes Vi . . to-morrow morning . . .”

She shows tho edges of her teeth in a grimace of satisfaction and adieu ; for, although tho other woman has become possessed of the Model Devil, tho Head is tired of the strain the transference involved. She looks disgustedly at tho unique liat, and says to Miss Mealy: “Take it up to Miss Painthelily, tell her wliat’s to bo altered, and to charge a halfguinea for tlio tangerine panne