THE OUTLINE OF THE GOWN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 43, 28 October 1893, Page 357

THE OUTLINE OF THE GOWN.

HOW TO CUT THE NEW SKIRTS—SOME CHIC AND

BEAUTIFUL DRESSMAKING

The outline of the fashionable gown needs more study than usual this year. You may make your dress of silk from Tussore, all embroidery of gems, and if it has not the correct form it is as naught, but if it is of sixpenny muslin and cuts the air with the approved * profile,’ it will rank in fashion above all richness. This is always true in the main, but it is especially so at this moment, because ‘ forms ’ have radically changed. The * profile ’is nearly everything. A certain amount of fabric is disposed in a particular way. And as a good deal of fabric is needed, do not make the mistake of skimping your material to put money into quality or trimmings, but rather take a careful look at the fashionable woman as she has stepped out from the hands of some great couteriere, ready-made for the triumphs of the warm season, and see what sort of silhouette she makes. WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE. Her waist, to begin with, looks very small. The appearance comes from the great width of the gown above and below. She has a skirt growing enormously wide at bottom that takes the form of a triangle ; and a round bodice that, including the sleeves, grows exaggeratedly wide as it ascends, gives another triangle. She looks something like an hour glass; in fine she has a modified 1830 appearance. But in the • triangle ’ which encloses the bodice and sleeves the greatest width is not at the top of the shoulders, as it was recently, but has droped to the level of the bust. Note this, for it is a chance of importance. The sleeve has taken a new departure. THE CORRECT SLEEVE. When the present sleeve began its career it laid flat up against the arm and stood nearly up to the tips of the ears, like the folded wings of a tired cherub. After this it bulged out on the turn of the shoulder like a balloon, giving a width in the line of the collar bone that was very unpretty on a woman, because it was characteristically masculine.

The ideal was rather good by the way. A dancer with a skirt forty yards wide round the bottom inspired it. When quiet this skirt hung straight and clinging as a Greek robe, but in motion had infinite possibilities. It did not draw round the feet when lifted, but fell ever into new folds and was limitless. It had the interesting and beautiful quality of infinity. A very different thing from mere hoop skirt distension. Pity the dressmakers could not let well alone ! But if there is anything notorious about modern dress it is that we like to make ourselves into geometric figures. This is why M. Worth, having made a gown sixty yards wide, questioned how it could be worn satisfactorily ; for the ordinary woman dares not whirl like a dervish and rush madly about to make her gown stand out at curious angles. The horse hair solved the problem. Whether we like it or not, this is the skirt for the summer. The Princess of Wales, who returned to the Birmingham dressmakers all the gowns they had prepared for her Rivieria trip, to have the horse-hair taken out, will wear it. The Princess is very keen after fashion, and if there is an approved angle in Paris she is sure to have it, though she does not want the name of patronizing an extreme.