The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-02
By MARGARET WADE

lHe IlTSC St0te dinner Wnlcn WILL De in honor of the cabinet will take place on Thursday, December IS, after which there will be no official entertaining until January 1-when the President and Mrs. Coolidge will hold the time honored New Years reception, begin ming at Il o'clock in the morning.
 The evening receptions and dinners will all take place on Thursdays in the following order:
 January 8, diplomatic reception.
 January 15, diplomatic dinner.
 January 9, judiciary reception.
 January %, supreme court dinner.
 February 5, congressional reception.
 February IF, speakers dinner.
 February 19, army and navy recep- tion.
 The President and Mrs. Coolidge will also dine out once each week, limit ing their acceptance of this hospitality to members of the cabinet. This is ac- cording to an unwritten law that is rarely violated as it is readily seen that without some restriction the chief exc cutive would be greatly embarrassed by invitations he could not accept and which it might be impossible to decline without giving offense.
 The Secretary of State and Mrs. Hughes will give the first cabinet din ner with the other cabinet ministers following in the order of their port folios.
 All of which is enough in itself to in sure the wearing of new and smart eve ming gowns in addition to the visiting and reception toilets which are always featured in a Washington winter.
 The smartest and newest of evening gowns as yet seen were undoubtedly those worn at Mrs. Joseph Letters for the first three dances to be given by pri- vate subscription, but with all the eclat of private balls, as the subscribers come in entirely by invitation of a com mittee composed of three young ma- irons, each a leader in the smart resi- dent set which, outside the White House, is the dominating factor of the Washington vanity fair.
 In this particular group nearly ev- cry member of which has passed the early autumn in Paris, returning with complete winter wardrobes, skirts are sixteen inches from the floor. there are no sleeves and the new neckline is square in front with the deep V back.
 Favorite materials are gold and sil- yer lace, velvet in new and delicate colorings and occasionally white satin embellished in crystal or pearls.
 For afternoon wear skirts are also narrow and short, but sleeves are long and the neck line high.
 Mrs. Harry B. Spencer and her young daughter, Miss Violet Spencer, the latter the first of the seasons buds to be formally received in society, are wearing ultra smart afternoon frocks, in very elaborate use of self-colored fringe showing the Paris hallmark, Mrs. Spencer in gray satin, Miss Spencer's a soft blue georgette.
 For the street there seems to be very general return to plain lines and dark colors with small hats for the morning hours.
 When the Bryn Mawr alumnae of Washington called oh Mrs. Coolidge at noon during their recent council, twen- ty-two of the twenty-nine visitors wore hats in the small, round crowned, short back model, usually of French felt with the trimming of bands of ribbon with cockade or close bow or with the still
 
 latter when used was placed low on the brim on the right side. Only two of the twenty-nine wore what anyone would describe as dressy hats of velvet with colored ostrich. One of these had an old-fashioned ostrich plume across the back, the other an outstanding clus- ter of small plumes rising against the crown on the left side. Several of the plainer hats had straight brims, like the old-time sailor, but the majority were narrow and inclined to droop.
 Miss Natalie Hammond not only has a Paris wardrobe, but a very pro- nounced Paris coiffure consisting of shingle bob close to the head every where but at the side, where four inch strands are trained to curve in flat rings against the cheek. Miss Hammond is obviously proud of this picturesque effect as she makes point of removing her modish little hats at concerts and matinees, without so much as a polite request from her neighbor in the rear or the management of the theater.
 Miss Hammond's evening gowns are almost invariably the robe de style" as the Paris designers describe the full skirts and round waists which this pe- tite belle wore almost to the exclusion of every other model in her debutante year just as she does now.
 Mrs. Henry F. Dimock is just as much of an individualist among the dowagers as Miss Hammond among the younger belles. On her morning shop ping tour, Mrs. Dimock wears a strict ly made-to-order suit of homespun in dull French blue, with skirt of gen erous proportions as to length and width, with the hip length coat of the same curved lines she has worn for years. The hat, too, might be marked personal, being black velvet with a rather broad brim and well propor- tioned flat crown.
 For business or pleasure Mrs. Dim ock uses a small, well appointed coupe, which is drawn by two bay horses with the cropped tails of twenty years ago, and driven by a coachman of the same period, who might have learned his trade in Hyde Park or on Fifth