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A LETTER FOR LADIES.A visit to the Fisheries Exhibition at SoothKensington, though fraught with many ah3 great pleasures, yet leaves the mind in delightful state xif oonffusion afterwards. Fishes, afire, stuffed, or worked in embroidery, float before the eye of one’s mind, and one has some little difficulty in remembering which court was which, and whether onebeheld the parrot-fish veritably in the flesh oronly its skin, hollowei out to make a vase, and painted upan in divers ooloursby the ingenious Chinee. To the uninitiated eye there is a strong family likeness between boats and fUhiag-nets, to whatever nation they ^may belong; and as for tho^e newspaper critics Who have dlt; scribed every boat and coracle, and 'every fi^b in tbe Exhibition, I can only say that Ifeel the most nnbotnded respect for them. There ia piece of Japanese work in one of the court*, a deep bine panel with strange and legendary looking fish meandering through the wafers, that exactly represents the Btate of my mind after I had been through the Exhibition. Having made this uandid and open confession at starting, myreaders will have the intelligence not to expect high criticism from me on the subject butpleasant and disjointed gossip.It never elrack me till I went to the Exhibition what wonderfully pretty things fishing nets were. Whether fettoomd across the entrances to the court* in purest white, or desky brown, or (as in the Great Hall) pendant side by side in every shade of biown aid pink and scarlet, their decorative value h yreat, and their effect is softer than the softest lace. I pine to have a dra* lag-room hung Tound with fishing-nets—windtws and porters festooned in brown or white. In the Spanish court the brown nctssre wonderfully effective in •conjunction with the red and yellow flags. The beams which go all down the roof are painted ako with the Spanish colours—alternately a red rafter and a yellow one. It U interesting to see what fine trophies have been erected with v* ry simple materials—for example, in the Spanish court we noticed one composed entirely of different kinds of rope, and there is no deseribiog tow pretty it was. Inthe Canadicn Trophy again there were long glistening rojes slanting from top to bottom, which .proved to be lothing more nor less than tins of •potted salmon with a wire stiung through them —very bright tins of every possible colour. The Terra Nova Trophy was a grand thing, with its stuffed white bear at the top, and its grim heads of wlrns and seal staling ounof the four rides. Bat in point of decorative effect we must all hang our heads before the Chinese court, which ishighly’impreesi ve in its barbaric splendour. It is a triumph of primitive colour : emerald green and vivid scarlet meet one another ride by ride, two quaintly ^shaped glit ering diagons are mounted over the door, a wilderness of banners are suspended from the roof—orange and red acd blue and every colour—conspicuous being the pretty triangular fl gs in which the Chinese particularlydelight. Two Chinamen, in sky-blue garments, parade about this court, with satisfaction and enjoyment of the changing soene stamped on every feature of their leather-coloured countenaoes*f- .^ vrUreases wnictr combine a gooa neai 01 prettiness W'ith the smallest amount xf weight or pressure. They are plaited from head to foot, and then ornamented mt the neck and waist with apret y pattern in fUcsefie, and the parts that ate cod fin• d by these Btitches are extremely elastic and “ give ” to the figure when in motion. One young ladyexhibits a white flannel cricketing suit which she wears when playingcrieket with her brothers. Itconsists of three pieces, a jacket, mad trousers, and tunic to the knees, and it is really rather pretty. A combination .garment ean be worn underneath, but it would really be eufficieot init elf. If girls are to go in for crickt tiog and a'hletio exercises, it is a great point that theyshould have a dress that oau ba put off and on quickly* It is so bid to keep on a dress when one has got very hot in it.The exhibition contains rational boots with bro id soles and very ugly heels, silk underclothing, and many other things. What I liked best was a rational bonnet. It was a princess shape, made of Swedish kid, trimmed with fawn-colom*d iilk stuck In with little gold pins. Tne bonnet could be Worn in summer or winter, and when it gets soiled you have only to take a tittle piece of bread and clean it up again. It is the invention off Madame Madgette, and can also bs seen at the Prince’s Hull, Piccadilly. There are many morethJngs to describe in %be Rational Dm?*Exhibition, bat they must, of necessity, be kept lil! nc xt wetk.ZINGARA.t■ ilt;.AThe Chinese podels are; ;aB; very •ijgiter^fclng' 'There'are^the brightly coloured models of houses’- with the principal door of entrance hung in four pieces, each on a pivot. E ich contains a portion of ■ft pattern which joins when the door is closed. In one, which looks like an important house, thf re are a lot of fieh bangiug up to dry on a balcony, which aeemB rather a curious arrangement in front of the drawing-room window. There is a large and interesting model of a cormorant-boat; the fish-catching birds are stuffed, and hit all round the -teat in various attitudes, while a model-of a Chinese Bits rfgirding them with an amused face in the centre. These birds are trained to catch fish, and have a gld ring round their necks whichprevents them from ewallowing it when it is eaugh*. In China it is ge* lt;r *.lly a w rain who sits in the bo it. Amongst trie emi us things in the Chinese court was the fctuffed parrot-fUh. It has a perfectly round body and the beak of a parrot. The jewellery made of fisb tc. l s is the very acme of delicacy—flowers, with the leaves of this feathery stuff, and just one j earl ftr the centre.The Japanere have two teautiful little divans erected for th* display of various act embroideries. The colour is beantifuL At the top is a baud of yellow wood,-cut out into carious irregular shapes, and from this depend dull drapcri- s of bine, aad Japanese lanterns hang at inteivals. Inside aresome beautiful drpmes of brightest scarlet and yellow, which set off to adv*ntage the floe colours •of the art-needlework. Ia the centre is the deep blue rilk panel, with gold fish swimming across it, which I referred to at the beginning of my paper, as being a gocd allegorical representation of the state of mind of a perturbed visitor to the Exhibition ; it is intended for a panelin a library. Then there is a phceof silk with three fai s worked on it, one on the top of the other, and two little Chinese bojs looking at a cock,who.e every feather is wonderfully imitated in silk.The Exhibition of Rational Dress ia even more ^interesting than had been anticipated. Doctorsand divineshave been leofcurin* women about their druse foe many centuries, and alwajs without producing any other effect than that of strengthening them in their obstinacy. But when women them-.-eelvesbegin to turn their attention to the matter fcl a tis a very different thing, and far mere likely toprove a success. Some of the dresses sent in rot prizes are undoubtedly ugly, and some aremistaken in their treatment, bat still it seems a egood thing that some women are beginning seriously to rebd against the ligatures which bind them. Wright is a great point. A woman’s dress often weighs as muoh as twelve pounds, and nodress in the Exhibition exceeds five. The dresses modelled on the plan of the divided skirt are all more or lew alike, and as long as women adopt this• delusive garmejtrt their dresB must be stereotyped. Thedress consists of s petticoat for each leg, so full and bo plaited and trimmed that no oue ould ■know that it wbb not an ordinary skirt; then a dong polonaise is worn over this* Although 4his allows of greater freedom of movement th in an ordinary skirt, the amount of draper? must be veryuncomfortable, and otEB would be inclined to preferthe tighter Turkish trousers mtobiog the dress ■which one sees in 80106 of the exhibited models. The best dres « in this Stymie is invented by Madame Brownjdhn; ft has a pretty vett, cutaway jacket, and sample skirt concealing a divided one. The whole of the top is made in one piece, and the whole thing weighs Only lib. lOoz. The eanre exhibitor has a very clever travelling dtera, wbihh can he turned into a dinner dress in five minutes. It is one polonaise with two' sk te—the first til oath mere, the second of brocade. The sleeves button up Tor evening in the oleverest way, the akirt button a on *to a lining foundation underneath, and a lovely piece of lace buttons on to the pokraawe all round, and forms an elegant addition to the costume. Mrs. King’s clevtr dress for trioyoling is deserving of great praise. Its excessive simplicity »ndljghtaes8tixotly fit # for the purpose for which it is intended. The legs are a combination .of riding tnonssr and knicker-booker, eo as to cover the ankle and ;aiveTiee pl%y to the knee; over rids is a military jaokatand short akirt. The skirt buttons up in that-whena lady lain a coatntry lane where 'there ane •no peojfiethe oa nnbutton-the efe rfcaadgefaajongaequiekly aspesrfMe. Ttmweight ofaao»dioa»ydr«emew -then doubles rire labour *hrv;4^f *wbetricycles. Madainq: Louisa-Bbok las aomr Hyrieffi a
Newspaper Details
Centaur
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, May 26, 1883
Page 7
Full Page
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Anonymous
GB 25 Aug 2021
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