FASHION NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3342, 7 October 1911, Page 8

FASHION NOTES.

A London correspondent- writes: fine spring of lull will be historical, as ail the rest- of this momentous and important year. Anct needless to add, mat tne pictures of this present day v>rli, in the future, represent the fashions and modes thereof. And i laugh quietly to myself as I think of how the women of by and bye will puzzle over the classification or these same fashions. 'they will ask " Were these modes of the Directoire period or the Empire style, or was there a striving once more arter the classical grace and beauty of ancient Greece?” Berhaps they will I quarrel over, it like the learned men of iimdostan: "Who went to see the elephant, Though all of them were blind.” One happened to catch hold of the animal’s tail and concluded that the elephant was like, a rope; a second leaned against its leg, and he thought it like a tree; another took the squirming trunk in Ins hand and fancied tnat it most resembled a snake; and so on, and soon, the end of the story being the quarrel : ‘•Tho’ all of them were partly right, And all of them were wrong,” And so with our fair- disputants- of the future generations, our modes of to-day are an .amalgamation of all three. Directoire, Empire and Classic, and yet the name of either could not be given definitely to them. And the result is a very charming one, and auite becoming to all excepting she to jwbpm Nature has been too bountiful in' the giving of superfluous flesh. Even she may do much to ameliorate her troubles—and inches —by means of the newest corsets, specially modelled for figures such as hers. And this, 0 friend who suffers from embonpoint, without the ills of excessive tight-lacing. Such lacing seems to me one of the worst forms of torture ever devised or thought of. So we can all wear the dresses of today—with certain modifications—and the next thing, having decided 1 this point to our satisfaction, is to talk afoul what they are. In the first place, "there is no possible probable shadow of doubt,” that the tailor-made coat and skirt, pfire and simple, will not be near!}- as much in evidence as heretofore. Of course, there are some who will- always number the useful suit among their possessions. The sporting girl - of the country, who still loves a tramp with her dogs along the lanes in spring time, and the business woman of town, know that the tailormade is a necessity, from its workmanlike- simplicity. For her benefit, be she country sportswoman or city business girl, be it known that what is suitable is always in good taste, and Fashion, remembering the different avocations of many of her favorites, has designed the neatest: of suits —with narrow plain skirts and hip , coats with deep sailor collars bordered with velvet and fasten-ed-with velvet buttons —in which they may move with perfect satisfaction. But the Woman of Fashion is combining the skill of the tailor and the art of the dressmaker, and it is difficult to tell where each one’s special handiwork leaves off and the other comes in. Satin gowns fit' so beautifully and show such supremacy of cut, that we feel the tailor’s cleverness must have been invoked. but are pulled up short by our admiration of the fichus or draped halfbodices which emerge from those marvellously slim skirts and give a grace and beauty almost bewildering. Revers, lapels and drapings in general, not to mention the large sash bows at the back

of the waist, all unite to surprise and enchant us at the same time.-

Vaguely we discover that these huge bows —which, in some wonderful way, come right up from the waisit to the 1 shoulder —begin their lives as a draping l across the figure, forming most of the small, amount of bodice, which is finished with a very tiny slip of transparent ninon or voile. And, by the way, I must here remind you that voile in its most charming forms is to once again gladden our hearts, and to be the groundwork—in white—of the loveliest colored embroideries, the colors of which are repeated in the hem of the skirts.