DRESS AND FASHION NOTES.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9860, 9 March 1896, Page 2

DRESS AND FASHION NOTES.

" Weekly Press and Referee." LONDON, PARISIAN, AND AUSTRALIAN. The most fashionable gowns have plain skirts, full sleeves, and bodices of either white satin or shot silk covered with white or ecru lace, or the full bodices of the same material as the gown are hidden by a centre box-pleat and collar in contrast. Some of the very dressy blouses have enormous white silk or satin sleeves covered with black chiffon, forming a contrast to the material employed for the bodice.. A stylish costume is of silver coloured cloth, the skirt quite plain little half long jacket with basques, and double-breasted, with revers of ivory miroir velvet; it is buttoned on one side with three large paste buttons,' and opened on a plastron of sable with a draped collar. The newest gowns are being made all in one—that is bodice and skirt together. Tho severity of Princess style being too trying for anyone not possessed of a slender and symmetrical figure, a compromise is effected by having the back in regular Princess style, while the front is finished as a bodice.

Very excellent in colour and form is a dove-grey cloth gown, the skirt with a triple strapping up the two front seams and the bodice with a perfectly cut, closelyfitting cape-like collar of emerald.green velvet, having a design wrought upon it with applique of white cloth, outlined with white and gold chain stitching. The collar is continued as a kind of loose front $o the waist,' the cloth being buttoned over it at either side with white enamel and silver buttons.

The dowdy point in blouses is the waistband where the skirt and bodice unite. Itwants a good figure with the class of skirt now worn not to present too much hip, or too little, or too much slimness, or too much obesity. Women are wearing a prettily made bow in the centre of the back, and at the collar behind, and for these shot ribbons aro greatly in demand. Simple tailor gowns will be worn for everyday use. These may be composed of s erge, tweed, or fancy linens; some are made of white serg_ and pique in the coat and skirt style, others are composed of brown holland spotted with pale blue, rod, or olive green, the coat collar being faced with linen the same shade as the spot in the material.

BODICES.

Short bodices are the prevailing fashion this season. Basques are seldom to be seen. In some instances the skirts are fastened over the edge of the bodice, and are completed with a sash attached to them. Full blouse bodices are made en suite with plain skirts. They are not, however, as their name implies, merely comfortable garments to lounge about in, but are made on tightfitting linings, and are quito as smart and perfectly shaped as cuirass bodices.

In spite of all the attempts which have been made to the contrary, we are still going to be true to our plain skirts. The latest models are cut to fit the figure perfectly about the hips, while they widen out into ample folds round the feet. The back of the skirts is pleated into the waistband; a thickness of crisp muslin should be inserted between the material and the lining of the base of the skirt, to keep it away from the feet. The back gore should be lined with muslin up to the waist, to make it set out in pretty folds. Flat trimmings are the most general for plain skirts; they may be used merely to form a border round the base, or in lengthway stripes from the waist to the edge of the skirt,

VEILS.

Voils are made of invisible tulle, with large velvet or chenille spots; the prettiest are the cream-coloured Brussels or Alencon net with a pattern on, sometimes in maize silk. Those made of coloured net to match the bonnet are not half so becoming to the face and complexion as the white or black.

CAPES.

Pretty little capes in miroir velvet, with lace turning back over silk in front, and every conglomeration of colour, are stylish in the extreme ; and I have never seen prettier opera cloaks. One of these, in a light apple-green chine, bordered with a flat silk ruche, fell full from the neck, with a slit for the arms to pass through, after a style which our grandmothers delighted in. The shoulders were covered with a cape hood which turned upwards only to the depth Of a few inches, bordered with a flat ribbon ruche; while a white satin, the cape embroidered in gold intermixed with chiffon, was a dream of soft beauty.

One was made of accordion-pleated net, crossed with insertions of narrow ribbon about an inch apart, and finished at the neck with an immense lisse ruffle, the whole was lined with a glace silk ; but only a view of this little mantle could really suggest it s extreme simplicity and beauty. Another was entirely of black velvet, lined with cerise silk, that shone through a superb starry pattern of open work jet, which encircled the cape in two line 3; at the neck was a deep ruche of chiffon, and big chiffon rosettes with long streamers. There were many less elaborate shoulder mantles of pish-

velvet, ornamented with jet and lined with bright silks, which were new in shape.

SKIRT TRIMMINGS.

Skirts being much too fall to be trimmed round are now ornamented lengthways on all the seams with narrow paillette trimmings, tiny galons in jet or beads, su*k gold or silver cords combined with beads, or else with pipings in white silk or some other material and colour contrasting with the dress. Another useful trimniing.snggestion is that of long pointd of lace falling dowu the skirt from the waist or rising upwards from the hem. A lace pinafore, bodice, low cut blouse, over the old bodice cut down, or a new one of plain silk, with sleeves of chiffon, make the best kind of bodice to wear with a lace-trimmed skirt. If the skirt is trimmed with beads or paillettes, similar trimming should be chosen for the bodice ; thess can be bought ready made in such pretty shapes and such a variety of styles that it is hardly worth while to make them oneself, and if their expense is an objection, tulle or net embi'oidered with paillettes or sequins may be. substituted for them and used for full fronts, draperies and sleeves. A novel idea for ornamenting coloured cloth costumes is to have long tabs of white cloth, doubled, stitched down each side and pointed at one end. Two of these tabs are needed for the skirt, they are thi-ee inches wide and half as long again as the skirt, and slightly narrower near the pointed end. One tab is sewn down each side of the front breadth to the hem, then turned up, and the point is secured at the level of the k*iee with a gold button. The tabs for the bodice are narrower and start from the shoulders like brettelles, but are turned up and secured with buttons before they reach the waist, the buttoned Cnds being a little below the shoulder. The collar and cuffs are made to correspond with pointed ends secured by gold buttons.

COLLARS AND CUFFS.

The collars and cuffs of muslin and lace which have obtained all the summer are being superseded by silk ones. They are of plaid, spotted, striped chine, or plain varieties,'" and in shape they are sailor at the back, and in front pointed like a fichu. The grass lawn and batiste collars are still used on navy or black series. One or two blue alpacas have been piped with white silk, and a complimentary collar and gauntlet cuffs of the same added. A Charles 11. collar of black and white plaid silk furnished a plain black crepon with a degree of smartness.

CYCLING DRESS

For cycling wear the two rival builds continue to divide the honours, but in somewhat unequal wise, for the outward and visible knickers can never, for all that their advocates may urge, be anything but the worst of bad form, to say nothing of their grotesque ugliness even upon such few of their misguided patronesses as do not happen to correspond with Schopenhauer's unkind description of women in general. It has been amply proved tho right kind of skirt is as safe and as convenient as the undissembled dual garment in all its native ugliness which for so long a period a certain contingent of the fair have panted to assume. Nevertheless these, discreetly veiled from view by a suitable skirt, are admirable in their place, allowing all the liberty and comfort that are needful without giving needless pain to the beholder. Fastened to the same waistband as the skirt, they fulfil their mission with all due reserve, and a nice economy of thickness at the belt. Although the most popular hat for wheeling wear is the soft light felt something akin to the old familiar boat shape, with cloven crown and upward curling brim tilted a little forward over the face, there is something to be said for the Tarn o' Shanter made of the same material as the costume. This, for such as it may become (and there are few youthful faces with a moderate degree of comeliness which it will not favour) v --.makes a very agreeable change from tjfcSsoraewhafc monotonous?*, if praiseshasp aforesaid. Encircled with a softly'fqldetf band and set off with the now almost inevitable quills, it is smart, pretty, and eminently practical for wear in wet or windy weather; while, when the chevelure beneath shall chance to ripple in natural waves or to sun over with unsophisticated curls, so much the better for the adjustment, and, consequently, for the effect.

MOURNING WEAR.

There are always mourners in our midst, and it shows no want of feeling that the loss of relatives entails an immediate thought of raiment.

There are as many fashions in mourning as in other departments of dress. According to present fashions, a widow wears a gown of black crepe for her first mourning, and the bodice—at all events for three months—is always high iii an evening. Such dresses frequently display rouleaux, and the bodices admit of more or less trimming. A widow's gown in the best crepe Imperial is far more durable than it looks, for the fabric is excellent, it wears a long time, and can soon be restored to its original beauty. Whenever possible a ribbon band is introduced ; it gives so much better to the figure. When any white is needed lisse is employed, and to accommodate the figure a cross-cut basque appears at the back f and an oblong one, all of crepe, trimmed with lines of buttons, can be introduced on.either side of the front—a useful concession for those who are stout. The sleeves are full, set into deep cuffs from elbow to wrist, where, to all appearance, the fulness at the top is pleated in and closely stitched. The seams are corded, and there is a suspicion of a short senorita jacket in front having horizontal bands across. As many as seven rows of rouleaux are placed often on the skirt. Small bullet-shaped dull buttons play an important part.in mourning trimmings. Crepe cloth for day wear often replaces crepe in the deeper mourning, a most excellent wearing stuff, and has rouleaux or folds of itself; it is j never intermixed with crepe. For parents' mourning,, the Henrietta cloth is sometimes covered to the knee with crepe, or trimmed with ba,nds of crepe ; the bodices have yokes or revers, whichever is most suitable to the individual figure. Crepe does not lend itself to drapery—for that purpose soft crepe de Chine b&kes its place. • For older women Razdimir and other rich silks have the front of the skirt entirely covered with the new dull guiptfre, which I can best describe by saying that it looks like the richest lace designs worked over in silk relief embroidery. It is repeated on the bodice.

Some of the evening gowns for deepest mourning are made of a dull crepon which looks like crape; plain bell skirts, the bodices full and soft, having large sleeves, and as little trimming as possible, the dull guipure being usually employed. Grenadines and dull poult de soies come next in deep mourning. For day wear for deep mourning Henrietta cloth is the favourite material, or vicuna, also trimmed with deep bands of crape ; and dull crepons, trimmed with chiffon and crape rosettes.

A section of society abjures crape altogether, and for second mourning wear plain woollen skirts and silk bodices, handsome and important. Neckbands, with an additional upstanding collar cut in tabs and intermixed with crape, give quite a sufficient recognition of the material. Blouses are as universal in as out of mourning. The useful dull crepon that looks like crepe makes many of the bell skirts for day and evening wear; for the latter, a double bouillonne gathered in the centreborders the hem ; the bodice is made with a full chiffon front over silk, long ribbon ends falling from bodice to skirt at the back.

There are the most delightful grey crepons; indeed, never has slight mourning been so becoming. Imagine a wide skirt of grey crepon with huge sleeves, having four or five gatherings at the top, and a pelerine of thick white guipure over a full bodice ; or, for dinner wear, a high black chiffon bodice trimmed with - innumerable paillettes, forming revers and epaulettes on the shoulders, whence they descend in stripes, between which the chiffon appears ; the sleeves are a mere succession of frills made of the same gossamer material, and singularly becoming. Of course they are large, sometimes ending at the elbow, and at other times continued to the wrist. Black and white striped silks make most stylfsh dresses. .

EVENING FROCKS FOR LITTLE GIRLS This charming dress for a girl of fourteen is made of pale green veiling accordionpleated throughout. The skirt is trimmed above the hem with a band of white lace insertion over a slip of white silk. The tight-fitting bodice lining and the sleeve linings are also of whitrc silk. The low bodice is finished off with a yoke of alternate strips of white satin ribbon and lace, with lace round the neck. Folds of white satin ribbon arc laid across the top of the bodice, ending in a bow on the left side : the folds, without the bow, are repeated at the Ixick. The white satin belt is fastened with a bow, also on the left side. White silk stockings and white shoes and mittens. Quantity of veiling required, twelve yards. Princess dress of pale pink face cloth for a girl of fifteen. The dress is cut quite plainly, but with a godet skirt, and in a half low square at the neck. The sleeves are large puffs of cloth turned under at the elbow. Round the neck is a trimming of ecru lace, and deep lace to match is used for tho epaulets. The fastening is on the left side under the ribbon bretelle. The bretelles meet at the back and fall in long loops and ends, and in front they terminate in loops and ends on either side of the waist without meeting. There is no seam in the centre of the front. The bretelles may be either white or pink. Six yards of cloth are required for a tall girl. Dres3 in white silk for a little girl of seven or eight. The skirt is a plain godet shape measuring about four yards round, and is trimmed at the edge with a broad band of ecru lawn embroidery. The skirt is lined with plain muslin. The blouse bodice and sleeves are made up on a fitted lining, and the bodice fastens at the back ; the top is mounted on an open square yoke of embroidery. A sash of soft white silk is folded round the waist and fastened in a single loop and end on the right side. White silk stockings, shoes, and mittens. Quantity of silk required, 7 yards. This is a pretty evening dress for a child of four or five. It is a blouse frock of cornflower blue velveteen with yoke and sleeves of white silk. The velveteen blouse is made of three straight breadths mounted on a short-waisted bodice lining that is fastened at the back. The top part is covered with white silk striped with rows of iridescent blue sequins. Across the chest is a draped strap of white China silk with long loop and end falling ou the right side. The sleeves are bi» puffs of silk mounted on a very short foundation. This dress is very pretty in dark green and pale pink, in brown and gold colour, and in many other combinations. The materials required are two and a-half yards of velveteen and two yards of silk.