Shopping in Hamilton presents one with overwhelming possibilities. There are many fine shops with goods from all over the world.

Let's start with holiday fashion . One of your definite stops should be at the house of Calypso on Front Street. Katie-Jane Orton, executive buyer at Hornburg Calypso Ltd. tells us this is going to be an incredible season for evening wear. They will be receiving a whole new shipment within the next week or two.

Ms. Orton said, "This is unheard of at Calypso as evening wear generally is a very small section.

"We pride ourselves on always choosing the unusual and this seems to be making us a leader in evening wear.'' Fall's colour of the moment, grey, is polished into silver for evening wear.

Texture is added with velvet, beading, flocking and satins accessorised with bold jewellry. The contrasts of silvers and greys against tanned and dark skins is stunning and makes for a popular choice in Bermuda.

Classic styles are given a contemporary spin with an updated woman's tuxedo dress suit. "Ours is a sleeveless dress with satin lapels fastened at the waist with a satin skirt underneath, available in black and ivory. For business dinners try our single breasted black satin dress suit,'' advised Ms.

Orton.

They offer short sexy dresses with spaghetti strapped square necks and lace bodices. Choose a style which will make a feature of your back with a cutout.

Evening dresses start from a very competitive $65 to $269.95 for the satin shift dress suit complete with matching 3 jacket. There are plus sizes too.

Unusual gifts. Located inside the The Emporium on Front St. is The Gallery Ltd. managed by Olwen Price. They offer interesting authentic African masks and sculptures. Here lives many original works of art. If you are a bird collector take a look at the crystal ones from Brazil made from semi-precious stones. There is hand crafted art jewellry by David Pereira.

Heritage House on Front Street has a nice antique furniture collection, prints, frames and some of the finest chess sets on the Island.

Master's Ltd. , adjacent to Bull's Head, home department has a nice array of African collectibles. I spied an attractive array of handcrafted, vibrant picture frames. They have onion pottery jars from Portugal (I didn't know such things existed) and a wonderful candle selection. The Christmas tree candles are cute and colourful in red, gold, and white for $7.95. and are perfect little gifts for children to buy for giving.

Books for gifts.

Books make wonderful gifts for children, especially. If given for Christmas presents they will have time to read them over the holidays.

On top of my list is the old fashioned, Bermuda Book Store located on Queen Street. They have been in business since 1922 and James Zuill , the owner really is exceptionally knowledgeable about his books. He is a charming, witty fellow who gets to know his customers.

Mr. Zuill explained, "I try to respond to customer demand. I pay close attention to price reaction and try to give the best books for the money. For example I offer US prices on all the New York Time hard covers on the best seller's list.

"I offer quality children's books from $1.50. If you want to learn a language, Spanish, German, Chinese, Portuguese, we have a vast selection of language kits with CDs and tapes ranging from $42 to $104.00.'' A few of Mr. Zuill's gift recommendations were British detective stories by Catherine Cookson and pictorial art books by US publisher, Dover. Other ideas were works of Charlotte and Emily Bronte bound in imitation leather for $24.70. He offers many gardening books on herbs, roses and bonsai.

Here awaits the best selection of Bermuda books on the island. The Bermuda Atlas and Gazetter sells for $120. A very enticing book is "Bermuda's Gardens and Houses'' for $50. "Shipwrecks'' for $12.95, with a foreword by Teddy Tucker, offers wonderful facts about shipwrecks off Bermuda.. There is a shipwreck map depicting many wrecks off Bermuda. The two combined would make a handsome gift for a school child age 8 and up.

Continue on page 7 Hamilton Shopping marks for its many scholastic books. For young children are the Ladybird books and tapes sets from England along with Beatrix Potter's "The Complete Tales''. In the new year they will be expanding and branching out into all sorts of books for adults and children. They already have many wonderful books on gardening and other subjects. The staff are readily available to help you.

Upstairs in the Phoenix on Reid St. Tina Ming , the book manager, has done a terrific job of providing a wall of classics by Hemingway, Shakespeare, Melville, Dickens and others at reasonable prices. Ms. Ming gave two recommendations for gifts: "Guiness Book of Records 1998'' and a local book by Yvonne Willie entitled "The boy who didn't want to be black''. They have most of the books on the New York Times best seller's list and the list is posted every week There are many excellent children's books. There is the cute Mousers 1999 Mousepad calendar for $10. PHOTO ELEGANT LOOK -- Calypso model Tori Simons epitomises elegance in this silver dress with a floral overlay.

Calypso staff can choose beautiful attire for you to wear to holiday parties and family gatherings.