The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, MARCH 7. 1911. DAME FASHION'S VAGARIES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 56, 7 March 1911, Page 4

The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, MARCH 7. 1911. DAME FASHION'S VAGARIES.

The Spaniards are amongst the most conservative of nations as. regards dress, and it is therefore not surprising that ladies who have attempted to introduce the new "harem" skirts in Madrid should have been mobbed hv derisive and objecting crowds. in fashionablei-circles in Spain, Parisian fashions have long prevailed, but amongst thb people the picturesque mantilla is still the one and only headdress,- and -Spanish husbands are spared the trials of their suffering brethren of France, England, America, and other countries where the ladies are periodically attacked by that dangerous, and, for the husbands, costly, complaint, "newbatitis."' Spanish conservatism as regards the "harem" skirt has, it is to be noted, found' a parallel in New York, and oven in Paris, ,the other day, two kdies, prohably paid "mannequins," cr professional "new dress model wearers,"' were mobbed' when they appeared! on the boulevards in the new skirts. As- a matter of fact there is nothing more eccentric about tb% "harem" skirt than in the "]" bble. 5' or in those weird'and uglylo- ang devices which, a few years ajv\ were popular under the name of "bustles," or, to use a politer, term, "dress iirprovors," to say nothing of the hideiius crinolines in which our mothers and grandmothers indulged. The "harem" skirt is simply an up-to-date version of the 'divided skirt,!' do which Lady Harberton' and1 other enthusiastic champions of what they called "dress reform" were devoted si few yean ago. Fifty years ago or more an attempt was made^—it was of American origin, if w©' remember rightly— to introduce the wearing of "breeks' 7' by women. That was the once famous Bloomer movement, cf which apparently the "harem" skirt fashion is merely a belated variant. There is "nothing new under the "sun," not even in ladies' dress, and1 one has only to turn to pictures of some of the1 eccentric costumes worn by the fashion ablo dames of Paris in the Directoire period, which followed the French Revolution! to see that-even the "bloomers" ha<i their predecessors of very much the same style1/WAs for the new "harem" ekirt, judging by pictures which have recently appeared in the English illustrated, weeftlies, it appears to be an adaptation of the loose, baggy "trews", which, from time immemorial, have been worn in the harems or "women's quarters" of.the Turks1, Persians, and other Eastern nations. Advocates of the new fashion claim that the new skirt will permit to its wearers a ,much greater liberty of movement than did'the long trailing dust and dirt-collecting skirts which preceded ,};h© introduction of the "hobble,'' .and assuredly be a more comfortable and convenient form of attire than the "movement-crampina; "hobble" itself. But convenience aiid comfort, or, their opposites, matter but very ]ittle,,in the mind of a woman who.desiraj to be "in the fashion," Lo wear what the French term "Je .dernier crl,," or "last' word" of the current:,,modes. It is perfectly use-less,-a.*'many *&, mere male has found outicng ago, to Jirgue that a girl in her later teens, or a young wife who is, as yet,- not too matronly, looks, ;i hundredfold neater, smarter, and better dressed in a trim blouse and smartly-cut skirt, with a plain straw hat, than an an elaborate and costly costume of chjffons and silks,- overdecorated' 'with various expensive trimmings, and a hat of Brobignagian proportions which is a source of trouble and discomfort unending to its wearer. And to make matters worse, a large proportion of woman will insistupon following the fashionable Craz&'of the day even when such fashion does not in the least suit their figures. Many an over-generouslv-proportioriM woman of tho "fair fat and forty'/ type will insist upon donning an attire suited only to her slim and ? slender sisters, whilst a-' 'beanpole typo of woman will be equally persistent iti wearing the closest fitting of ."tailor-mades" which, to .•everybody's eye but lier own, can only servo to emphasise th© already painful effect of her scraggi— w© beg. pardon, her fragility of frame. All must dress alike, arid even th© poorest factory girl must fain indulge in some faraway copy, or caricature, of the fashionable raiment of her richer sisters Wher-efore, if ; th© "harem" skirt should once be adoptedl by "th«" people, those'"" mysterious, supposedly nigh-born dames and maidens who are sa!d to "set the fashion," it is bound i§° ■'££'? rounds of th© civilised world The. "hobble" will disappear and tho^ "harem" will take its place! much, of course, to th© joy and profit of drapers and dressmakers. All depends, however, upon the decision of thosa mysterious arbiters of fashion who alono can give a new mode an introduction which, will be honored hv success. Probably the Coronation ? eri? 4,^ settle the question so far 'as^nMaiid and New Zealand' are concerned. To the mere man it matters «hnwi*# ether «i.tbo f, air sex ™»« hobble" or "harem," whether his wile or sweetheart puts a dainty little toque on her head, or a hideous straw conopctum of the beehive or coalscuttk order Be will still worship the wearer, for it is his nature so to c!o. All th© same, those worshippers who have, to "foot the bills" may be pardoned the thought th-a* whatever n«* rashion be introduced there snould be-some reasonable duration of the period during which the latest craze is to hold good. It is not the form a new fashion may assume that troubles paterfamilias, but th© terribly short period that elapses before the