Raiment.

Lake County Press, Issue 905, 5 April 1900, Page 2

Raiment.

Bridal Veils. Bridal veils, no doubt, are a remnant (of Che Oriental custom of holding a •oanopy over the heads of both bride and bridegroom, ami according to the use of Sajruui a live linen cloth was laid on the heads of the bridal pair, which was not removed until after the benediction hod been pronounced. Brides of ancient Britain used the veil Dame Nature provided for them—that Is their long, flowing hair—and this no matter whether they were of Royal lineage or simple peasant birth. Only on this one occasion did all behold a ■ly.ahlen's hair in its glory, for after marriage it was neatly bound about the head. Rus-ihui village brides even nowadays cut off their hair on returning from the church after Hie marriage, and the peasants ha ve a pretty song which purports to he the lament of a bride over her golden hair, which she is just on the point of losing. Skirts and Sleeves. There Is division of opinion in the world of fashion on the burning question of full skirts and sleeves. French modistes declare Hbat these are to increase in width, but English dressmakers are combining with their client's to reduce the weight which the fashionable woman has had for so long to carry, and are making skirts less like inflated sugar cones, and si eves a trifle less balloon-like. Possibly the dresses worn in the Lyceum production of "Romeo and Juliet" will help to solve the question by making :i modification of the clinging tight-sleeved dresses of r.he fourteenth century fashionable. The fact that the new Juliet's beautiful dresses were designed and made by a leading court modiste in London who to a great extent is the sartorial guide of Mayfair and Belgravie. makes it all the more likely that these fashions will come into vogue. Men's Evening Dress. So the “ new wear" for men’s evening dress is to he a silk waistcoat, figured and coloured. “The Prince of Wales (writes a Chronicler of such trifles) has sworn it. and the Prince of Wales has worn it." The Prince, however, has already tried to reform men's evening dress, to brighten it up with gilt buttons, and has failed. Nothing seems to shake tihe solid foundations of the swallowtail. Yon may abolish the I yards, disestablish the Church, but the dross clothes style of to-day always comes up smiling from every attack made upon it.