THE HAREM SKIRT A RUSE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1054, 18 February 1911, Page 11

THE HAREM SKIRT A RUSE.

A' few days back all tho . morning papers wero unanimous with tlio news that Turkish trousers were coming 'into fashion this year, and'maiiy illustrations .of tho extraordinary, - but quito smart-looking garment wero given (says an English writer). Tho • over-dress fell .almost,to the ankles, and was tlio kind, of tunic that has been popular;in chiffon or gauze, for evening gowns for somo timo past. Authorities on dress State that thero is hot .the smallest' chance,- however, of these trousers meeting with, popular approval, and whilo furnishing something to talk of, it'.is really nothing but a form of-dust-; throwing; to hide tlio-secret of what is

to bo tho prominent, foaturo. in fashions for next season. A hook of tho most interesting kind, could • bo written on the half-yearly plotting and scheming in tho-dress ateliers on tho Continent, where tho fashions that aro to lead tho way aro created. Tho talo of theft of military ' dispatches and plans has been told often. • Tho talo of tho theft of n drawing of a skirt or hat, ' tho scheming that went before, tho fortunes of ono houso and tho ruin of another, has not been told. When it is it will astonisli mankind, for. fashions seem to grow, in some haphazard wpy, liko mushrooms, evolving out of—what beforti? Instead of that being 'so; there aro keen minds at work now in Vienna and Paris, testing this and,that fabric, approving or disapproving of ,'this or that drawing,'and all in'tho uttermost secrecy. Nono but entirely trusted ."hands", aro admitted to" theso couucils. War is in tho air,-for a rival.houso is suspcctod of having obtained a now material or colour, or a new American artist. It is related that ono year a famous house in Vienna was ruined iu ono season. It had nothing to offer.' ' Tho facts aro said to bo that in tho slack season a young woman applied for work who was stono deaf, but she was an expert n dlowoman, and she was taken on. No ono ever spoko to her, for slio would not speak except on .her hands,' and oven m this languago slio was very'ignorant. - She was. present when tho how'idea was laid before tho managers. Slio was sent for to cut and design a skirt' from a drawing. Managers wero in ecstasy. • Artist saw his fortuno made, as the folds of tho sijiilf, under tho clever hands, repeated tho beautiful lines of tho picture. Not only was tho cut and design new, but tho fabric was now also. It meant thousands, hundreds of thousands. Paris, Berlin, New York, London, all would bo enthralled when tho now thing appeared. Tho very next day, two days beforo tho houso in question was ready to launch tho creation, tho rival houso had models of this very fashion, this very fabric, for tho consideration of experts, and tho fashion and tho fabric wero tho rage, tho furore, tho dernier cri for tho elito of tho world, and 0110 houso was ruined, for it had nothing to offer; and the littlo-stone-deaf needle-woman was 110 ono loss than the owner of tho rival houso, in a wig and glasses. When women asked "what is going to be worn?" they know little of that

great world plotting,• "contriving, and finally. creating . tho fashion that: will hold femininity for a season. And, it is said that tho suggestion that Turkish trousers will ,bo worn is merely a "red herring," a ruso to attract attention from somo strange; but beautiful thing that will mako tho -Coronation year a thing to he remembered for its lovely gowns alone.