All very bright hues should be kept away from the face, as only the best of complexions can stand them near the skin. A portrait-painter once told me that the colour of the hair or the hue of the eyes should always be repeated in some part of the dress. But I fancy it may answer for painting, but not to be exemplified in everyday life and habiliments. [Illustration: AN AFTERNOON VISIT.] Now that belts are coming in again, or rather have come in, it is well to remember that when the waist exceeds twenty-five inches round bands are not becoming, and pointed bodices should be resorted to, and if the front darts be cut very much bowed-in, an effect of slenderness is given to the waist which does not really belong to it. Frills at the neck and wrists are most becoming to thin people with long necks. Short-necked and stout people look best with plain bands of muslin or lace. High shoulders do not consort well with fur capes nor wide fur collars at the neck. The long paletôts or pelisses are very suitable to short people, as the straight lines add to their apparent height. But even in giving these few directions towards helping my readers to becoming and tasteful dress, I fully realise the fact that very few people take the trouble to ascertain what they look like, and perhaps would be grievously offended if they were to be told where the faults of their appearance really lay. [Illustration: NEW BLOUSE POLONAISE.] Mantles, as I have frequently said, are all short, none of them coming more than a few inches below the waist at the back, though all are long in front. They are, many of them, much trimmed, though not too much. There are braces to the shoulders, or a kind of yoke of beading, or flat bands of beaded _passementerie_, laid on. Plush seems to be the great material for these mantles, and will be worn not only in the winter, but late in the spring. Some of these plush mantles are coloured, but very few. Sapphire blue, carbuncle red, and a dark mossy green are the most popular colours. They are trimmed with black jet—not a very satisfactory trimming, nor very elegant.