IN FASHION’S REALM.

Southland Times, Issue 19725, 27 January 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

IN FASHION’S REALM.

Op-to-date Notes on. What to Wear. A fashionable dame, once of the New York “ 400,” and now a dressmaker by compulsion, has much to say regarding the extravagance of women in their dress affairs, how they waste their husbands’ incomes on finery and love dress only because it is now, and perhaps a little better than their neighbor’s. Some of her words will sink deeply prettywell everywhere: American women are the most deploi.ibly extravagant, the most spoiled and pampered, American men the hardest used, in die world. The American woman gives less for what she gets than any woman that lives. Her husband has none of her society, and little of her sympathy. The American woman’s shopping habit is in dress. I know a woman of very moderate income who lias seveateea waists for cue dress. Another woman whom 1 knotf told me thatshespends £5,000 a year on dress, and she is not a particularly well dressed woman. A woman whose husband earns from £BOO to £I,OOO a year in Wall Street, and has no other source of income, is, perhaps, the most extravagant of the women 1 know. Her luisljaiul took a flyer in tlm street, and cleared £BO. His wife bought, out of the £BO, a sable hat for £25, These habits extend through evciy stratum of society, Observe how the servant girl dresses. If she hoys a hat it is not something simple and becoming, with good wearing qualities. She buys a tawdry thing of cheap llowers and feathers that will not withstand the first damp day. If we could only remeui’jar that it is not elaborate material that counts, but that the throe essential principles of good dressing are good lines, colours that are suitable fur the wearer, seeming a part of her, a collar that tits well, is well-lam-ed and neat, and a hat that goes with the dress and with her. Those arc the pninls to be considered in dress, and practically the only ones, except that a gown should be appropriate for the occasion.

A light snmm-n' shnw hat of holuliiy complexion maybe welwmc 1 in tlio oeon imieal form shown in the little model. The s raw ;s rough and is quite unadorned save (nr the dowers—u wreath above o( sweet pet blossoms from darkest red to white with leaves,

and a bunch of same at the side against tin sharply turned up an t bent sect! m ilhisSni ted. To give the hat dm prop.a- till it lesh on a high bandeau, say of dari; green velvet and which is app in.-ni by suggestion in thway the lint is doi.vii.

Ilandkciuhi-jf scarfs and stocks are b.unworn by you ig .vuaim for outing and ;vgu gee occasionTimy are m■nle of the p ' sty coloured handkerchiefs in linen and silk—a man's hamlkereiii- f is the best s:/.e— and are twisted into Ascol.s, four-hi-hands, an I lint tertly hows. Tim b--st plan is to lay tin handkerchief on a ll it surface, and join tin opposite corners, malting it into a broad " V.’ Then turn up tins bottom paint by folding in narrow or broad pleats, until it Is the most becoming width. L’u the side on which the point of the " V " w-.s turned up next to tin neck, leaving the outside free from the foldei' edges, so that it shows the plaits to advantage To tie an .\scot or four-in hand, place lii turned-up point a little to the right to in ik one end longer than the other and allow fm tying. Cross ilia ends at the back of tin neck for the, stock, and bring them on aromn to the front to tie the Asa it, four-in hand bowa or knots popular among young worn u.

A superb costume of a radu-r dvn-wy clno actor boasts Urn p is- ■■-d m of this prvtiy blouse. Of washing silk ihc color is say,: turquoise bine mid the iippliciumns ul mmi Jiico iiismtiou and mcd.ilhons, 1. vqT ■: i designed are tlui shinil.h-r,-; and as ymi wi’notfi the style is such that with tin* slight .c effort you can turn it into an evening bluu.;-i

by the removal ot the yoke. For this reason I shall call the latter adjustable. The sleeve is likewise remarkably pretty, failing conveniently low while being in the height of fashion and the Mounce part is rather more substantial than would be the case were it of lace. The skirt of this eleganl croalion is pleated as evidenced in the part shown, and finishes in a Bounce ot the design of the sleeve. • • • Although there seems to bo a considerable objection to women wearing the leathers of birds, I suppose the same feeling won’t obtain in regard to the skins of snakes. The alleged wit will of course apeak of .Mother Eve and the serpent, but be this as it may, coats made from anaconda skin are fashionable in Paris, and so great is the demand that the snake is threatened with extinction. Women are proverbially averse to reptiles in any form ; but those who wish to be considered modish in Paree are trying to repress this sentiment, and don the fashionable material without showing any appreciation of its. clammy surface. An anaconda coat is exceedingly expensive, it appears, exquisitely marked garments bringing ns high ar £IOO. Accordingly, as no woman of a certain order likes to be suspected of lacking money, the fashionables of .the gay city are intent on overcoming their chuddersomeneos, and procuring anaconda coats before the huge reptile is extinct. As the anaconda is not infrequently thirty feet long, several coats can /pa wade from the skin oi one snake.

M. Auguste Person is dead. Let me say he was a very august person, us he invented something which occupied the, thoughts of half civilisation for the years of iff- existence. This was because it occupied half ihe' room indoors, all the hn'.-.ftiid half the footpath.d In a word, M. Person-was the person- let us forgive him—who invcnltd the crinoline. At'the lime lie was employed at a P ris house, and for some reason which he carried with him to the grave, he decided to make a skirt with hoops. He sold the patent for this for £1(10, and then wont to his proper vocation, to design railway lines, leaving the fell destroyer behind hirr. to work tire havoc that has now become historical. Tire crinoline lived for eleven years, and grew into a fairly healthy “ child," tor, staling with a circumference of about nine feet, it attained the appalling dimensions of fifteen. Tims seen from any side a well-dressed woman of the period was about five feet wide at the feet, and two such fair ones passing each other in the street, unless they drew their “ orins" aside, wanted ten feet of the footpath. This, with the average footpath, left two feet (or one escort and one for the other —a sight that inspired some of Mr. Punch’s best cartoons, and made the authorities won 1 der if a law couldn’t be passed to put the i fashion down. Well, the crinoline perished i of its own corpulency, and now the inventor has followed it ; and' I suggest that if there is anything more to be done it take the form of a memorial made of discarded hoops. • • • I do not think you will see a prettier blouse than this, and perhaps very few as pretty and simple as well. The panelled yoke is novel and nice, but nicer almost is the neck part of it, and nicer again the medallion col-

larof luce which has quite the appearance ot nn olliciiil collar with pend.in’. The sleeve is full and the usual elbow, and here you see n cuff which aim-; to consort with the other design : the finish being t flounce of luce over a high glove.

AVilh respect to skill Iriinmings, 1 want to say how very satisfactory it is to know that one may now wear a thoroughly plain skirt and still be fashionable. The excessively embroidered skirt may or may not he brandfill, but mark that only the ownerof a wardrobe that is fairly extensive can afford to go for elaborately wrought garments. The most graceful skirt is ever the untrinuned one, for there is no break in its folds, and, of course, being untrimmed, it can he worn a good deal without rendering the wearer conspicuous, and making her as a consequence uncomfortable, When it comes to richly ornamented skirts, care should be taken to preserve the How of the naturally formed lilies or folds. Applications are tor this reason only perfect when they are so skilfully used as to appear almost part of the material merging into i : 3 lines and tones, and, while providing contrasts, exhihhiog none of an eccentric ami startling character. A little bit of a wordy war lias been going on in London regarding trains as opposed to short skirts. Some people declared that the train would again come in for street wear, and others that the short dress would prevail instead, fdke the umpire in Hint admirable poem "Tim Chameleon,” a sufficient authority concluded the discussion by saying,

" You both are right and both are wrong.” In other words, the short skirt will ho fashionable, but it won’t bo so short as last year. '' , , .

.Another charming blouse finds its counterfeit presentment in the picture, the style being a jacket bolero over an under blouse, honey combed to the yoke with a drooping scarf with flowing ends, The shoulders are

al.-o honeycombed and likewise Uic sleevea below the elbow, while this ugain is surrounded by insi rtion of the pattern that edges the bolcn* itself. It is a .season of pretty blouses ami dainty ones, and the present model is a fair tvpe ot the most attractive. *“ * »

Touching parasols, the following from a I,Minion authority will be noted with inter-

Home of the loveliest parasols of the season arc plain in colour, ami decorated with ribbon embroidery in botli large find small (lowers. I i-mally the style is to have a loose bunch of (lowers upon oiie side with, perhaps, a small trailing spray upon the other. Small hunches scattered around the border arc also seen, and some parasols have lloral designs braided upon them in a soft silk braid of several sizes. The ribbon is puffed in each Mower petal and leaf, making them appear verv realistic, and ns though the blossoms had” softly fallen upon the parasol. An economical woman can take her last season’s parasol —in plain colours —and embroider a nlnster of Mowers upon one side in this easy and rapid method ot embroidery, and so make something now, smart, and very exquisite. Parasols embroidered around the border with open eyelet or English embroidery are exceedingly snum, .and as they are quite expensive a hint may be given as to how tliis manner of decoration can bn done at home at trifling expense. Get a small piece of silk the colour of the parasol, or something that combines with it well, and shape medallions with scalloped edges, enough to put four on the border of the parasol. Work a design in open embroidery in the middle of each medallion and then cut the medallions out of the piece of silk. Apa ue them down upon the parasol firmly evenly and then cut away the parasol material Irom under the medallions. JtIAHaOBWIB,