The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-09-04 00:00:00

GOSSIP Or DRESS.

:CHE Lady's Pictorial has the following :--Although
Parliament has so far forgotten itself as to hold an
August sitting, it must nevertheless be confessed by
this time, that London is fairly empty, and most of
my readers will, I imagine, pay but flying visits just
now to the metropolis, on their way from the moors
to country house visiting, or to continental watering-
places. At such times as these it is a solemn fact
that nothing gets so soon out of order as feminine
headgear, nothing requires renovating so often, and
nothing makes a heavier demand upon the taste and
ingenuity of a successful milliner. Some delightful
new notions for country hats have been carried out
recently, all of them remarkable for that studied sim
plicity, which is, in my humble opinion, the best of
good taste. I will tell you first of some
striking novelties, beginning with a wide-brimmed
shady shape, just the thing for a smart country hat,
made in a most ingenious blending of two straws, one
being dark indigo blue, and the other a dead shade
of old gold. These colours are not mixed in the
usual fashion, but arranged in a kind of zig-zag which
is exceedingly effective. This shape has the wide
brim caught up on one side at the back, and
the crown being bordered with a twist of
dark blue velvet. High on the top of the crown
towards the back, is a lovely cluster of crimson
poppies, with just a handful of mignonette and
feathery grasses, the whole secured in the bend at
the back by a small butterfly bow of blue velvet. Can
you not fancy that such a hat as that would form the
most picturesque headgear imaginable?

As long as a glimmer of sunshine lasts, hats in
white and in cream colour will be very generally
worn, when the happy wearers are out of the range
of London smuts. A pretty hat in pale yellow straw,
for instance, was shown to me made with rather
a high pointed crown and a wide brim. A small
bow was perched where the crown joined the brim in
front, while the brim was split up at the back, so as
to reveal the pretty soft lining of pleated cream lace,
and to make room for a very full big bunch of yellow
ribbons, some of which stood upright, while others
fell over the crown towards the front. More gene-
rally useful was a hat in pale b6ige straw, lined with
dark grenat velvet, bent up rather sharply at the back,
and ornamented near the bend with a bow of dark
grenat velvet, and a bunch of wonderfully natural
field flowers, dark red poppies, tiny daisies and a
handful of grass.
• • •

Munn straws will probably continue to be very
popular for many months to come, and among the
happiest combinations of colour must be mentioned a
plait, in which strands of dark red and dark blue
straw are twisted in with a pale Tuscan yellow. A
hat made pf this mixed straw was shown to me
with a very wide brim turned up at the back and lined
underneath -with dark blue velvet. Long loops of
blue ribbon velvet were carried over tho crown and
brought down low in front, terminating there, with a
large blue velvet bow. Another bow of velvet was
arranged at the back, and out of the centre of this
sprang a dark red osprey, harmonising with the colour
of the mixed straw. For a very simple garden hat,
intended chiefly as a shade from the sun, there is
something very quaint and simple, in a deep, shady
shape, covered entirely with cream figured net made
with a soft crumpled crown, and bordered with a
frill of lace. Bows of myrtle-green velvet give a
pretty finish to this hat, placed one at the back, and
the other in front of the crown. The crown is par-
ticularly pretty, being drawn up like that of a Nor-
mandy peasant woman. This hat would look equally
effective for an older wearer made in fine black lace,
and ornamented with bows either of heliotrope or
ruby velvet.

ARTISTIC hats, as my readers are no doubt well
aware, form quite a speciality at this establishment.
Some of these are literally copied from old pictures,
while others are arranged and adapted, especially to
suit certain picturesque heads and faces, when they
do not harmonise satisfactorily with the requirements
of modern fashion. One of these picturesque hats,
for instance, is made in coarsn, rough nutmeg straw,
in a sunny shade of nut-brown The crown is rather
high and inclined to be pointel2. The brim is very
wide' and is turned up slightly on one side, being
lined underneath very fully with nut-brown velvet, in
a somewhat darker shade. A scarf of brown silk is
gracefully draped round the crown of the hat, soften-
ing the outlines, and giving a wonderfully picturesque
appearance to the hat as a whole. A similar idea is
carried out with equal success, in a fine white straw
of the same artistic shape. This time it is fully
lined underneath with black velvet, and the high
pointed crown is softly draped with a scarf of cream
white Indian gauze bordered with a full frill of cream
mauresque lace.

A. LARGE shape in coarse nutmeg straw, dyed a deep
rich shade of indigo, looks very well, lined with full
blue velvet, and trimmed with a wide scarf of moire
silk, which is so arranged that it catches up the brim
of the hat on one side, and holds it close against the
crown, securing it with a large full bow. Nearer the
front of the hat, and nestling among ribbon bows, you
find a cluster of field flowers, crimson poppies, golden
wheat ears, bright blue corn flowers, the whole effect
being most delightful, and suggesting at once a back
ground of green fields, leafy hedgerows and trees
covered with summer foliage.
• • •

SCARVES of all sorts and kinds will be pressed into
service for trimming hats this autumn, and one of the
most effective of these scarves may be seen in black
silk gauze sprinkled all over with leaves in gold. Such
a scarf as this looks well on a high-crowned black
straw shape, the black and gold drapery being wound
loosely round the front of the hat, and then drawn up
in a high loose bow at the back. One of the prettiest
of the new shapes has a deep turned-up brim at the
back, narrowing down to nothing in front, a shape
which is particularly becoLaing to almost every style
of face. A nice hat in this shape was made in coarse
dark blue straw, the deep brim at the back being
bound with dark blue velvet. The front was then
filled in with a loosely, knotted handkerchief in white
foulard, spotted with dark blue. The great advantage
in this style of trimming is that these scarves or hand-
kerchiefs can so easily be altered to agree with the
colour of the rest of the toilette. For instance, in
this dark blue hat, nothing can be easier than to
change the foulard scarf occasionally for one in dark
red, or in pale cream, or even in deep orange, accord-
ing to the predominating colour in the gown. In
these hard times, when we are none of us too rich for
our many requirements, it is as well to make the most
of our few opportunities for economising.

FOR a bat which will be useful and seasonable later
on in the year, I noticed a remarkably pretty shape
in crimson nutmeg straw. The crown is high, and
the rather narrow brim makes a slight shade in front,
while it is turned up a little on either side, and fits
quite closely to the hair at the back. This hat was
lined with crimson velvet, and trimmed in front with
tall velvet bows, and wings of the same shade. For
wearing either with a grey, a black, or a very dark blue
tailor-made gown such a little hat as this would be
just perfection. Bather
.smarter was a hat in roug;
mixed straw, plaited in different shades of noisette and
golden brown. Turned up slightly on one side, this
shape was quite close and tight-fitting at the back. A
nut-brown scarf with a wide stripe in silk crêpe was
draped round the crown and drawn up high on one
side. A close-fitting toque in red straw would be very
becoming to certain faces. The hat in question had
an exceedingly pretty indented crown, the indentation
being arranged in the shape of a diamond, and giving
a novel appearance to the hat as a whole, The brim
was lined with red velvet, while above this was wound
a scarf in soft red silk, knotted in front, and sur-
mounted by some tall bows of pearl-edged ribbon. A
pretty hat for quite a young girl is made in black
straw, with s high pointed crown and a deep edge all
round. This edge is bound with black velvet, while
three bars of narrow velvet are placed round the
crown. The front is brightened with upright ribbon
bows in a mixture of black and yellow.