The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-08 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

woman, says the Queen, whose aim is to "dress"
needs four things: a certain amount of money, to
know where to buy, what to buy, and what suits her.
You may be well dressed, in so f/F that you may
wear what is in good taste and becoming, without a
vast outlay; but to make dress a study, and to be
noted for good dressing, demands the spending of
money. Whether the game be worth the candle, or
whether in these hard times money may not be better
spent, does not come within my province to diruss ;
but what is worth doingrat all is worth doing; well,
and to make dress a dominant idea, and to fail

therein, is deplorable. Yet, where one woma
ceeds twenty do not. Look about at our fashi
resorts, and see, with all the sums of money
how few there are who present a pleasing pictur
feet in all details. One great mistake is th
women will persist in being in the fashion, coil
mute, whether the mode suits them or not, an
bring so little common sense to bear on the subj
* *
PEOPLE who are absolutely incapable of formihg any
definite style of their own, should put themselves in
the hands of the best houses, not one, but man, until
at last they discover some person who will take the
trouble to find out what suits them. The leading
French dressmakers may almost be counted on one
hand. Those who know the great dress land of Paris
well can tell exactly where to go for the special thing
they want. In England the field is wider. There
are certainly some half a dozen firms whose names
are as familiar "in our mouths as household words;"
but there are many others, and perhaps the most ex-
clusive, whom only the initiated recognise. These are
patronised mostly by the women of the highest rank
and fashion. They would possibly lose this class of
clientelle if their names were repandu.
AMONG those who, for want of a better term, Ni e
are pleased to call "the best people," one great aim
and object is to wear what the majority do not; they
head the fashion, and give up appearing in modes this
moment they see others adopt them. They possibly
draw much inspiration from Paris; but French ideas
are greatly modified. The last new introduction of
which you read in every fashion-Look, and see even
in the windows of such of our leading dressmakers
who do not disdain shop windcws, is rarely included
in their wardrobes,
1 hAvn been during the past few days helping to
choose a trousseau for a widow—a woman of the
world, who dresses well, and is acknowledged to do
so—to whom money is of little object, and who
gathers honey, metaphorically, from every flower,
patronising many houses in London and Paris, but
stamping her own individuality on every purchase.
Looking back, I cannot recall one article that in itself
did not seem perfect; but I am afraid, if I com-
menced to minutely describe them, their very sim-
plicity and perfection would make them tame reading.
As in the descriptions of ball toilettes, those that read
the best may be the most notable and remarkable, but
they are not always in the best taste. While the
bride expectant was choosing a plain dark brown coat
with browny-pink linings—the prettiest part of the
garment, but only occasionally revealed as the wearer
moved—we fell to discussing the several things that
had been prepared to choose from, and what people
bought, and she recalled with mocking naivete a gar-
ment we had both seen at Sandown's last meeting—a
well-cut coat, with, at the back, where the two buttons
are often placed, two wooden lizards, so life-like we
had for a moment thought that they had come there
inadvertently, and were about to remove such unwel-
come intruders. "This may become one of your
English fashions," she said, with a shrug.
JUST lightly, pending the return of many of the
best known leading dressmakers from their Easter
trips, I will run over for you some of what, judging
from my friend's trousseau, I am inclined to think
are items in the fashions of the most exclusive people.
For morning wear, close-fitting coarse straw bonnets
—dark blue most in favour—with bluets or corn-
flowers of a much lighter shade than the bonnet it-
self, or a dash of orange in the trimming. No
strings are to be worn for full-dress occasions, and it
is doubtful whether the high bows are tobe patronised
at all. Mignonette, large in size and exquisitely
modelled, is the favourite flower, with a touch of
peach somewhere. The shops are flooded with strine
colour; bat there is a darker shade, which looks far
better with cardinal, and many good gowns are being
made of this in silk (not woollen), canvas—a new
fabric, which has just as many varieties as the wool,
and possibly will be generally worn two years hence.
It makes up well in black, especially with open work
stripes, when it is lined with silk of some neutral tone,
of a soft, costly make. There is e. new colour which
blends happily with black in this way—a brownish
tinge of heliotrope. My friend told me the idea
had been caught from an artist's easel, where
the brown and peach had run into each
other. She had a tea gown of this tone lined
throughout with brown, which showed here and
there, always apparently inadvertently, but veritably
with most studied carelessness. This garment was
lightened by a quantity of point d'Alencon, used with
just as lavish a hand as though it were Calais lace at
so many sous a yard. It fell in billowy fulness panel
fashion on either side; it bordered the inside of the
skiit, and peeped out curiously at the elbows of the
somewhat tight sleeves, as if the seam had burst and
an under sleeve had come to the surface.

1 Elie-
e
et per-
e way
'te qui
I they
eet.

Fos outdoor wear there are many jackets moulded
to the figure, and ending just below the waist line,
where they are finished off with failings of lace, hand-
some beading, and passementerie. They are intended
for a slim figure, and are of all colours, as well as
white and black, some all beads. If it be really a hot
summer, the many handsome velvet gowns made and
making for leaders of fashion will have to hang un-
seen in the wardrobes instead of adding to the
glamour of Vanity Fair. Ribbon velvet, too, plays
an important part in
.Pte and quiet dinner gowns.
These are made of alternate rows of velvet and lace,
and fall in specially graceful folds. There is certainly
a tendency to adopt the new painted laces in cash-
merienne tones, with a lustra effect. Black laces thus
treated arc worn on black.

IF I were to more minutely describe what is a
beautiful trousseau, the points to which I should have
principally to di7ect attention would be the silk
linings of the bodices and the perfection of the inside
of all garments rarely if ever seen in inferior ward-
robes, the fineness of the materials used, and the ex-
quisite lace. Some of the linen, trimmed with Valen-
ciennes, had this lace, as well as the linen or cambric,
embroidered in spots of pink silk, the effect charming.
Nearly every dress had a fan painted expressly for it
on gauze, and was trimmed with the same flower as
the gown. Stockings matched all the toilettes, and
most of the day dresses had parasols to accompany
them. The wedding gown was a mixture of silver-
grey satin and moir6 Francaise, with panels of inter.
blended silver and gold embroidery.

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.
• ALEXANDRIA, May 2.
Lord Rosebery, writing to Sir H. Drummond Wolff
on the 14th of April, expresses his regret that after
careful consideration he is unable to accept Mukhtar
Pasha's proposals with regard to the Egyptian army.
After observing that the expense will probably be
greater than is estimated by Mukhtar, and will imply
an extra charge of £200,000 even if England aban-
doned the charge for the army of occupation, the
despatch continues: "Her Majesty's Government
regret that they are unable to agree with his Excel-
lency's view as to the necessity or expediency of the
reoccupation of Dongola by the Egyptian forces under
present circumstances. The advice given by them to the
Egyptian Government in December, 1883, after the
defeat of General Hicks's army, was that all territory
south of Assouan, or at least of Wady Haifa, should
be abandoned. Subsequent circumstances have only
tended to confirm that view, and her Majesty's
Government cannot be parties directly or indirectly to ,
an enterprise which they believe to be too severe a 1
strain on the material and financial resources of the
country, and which will not, in their opinion, secure
any commensurate advantages. Putting aside the re-
occupation of Dongola, there is no sufficient reason to
maintain so larze an army as proposed. The total
yearly cost to England of the occupation and defences
of Egypt exceeds a million sterling. Her Majesty's
Government desire to reduce this as far as possible,
but while it continues they are not prepared without
urgent reason to remit the small contribution which
they receive from Egypt. Her Majesty's
Government see objections to removing or
greatly ,reducing the number of British
officers in the Egyptian army. So long as
her Majesty's forces remain in Egypt the two
armies will have to fight side by side, and it is
essential for their proper co-operation that there
should be perfect concert and confidence on either
side. This object is securable by no other means so
effectually as by the presence of British ofEcers with
the Egyptian forces. For the present, and until
matters are much more ripe for the withdrawal of
the British troops than at present, her Majesty's
Government would greatly deprecate any change.
They. do not, indeed, feel certain that even with A
view to future services British officers could advan-
tageously be dispensed with. They have been unable
to obtain from the Sultan any assurance as to the
extent to which the Khedive's Government might
expect to obtain recruits from other parts of the
Ottoman dominions or officers from the Turkish ser-
vice. The information in the possession a her
Majesty's Government does not convince them that a
change from British to Turkish officers, even if the
latter could be obtained, would be wise or popular,
or a change tending to facilitate the pacification of
the Soudan."

Sir H. D. Wolff is requested to place these views
before Mukhtar Pasha in the most conciliatory
manner, asking whether the scheme cannot be so
modified as to meet the objections. The despatch has
caused the liveliest satisfaction among the English
officers in the Egyptian Army, who recognise first of
all the encouragement received from the British
Government in their work, about which it is impos-
sible to speak too highly. It is regarded by the
colony generally as a dignified method of putting aside
a project hardly meriting consideration. Mukhtar
Pasha is naturally not enthusiastic in approval nor
very clear how he can modify the scheme so as to
meet objections striking at the root of every 'clause.
He has referred the matter to the Sultan, and on
Saturday had a conference with the Khedive and Sir
Henry Wolff.

The following is the present disposition of thil
under General Stephenson :—At Assonan,
Butler commanding, the Yorkshire, Dorse
Durham, and Essex Regiments, and the 20th HI
at Cairo, Colonel Wilkie commanding, the 1
Fusiliers, the Cheshire Regiment, the Cameron'
landergt the Duke of Cornwall's and the Shrt
Regiments, the 19th Hussars, the Mounted In
and two batteries of artillery; at Alexandria, C
Montmorency commanding, the West Kent,
shire, and Staffordshire Regiments, • and half
60th Regiment. Those under orders to leave
replaced by the Essex Regiment from the fron

Sou Alum, May 3.
Watson Pasha, who has succeeded Sir Charles
Warren as Governor-General of the Red Sea Littoral,
arrived here to-day, together with Brigadier-General
Cherry, who will act as local Commandant. A
squadron of the Madras Cavalry sailed for Itidia on
the 29th ult.
ALEXANDRIA, Mar 4.
As has been already stated, a Commission has been
named to inquire into the alleged corruption by 4 Daira
officials. The French Controller of the Dairil now
objects that he does not form part of the Comi
and seeks to upset the inquiry. Fral
already represented by the French member
Caisse, and it is obvious that the Controller
form a portion of the Commission, because in
his own conduct in failing to check the s
irregularities is sub judice. Great imports
attached to this question, as being the first
attempt to inquire into the general adminisl
corruption.
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