Boudoir Gossip. on Frocks and Fashions

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 920, 29 August 1896, Page 21

Boudoir Gossip. on Frocks and Fashions

(By &LADXB).

Elegant dinner dresses are made of satin, either plain or brocaded, but chiefly of satin. All woollen materials are made in large widths, varying from one and a half yards to two yards. The latest thing is to stud the bodice with jet or stress. The skirt has a plain width in front, and on one aide is a row of Btrasß buttons, and on the other a sash of white lace, canght np at the waiat with a bunch of flowers. The back of the Bkirt is plaited as close together as possible. Leather is the favourite trimming for tailor costumes It ib used instead of braid, and also for collars, yokes, revers, etc. • It is employed in its natural colour, and also in other colours. I need not add that it is aB soft and supple as the cloth itself. Some of oar leading dressmakers have even tried to make the whole costume of leather. What do you say to that ? A pretty style of coiffure for those who still find bangs most becoming, which is generally the case with dark-haired women, is to dress the hair in front and leave the sides almost plain, with the back arranged in coils and twists, which fall low on the neck. Another pretty style is the pompadour cuiffure, arranged in soft, wavy puffs, with only one stray lock as a relief, while at the back is a softly twisted narrow coil between to side-combß. Another i style is to part the hair in the middle, with each side a wavy puff, and small waves on the forehead. Pique, white and coloured duck, serge, and black and white alpaca are being made up into gowns, and while the coat waist is the prevailing style for these simple gowns, it is varied this season by being cut in almost blouße fashion, and belted in at the waist with a narrow belt of leather or folds of satin ribbon. The coat opens in front with the usual revers, save that they are large and draped in effect, while the collar, which turns down above, is very wide. Flowered and plain gold ribbons are also used for belts with good effect. Green and white, two shades of brown, and tan and cream white, are pretty mixtures in the new homespun wool goods recommended for springtailormade gowns, and as they are closely woven, and not expensive, they have mnch to commend them for travelling gowns, though mohair, both twilled and plain, have renewed their oldtime popularity, and a monair gown of some sort is undoubtedly the correct thing to buy for the beginning of the coming season, while many new varieties are added to the list, and they come in all colours, either figured, shot, or plain. Brown, blue, grey, and black are serviceable colours, and they are made up in the simple coat and skirt style of dress, with a short jacket and strapped seams. Some of the daintiest wash dresses will be of dimity, with the corded iines extremely small, and, by way of trimming, they have insertions of lace set in large squares on the entire waist and sleeves, and also forming an effective row above the hem of the skirt. Some of these insertions are an inch and a half wide, and are formed into open-looped bows, chough applications of ribbons are used in the same way. They have very simply-cut belted waists, their only seams being under the arms, un'ess a stout figure requires an underarm form, and they are occasionally worn over half-low linings, with the waist cut down in a very small square about the throat, though this is generally for quite young women and girls yet in thier teens. The lull skirt is worn over an entirely separate skirt of the dimity, gored closely, and trimmed with a flounce of the same, edged with lace that has a scolloped edge, while the outside skirt is trimmed down either side with ribbon, starting at the belt, and ending at the knees in a bow, with flat open loops and wavmg end 9.