The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-06-13 00:00:00

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

AMONG the alterations observable in this seazon's
fashions, as ccmpared with last, the height of bonnets
is, pe,rhaps, the most striking. Last year they could
not be small enough, or fit too closely to the head ;
now they tower above the face, and are loaded with
flowers, fruit, leaves, grasses, feathers, lace, ribbons,
and gold, silver, pearl, and steel embroideries. Some
cynical individual defined a woman's bonnet as "a
mass of irrelevancy," but that was years ago--how
far more applicable such a description iis now?
Raised many inches above the head, they have
massed on them every conceivable kind of artificial
adornment.

*
NEXT to height of bonnet may be noticed length of
waist; and this will be still more apparent as weeks
go on, for the French modistes and man-milliners are
making their newest models with even longer waists
than those seen at present, except in the case of
young girls, when round bodies and sashes are the
rule. There is a marked difference, too, in the cut of
skirts, which now invariably have the appearance of
being morning and afternoon dresses—that is, shorter
in front than behind—the difference being caused by
the new-shaped pad or cushion, which raises the back
drapery at the waist. Crinolettes are an abomina-
tion, and happily, as such, banished; even steels are
no longer used, neither are the best made dresses
sent out tied back with strings, the boufante appear-
ance of the skirt being dependent on the superior
cut, and the novel shape of the support, which raises
it at the back.

THE immense amount of gold, silver, jet, steel, and
many-coloured bead embroidery used in trimming
dresses and all kinds of mantles is another distinctive
feature of the year. For several seasons the employ-
ment of bead-work has been on the increase, and
lately has reached what we may term a crisis, not to
be passed, however, just yet, if one may judge from
the new creations in bead-embroidered costumes and
confections, which as yet have not left the ateliers of
the rulers of fashion, the, autocrats of the dress
world.

Tun newest French ball dresses are very pretty and
graceful looking, chiefly made of lace, or very pale
coloured tulle, with tiny spots embroidered in gold or
silver—so delicately and finely that they look like
gold lace; others are covered with minute glass beads,
which have the effect of dew drops. A dress much
remarked at a fashionable ball in Paris was made of
gold coloured tulle, with an excessively full and airy
looking skirt, ornamented with trails of cowslips,
which hung from the shoulders to the edge of the
skirt; the bodice was of gold-coloured moire, and the
sash of the same material; little bouquets of cowslips
were arranged in the hair.

AMONG the last new trimmings for ball dresses ar
separate rose petals; all colours are used. White
tulle composes the dress itself, and the petals are only
gummed on at one corner, so that they float, as it
were, with each movement of the dance. A good
many of them are shed in the course of the evening;
but the first appearance of such a costume is almost
poetic. A very pale yellow tulle dress was gummed
over in this manner with petals of the Gloire de Dijon,
somewhat darker in shade, but of the same colour as
the tulle; the bodice and underneath skirt were of
yellow silk, the edge of the former finished off with
half-opened rosebuds, the same flowers being worn in
the hair and arranged on the left side of the skirt,
with a wide soft silk sash falling in grace-
fully unstudied loops. For quite young girls
ball - dresses are very simply made ; those
of white striped silk gauze, with a plain skirt,
or rather skirts—for there are usually three or five—
set in very full, are much worn. A Raphael bodice
generally accompanies such skirts, with a wide sash
of either moire or soft silk, tied loosely at the back.
* *

LACE is more used than ever, both across the
Channel and here, for morning and afternoon, as well
as evening wear. Fine lace and coarse, silk and
woollen, real and imitation, in black, white, and all
colours, dyed to suit any dress, is seen on every side;
young girls wear it as well as elderly matrons, and
use it either for entire dresses, when piece-lace is re-
qUired, or else for elaborate trimmings. That there
is a wonderfully softening effect about this fabric is
unquestionable, and for that reason it is perhaps
better suited to age than youth. Old ladies who know
how to grow old gracefully invariably employ it largely,
and wisely too, for it blends admirably with silvered
locks, frames an aged face in suitable surroundings,
and drapes 'necks, shoulders, and aims which have
lost the beautiful roundness of youth as nothing else
can.

iTIIERE is perhaps but little novelty in the combina-
tion of old lace and rich velvet as materials for the
adornment of age, but no other two materials are
better suited to the purpose. A petticoat of antique
lace with a velvet train falling over it—the newest
trains, it may be remarked en passant, are now cut
with what are called "butterfly wings," instead of the
square shape which prevailed in the winter—is a toilet
which fits an old lady for wear on any occasion. A
handsome dress recently sent out from a well-known
London house had, a plastron of magnificent old lace
—an heirloom of a noble family—mounted on a cream-
coloured satin petticoat; the lace, narrow at the
waist, widened. out to the full front of the skirt; the
train, cut in the new style and lined with cream satin,
was gathered in small pleats at the back beneath the
velvet bodice, which was minted before, behind, and
at the sides. An old-fashioned square double-collated
lace cape was worn over it, the smallest collar secured
at the throat with a diamond star; the fichu ends of
the cape lcosely knotted in front, fell below the point
of the bodice, which was buttoned with small dia-
mond buttons; the elbow sleeves were deeply frilled
with lace, a cap of this costly fabric, with black velvet
butterfly-bows secured with diamond stars, completing
the costume.

ALL the above-mentioned new fabrics are suitable
for middle-aged and elderly ladies' wear, whom it
seems somewhat the rule to ignore when writing on
the subject of dress. A striking evening toilet of
brocatelle, designed for a matron of ripe year's, was
thus made. The petticoat was of plain " water-
colour " silk, and the train, of reasonable length, of
brocatelle of the same shade. It was turned back in
revers from the fret of the dress, these revers being
of fine old lace, mounted on the plain silk. A scarf
of brocatelle crossed the front of the petticoat from
right to left, with a deep fringe of steel beads and
chenille, the colour of the dress-being well carried out
in this mixture. The square-cut brocatelle bodice had
a plastron of lace, the deep edging to which hung
below the points of the bodice, which was laced with a
silk cord to a few inches above the waist in front, the
lace of the plastron just showing through the lacciA
soft frills of lace fell below the elbow sr(eves ahet also
shrouded the throat and bust, the hard outline of the
material of the dress against the skin being thus
wisely avoided, a .lace cap, intended to he worn ovet
hair;rolled up on'a cushion, with diamond sprn,
steel grey ostrich tips, making an elegant fintel. a
tasteful dress.