Fashion Hints for Islands Women

By Therese.

rjTHERE is not a dull moment in the A forecast of the new season’s fashions.

The stage is set for a lavish production and the variety is the best ever offered.

Lace, beloved of designers, has rushed to the forefront and is worn for both day and evening. It comes in many de signs and sometimes boldly prints itself with brilliant colours. Stiff lace is popu lar, and an evening gown of burgundy lace over a foundation of pink taffeta is something to dream about. The gown’s bodice is made halter fashion and the skirt has flowing fullness from the hips.

The newest print effects are lovely.

Huge flowers of brilliant contrasting colours sprawl over the surface or demure rows of tiny flowers give the effect of stripes and are usually in one or two colours on a light or dark ground.

Flowers have been ousted from chiffons and in their place are stripes of many brilliant colour combinations giving this delightful material a new lease of life.

A foundation frock of Roman stripes dons a hem-length coat of black chiffon which buttons tightly to the hip line and flows loosely open in front, revealing the foundation. The coat’s sleeves are of the short puff variety. The frock with out the coat is equally effective. Little girl frills edge the corset waist and halter neck, and the skirt is very full. frocks are made of gay \j silk or rayon prints and the accom panying coats of plain fabric are lined with the gay print of the frock. This Is very new and the same treatment can be given to short coats and boleros with equally good results.

Boleros, bv the way. are still popular for day and evening. A dark skirt with a blouse of gipsy stripes reaching to the hips in corset effect has a bolero to match the skirt, and is outstanding in Its chic.

Back-to-front boleros for evening are amusing and are made of lace or con trasting material.

Evening dresses are slightly period, and by the addition to her wardrobe of sev eral Edwardian gowns the Duchess of Kent has popularised this particular period to good effect Coiffures undergo a complete change with this mode.

Broad shaped petersham belts are worn with day and evening gowns or are part of the gown itself. This corset effect is seen on most of the frocks, one designer extending it well down over the hips with a trim pleated skirt below.

Afternoon dresses have high necklines and full short skirts with body defining waists. Spectator sports frocks, still short, are slim and straight with a few clever pleats to give desired width. The iackets of two-piece suits are slightly longer than previously, with the skirts also definitely short. This does not mean knee length, a fact that must be well re membered, but an inch or so above the calf which reveals to a nicety the curve of the leg.

rE heart-shaped decolletage is defin itely acclaimed by fashion and when it appears on the frock of printed silk for afternoon wear it is an immediate success. Pleats have come into their own again, narrow pleats swinging from an Empire waistline. The bodice of the frock is the cross-over variety and the sleeves elbow length.

Zipper pockets—four of them in a line, two on the bodice and two on the hips— trim a tailored frock that buttons at the neck line with four buttons and repeats the button note on the short sleeves. This type of frock is an all purpose one, suit

able for spectator sports, morning, or informal afternoon wear.

A touch of white at the throat is flat tering and this can be supplied with white pique bows. Bows, incidently, are high lights of fashion and they perch perkily on all sorts of unexpected places.

A buttoned frill is a happy idea for ;he change-about accessory. It comes on and off at will and turns the sports frock into a formal afternoon frock by its ad dition. There are several ways that changes can be rung. Scarves, flowers, gay handkerchiefs, and boleros all give a foundation frock an entirely different aspect and are well worthy of consider ation.

THE accent is on accessories, which grow in attraction and importance year by year. It is the little attention to de tail that makes all the difference to a

woman’s appearance. The right shoe for the right occasion, the correct choice of gloves, the clever and discriminating choice of dressmaker jewellery, the hat to suit the frock and so on, all add their quota to chic.

Sporting occasions demand comfortable accessories. Cool flexible shoes with Cuban heels are the answer, and with them neat hand-stitched fabric gloves in white or maize. The bag should be as cool and suitable as the rest of the acces sories—plain and sporting. It may be slung over the shoulder or carried by little handles.

The stitched suede or fabric glove is always right for morning and formal occasions. For afternoon, however, both gloves and bag may take a few liberties of design, always being careful, of course, to avoid exaggerated effects. Suede gloves with kid palms are news in the

fashion world and the stitching runs right up to the tiny gauntlet cuff.

The glamour story may be told in gloves, bag- and shoes for festive occasions.

Gloves are sequin and rhinestone trim med and are in varying lengths, and the bags tell the same glittering tale. The sandal for evening never loses its charm and is of gold and silver kid or a mix ture of kid and the fabric of the gown.

Some of the latest dressmaker jewellery is really lovely and looks like old French paste, but a little, well-chosen, must be the rule..

Mrs. Charles Cleveland arrived in Aus tralia from Thursday Island by the last “Marella”.

Mr. A. E. Saxton, secretary of the Rabaul Electricity, left Rabaul, N.G., recently after a visit of several weeks.