The second figure of this group wears a black corded silk jacket, made very short, with white revers, and cordings of white satin. It is quite tight-fitting, and has an under vest of white satin, and a high collar at the back. A large scarf of lace is worn with a big bow under the chin. These last-named are donned by everyone this year, and they are also universally becoming, and lend much softness to the face. They are very easy to make for oneself at home, with the aid of a yard or so of net and a little pretty lace. But beware of getting either of these too cheap, for cheapness here would destroy the good effect; and poor materials will not wash. The skirt worn by this figure is of pale grey, trimmed with flat bands of silk, and made with a pointed tunic. The hat is a very pretty one, of white chip, trimmed with black tulle, ruched. A gold buckle and black feathers are worn with it. The edge is bound with black velvet, and underneath the brim is a bunch of pink roses.
In the hair-dressing of the present moment there is an enormous amount of frizzing and waving; in fact, too much of it for the symmetry of the head, and the work of the curling-irons is all too evident. One thing of which everyone complains is, that all heads are alike, and it is much to be desired that more individual thought should be devoted to the dressing of the head. The back hair is dressed in coils, winding round and round smoothly, except when the door-knocker style is still retained; but this form of hair-dressing is fast going out. Then the head is covered with a mass of frizzled hair, which is too disorderly to be beautiful, and in which the beauty of its colour is lost.
A great many women and girls have deserted the use of hot irons, and have gone back to curl-papers, and hair-pins, to wave the hair. In order to avoid the use of either of these, an inventive genius has found out a way of winding a ribbon round with the hair-pin, so that, after the hair is wound in and out on it, the hair-pin can be slipped out, and the two ends of the ribbon which have been left out are tied tightly together, and the hair is then held on the ribbon only. The little bunch thus made is far less ugly than the spiky wire-fencing made by the hairpin ends. The ribbon used is baby ribbon, of course, and when a becoming colour is selected, the effect is quite pretty. Silk pieces of various colours are used also, on which to curl the hair, and in some measure do away with the ugliness of the usual papers. I have heard lately of a young married lady who had a false front made, to put on at night over her hair-wavers, which, she said, were so ugly, she could not bear to look at herself in them, and so tried this way to surmount the difficulty.
In the group of three figures called “Some Summer Gowns,” the first figure on the right wears a light-grey gown, with trimmings of coffee-coloured lace. The flounces are edged with the same, and the vest has alternate stripings of grey and black. There is a draping of white satin on the vest, which is like a sash from the side of the bodice. There are revers of the same lace, and upstanding frilling at the back of the neck. The sleeves are fluted in puffs, from the shoulder to the elbow, with rows of coffee-coloured lace insertion between them, and are finished with a pointed cuff over the hand. The centre figure wears a blouse of écru silk, the sleeves and yoke being mitred, and a pointed epaulette at the shoulder. With this a white muslin collar is worn. The last figure, at the extreme left, wears a cape of white silk with a cover of black net, and ruches of black and white satin ribbon; small black rosettes round the collar, and a ruche of black and white lace at the neck. A white hat, bound at the edge of the brim with a black velvet, the trimming being of black tulle, with pale-pink roses, and brownish leaves and buds; the same flowers under the brim at the back.
I do not think, in spite of Viscountess Harberton, that the majority of English women desire to wear knickerbockers, nor even the divided skirt with which her name has been so much associated in the past; and I hear that French women of the better classes are adopting the skirt of the English women, which they consider much more becoming. After all, there is no need of complaint, for several English firms supply a most ingenious skirt, which—though divided, and giving all the advantages of that shape—when on the bicycle, falls into the usual folds of the skirt which is not divided, and looks just the same. I must confess that this appears to me to meet all requirements, and that the extreme ugliness of the knickerbockers, when worn, need not make them an object of attraction to any woman who values her appearance. There seems to be a universal consensus of opinion that nothing can look better than an Englishwoman in a tailor-made and carefully-fitted dress, quiet in colour, and of the suitable length and shape of skirt. She looks one with her machine, and has nothing flying in the way of decorations to make her untidy.
[IN THE TWILIGHT SIDE BY SIDE.]
By RUTH LAMB.