From the archive
In addition to the gorgeously hand-painted cover, famed fashion illustrator Petrov’s work was triumphed in. As well as sketches of the latest dresses from Paris and needlework patterns for summer blouses, he highlighted a hot new headpiece “known of yore as the ‘Merry Widow’, the huge cartwheel-brimmed hat has achieved a fashion comeback … It is a madder and merrier ‘widow’ than ever before.” A “pressure treatment for wrinkles”, which included vigorous self-massage, was the lead story in the Home Maker section, while Mrs Waldron from Howlong, NSW, won the economical dinner cash prize for her three-course meal using a sheep’s head, rice, lima beans, bread, butter, sultanas, apples, carrot and onion. In more serious fare, the news pages reported on women fighting for divorce reform as well as those advocating for better conditions for female domestic service workers in a contract that included holiday and sick leave, increased minimum wage, a 60-hour working week and an employment period of at least six months.
