An Fashion's Realm

Grey River Argus, 11 June 1904, Page 3 (Supplement)

An Fashion's Realm

Un to-date Notes of Interest to the Fair Sex, with Illustrations of What is being Worn this Season.

(BY "MARGUERITE.")

IN FASHION'S REALM

UP-TO-DATE NOTES ON WHAT TO WEAR.

We are approaching the time of furs— delightful furs, but, if good, expensive. 11 V 1S a g investment, and, after all, there are degrees in the cost even of furs. The most expensive, happily, are nob the nicesit' ; while the cheapest or the best are warm-looking (and feeling), dressy and elegant. After the coronation, an attempt, was, made to popularise ermine and miniver, but though it was a fad in the old country for a. short period, it didn't catch on anywhere else. And the reason was plain — not so much its clearness as the fact that many other skins are so much better. For centuries ermine was protected to the Royal family by Act of Parliament, but this is no longer operative. Nevertheless, by the courtesy laws of society, the spotting of ermine is a decided indication of the rank of the wearer in England, if not outside it. Thus the Royal Family are alone entitled to wear ermine in which the spots are in the proportion of one to each square inch, a prerogative that is not) without its interest. Peers wear scarlet and ermine on certain State occasions as do peeresses, and Judges, as we know, wear "unspotted ermine," which recalls, Chatham's words, "I call upon those grave and reverent men to interpose the unspotted purity of the ermine.' 1 But while much of poetry attaches to this class of fur. I deny its suitableness, and also if I may make comparisons, some of its reputed beauty. Unspotted ermine may be pure enough, but it lacks colour, which is necessary for dress, while spotted ermine savors of the magpie, and cannot be made to apply outside its original province. * * # # • Hats! hats! Everyone is thinking of her hats — autumn hats, winter hats; hats tttiat supplant the billowy creations of summer, modified to compromise with the time or nob. From the endless procession of new designs before me, X single out for tirst notice an elegant hat of fe.lt, trimmed with velvet, silk and

feathers. Well turned up in front a feature is made of the silk lining, which is drawn in artistic rows parallel with the brim. The velvet is employed in the strings, which also embrace silk, .the two coming round and tying tightly, since they are more for ornament, than use. The; feathering is elegant and pretty, two white tips serving to relieve any suspicion of sombreness, in what is . a very beautiful, as well as a very seasonable design. Exactly what the position was in the Old Country when last the mail left, will be noted liero with interest : -r"There is a growing tendency amongst the leaders of fashion in' all grades of society to adopt plain dresses during the earlierpart- of the day. This form of attire is inexpensive, for. being simple in charncter, they can : be easily made by- ti inexperienced, and materials of every kind are lower in price than ever. Loosefitting flannel blouses and off-the-ground tweed 1 skirts are again fashionable for ordinary wety, and there is an ever-in-creasing demand for ready-made costumes of every description: Workers in the <Jres«-makmg trade are scarcer and dearer than ever ; itis, therefore, almost impossible* to get a blouse or a. skirt • made t«f '.order at anything like a reasonable price; For this reason home dressmaking wilt be increasingly popular as the season advaooes. All- the. newest

models of costumes from Paris and Vienna are made without linings, and as a rule any elaborations of lace or passementerie are detachable. A remarkably .smart winter coat develops as shown in cloth and tartan. The cape has a three-deck appearance whidh is balanced by the very tasteful way the flounces are arranged below.

Tabs and buttons play an- important part on this coat, the design of which may be preserved with practically any two contrasting materials. Thus, is something less conspicuous than tartan is desired for the parts where it is shown it may be employed with every safety. •** ' • ♦ As to the_ dhort walking skirt, the Paris couturiers .have developed it along very coquettish lines. English and American women adopt this shirt for its practical advantages, and in their eyes it became smart and handsome because it so suited out-of-door life, where one turns from golf to tennis and uses a bicycle as a quick means of getting over country roads. But the French woman would have notibing to do with the now popular trottieur until it had been made over to suit her ideas of a chic costume. It must be made becoming, and to attract the eye. It was cut shorter than was termed necessary in other countries, and made in pleated folds that stuck out smartly from the ankles, and the jackets was made always, short and frivolous! It was very easy to see in the very full aihorfc skirt that some ultra-smart French woman adopted two years ago the beginning of the craze for the 1860 modes. The French trotteur was also responsible for the short bolero, falling in straight plaits. From such slender ideas springs out a new mode. * ♦ « • * The skirt of the trotteur is for the winter cut longer than was the case of the, light frocks during the summer. It should reach to an inch, or, at the most, an inch and a half from the ground, which is a practical length with skirts flaring out well at the bot;fcom. The short skirt loses itis raison d'etre if it is held up. Many of the skirts are pleated to the waist in side or box pleats, but there are new ideas in the way of arrangement and trimming. For instance, a skirt of plaid cloth is laid in clusters of gmall side plaits with a broad line of mohair braid down the edge of every cluster. On the bottom of the skirt between the clusters of plaits is a pattern worked out in broad and narrow braid. A skirt of mixed cloth, is trimmed with stitched bands of plain cloth in the way of up-and-down lines on the edge of every cluster of side plaits. The plaits are stitched down to the knees where the tsitched bands extend over the side plaits in two little tabs. A favourite model of the short skirt is close to the knees with, the exception of a box pleat in the back, and from the knees down the skirt flares out in six box pleats. The tops of .these, are generally ornamented with a Greek cross in. braid and fancy buttons; ' ; We know that there is a fashion in colours for dress materials, but who realises that there is an. element of luck, certain colours bringing good or bad, as the case may be? The colours that have been decreed as luck-bearers for the season (English) are orange, combined with red. black, and violot, and, -chief of. all, sapphire blue; while ; the ; illomened colour will be. pink, shading into • crimson, and white and fed in combination. Of course, it is all nonsense, but a little of this how: and again is relished by even the wisest, and after all there is

such a thing as luck, deny it who may. Whether it should extend to colours or not I cannot determine, but I couldn't possibly deny its existence, having seen so many evidences of it in the affairs of human life. • •■■*'• « Another remarkably pretty winter hat is a dark brown beaver, trimmed with flat bows, which have all the appearance of flowers of an exaggerated daisy character. These bows, are of golden brown velvet, and completely encircle the hat, a mere bit of the beaver of the crown serving to emphasise. their outline there as it is emphasised on the outer brim. It is optional if the centre of the bows ia plain or :y jewel, but for a dressy effect

the latter is good. Perhaps no better centre could be provided than by enamel — an art blue being very effective. * • « • • You can make some ornaments . for your evening frocks— if you will. Take forget-me-nots or daisies, the simplest flowers to work, and embroider them on gauze, cuttings the waste material away afterwards, and sewing the flowers on net. If handy with your needle you can do some pretty work in this way, and if superhandy need not stay at the denominations stated. .For instance, you can embroider roses in their natural colours, and apply them to the gowns, and you • may, if you wish; go beyond this by trying your hand on the same for hat?. Thus I saw a black hat decorated on the up-turned side with three "buttoning" roses that had been exquisitely worked by the wearer on gauze and ap- . plied as indicated. Again, I saw a gown, a party one, treated in a similar manner, the roses in thi& case being buds, and worked from one shoulder down to the waist, and thence to the hem. In- - cidentally, you may bear this item in mind for next summer, when possibly you may see sojnething in tthe sugges- j tion in relation to last year's sunshade. Who sets the fashion? It would be " more correct to say what sets the fashion? As explained, it is the necessity for "trade, coupled with the fact, that the fair sex has retained its prerogative of personal adornment. Manu- 1 facturers must- live, women must dress, and the two things bring in the artist ; in materials, the poet in draperies, the j genius in millinery, who, if only for their own sake, make the pace as merry as fiossible. At the same time, certain ashions have originated in the fancy of , indivduals, in the whim of some great leader of style, or sometimes, even an ; accident. As two examples, it was- the Duchess of Marlborough who last year brought into fashion the pelerine, simply because she sat for her portrait in some picturesque old gables famous in her husband' 3 family. At one time tremendous was the power wielded by the Emproa Eugenic in the world of fashion. While stepping into her carriage on a certain occasion, she slipped, and, falling, dented her hat. For a wonder, having recovered herself, she forgot to ask if her hat was on straight., but, instead. , drove through London with the dent and all. As a result, we had the first dented hat, which, with various modifications, has remajned with us ever since. •» # • • An effective coat is shown in the sketch, the making material being any • suitable mantle goods, and the accessories redj green or white piping and brass, gun metal or silver-coloured buttons. The coat is of three-quarter length. . with the full sac-fashioned back and

front, a circular-shaped cape being finished off with a tab on either shoulder and in centre of back. A piped buttoned band fastens the fulness across the waist behind, while a wide stitched pied- band outlines the neck and continues down the front, broken at intervals by tabs which fasten with a button. It is a pretty coat, and, as will be noticed, a serviceable one.