Extreme Millinery.

Bruce Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 51, 28 June 1909, Page 6

Extreme Millinery.

Eastern milliners are said to be uns easy at the monstrousness of the monstrosities that some women are now wearing'upon their heads, Some of the better class are excluding them from their stores or consigning them to tHe oblivion of the background simply becauae their best customers resent the display, Paris fashion has of course put its absolute ban upon them, for, however much the French woman may err on the side of extravagance, she never likes to make herself either hideous or ridiculous. A well-known New York milliner puts the matter very nicely. She says that she must keep a few of the new hats for such feminine freaks as may find their way to her, but her regular cuss tomers, being ladies, do not wish for a style of headgear that is suitable only to the women of the stage and to women " declassees." The last word is admirable. It expresses the situation to a nicety. Far be it from us to express unkind opinions as to the manners of the women who wear the inverted potato basket hat. They may only be idiotic, and therefore morally innocent, but if we say that they are " declassees" we keep ourselves within the bounds of delicacy, while affording endless scope for tho imagination. The " declassee" women is simply " unclassified " because a more direct label would Jae impolite. A New York milliner denounces the popular ignorance that demands a copy of some particular hat or style because it has been found suitable to some particular leader of fashion. " The French people," she says, " copy beautiful hats from old pictures, and while these may be charming on some faces, as a large poke bonnet tied under the chin will be beautiful on a young girl, yet on older and less attractive people they will be dreadful."