The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-08-25 00:00:00

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

NOTICING the close of the London season, which is
said to have been the best for some years past, the
Graphii! Felj, A long run of fitie weather and the
revival of agriculture ad commerce from temporary
depressi nave put--,iatk etonomical tints out of
laMbi n, and brouelit us o„ce more the pretty sight Of
light blue and pink dresses. Hat., bonnets, sun-
shades, rib And., and gloves must be made to match,
and the reappearance of bright shades has thus brought
work to every department of manufacture. Yet one
oireht rot to say that dark tints have gone out of
fashion, for fashion was never less arbitrary than at
present. Dresses in every style are worn, and fifty
shapes of hats, so it is a lady's own fault if she doss not
attire herself as best snitcher Mrs.

THE writer of the column on "French Fashions"
in the Queen says :—Princess Beatrice of England
has been the sensation at Aix lea Banes; there have
been many rainy days during her sojourn at the
favourite spa, but her Royal Highness was often
encountered sketching the lovely scenery around.
Her dress was simple enough ; sometimes the costume
with all its accessories was dark blue, at other times
it was the shade of green known as "feuille de chou."
The princess mostly wore a black hat with a gauze
veil twisted round it.

FROM the same writer's remarks on the prevailing
styles as worn at the principal fashionable resorts in
France, we quote the following :—There is quite a
fashionable colony now installed at Aix. In the
morning the costumes are principally of foulard, or
toile de Jouy, the sort known as Dubarry ; plain
grounds, studded with bouquets of bright colours.
The skirts are silk, trimmed with ecru embroidery,
the polonaise, also edged with similar work, is draped
with large velvet flut bows. Some beautiful dresses
are made entirely of lace—black, white, ecru, or roux.
The skirts trimmed with flounces of medium depth,
the bodices in batiste, studded with soft fl rivers, such
as branches of. elder blossoms on a black ground,
eglantine on a !tawny ground, irises, begonias, pinks
scattered in graceful disorder in all shades on tan-
coloured grounds. The bodice gathered at the back
and darts, terminates with a triple row of lace in lieu
of basque. The hat is frequently made of the same
batiste and lace, with a silk bow in front, but has
neither feathers nor flowers.

AT Trouville and Deauville, the most popular
costumes are of openwork embroidery mounted over
coloured silk, copper-red, fi„ame, blue, violet, bright
pink, and Burgundy red. The hat and parasol match
the silk. The casino toilettes are generally white—
nun's veiling, muslin, or crepon ; the skirt is lavi.hly
trimmed, with open embroidery to match; the bodice
is a loose blouse much gathered, and the bat is of the
game material trimmed with lace an i flowers, a cordon
of similar flowers crosses the bodice, clover, honey-
lockle, and China roses being popular. Shot silks are
worn for musical parties, trimmed with rows of narrow
velvet, and with crossway tucks. Viennese fans, made
of cork and ornamented with selected mottoei and
maxims, are quite the rage at Trouville, and the
parasols are of the most varied description.

AT Plombieres white dresses, trimmed with narrow
velvet of dark colour are popular. For example a
white nun's veiling skirt with rows of blue velvet,
will be kilted perpendicularly, the velvet being first
run on; the bodice may be blue velvet. For evening
wear mousseline de laine brochts with fruits—peaches,
plume, &c., in bright colours are worn—but are not
so elegant as mousseline de sole with velvet flowers,
outlined and veined with brilliant beads, nor as the
new Persian gauze, which is fine silk muslin, its white
ground almost concealed by a dark pattern in oriental
colours and designs of palms, arabesques, and irregular
figures like those seen on Persian rugs. Dull red and
blue shades prevail, but there are also quaint combina-
tions of green with cre9.m-c dour and rose, or maroon
with dcru. This gossamer silk is made up over white
Surah without lace, and its only ornament is flot bows
of ribbon, either of ivory white or of the prevailing
colour.

IN Paris, the dressmakers'and milliners are occupied
with country orders. Some elegant costumes have
been made of igcru batiste, printed in Louis XVI.
designs in soft colourings, the skirts draped with
claret velvet bows; three rows of velvet on the bodice,
and a coquille of white lace. Also black batiste cos-
tumes trimmed with black lace; gathered bodice,
with large bows of black and red silk. White veiling
costumes are trimmed with dark velvet, ruby, moss,
and sapphire; the bodices usually of gros grain
•,ilk are made with folds. Embroidered vt-ilings are
also made up with velvet and cigar-coloured nun's
cloth, is trimmed with silk grelots to match. A rich
evening dress is of sapphire blue satin and chamois
brocatelle broche, with roses outlined with gold
thread. The brocutelle is used for tablier and waist-
coat.

THE newest parasols have sticks of coloured or
stained ivory of golden-brown shades, with a knob-
handle of hammered silver, and are handsome when
mounted in black or other dark satin edged with lace
or with thi .k fringe. The star parasol is a novel
fancy, useful as a sunshade in an open carriage. It is
quite small, and forms five points like a star instead of
having a straight edge. Black or white Spanish lace
covers are made up over satin, and are mounted on
teasel-wood sticks. There are also thick yet light club
sticks of orange wood, of ash, or of bamboo, and some
of these retain the bark in its natural green colour
instead of being dressed or of polished wood. White
Oriental and Valenciennes laces are cut from the
piece in separate pointed gores to form a para3ol
cover, which is trimmed with a ruche of lace, and
mounted over coloured Surah, or else over white
satin, and trimmed with coloured velvet ribbons
to match the trimming of the white lace dresses
with which tbey are used, apricot, peach
blossom, or rose-colour, and changeable satin linings
are very pretty for these. Red, white, and black are
the colours most used for brocaded satin parasols.
Large covers of black guipure lace are stylish over
black satin, with a deep black guipure frill and a
bamboo stick. The top piece of wood above the
parasol is now very short and blunt. Sate Greenaway
figures, either etched cr wrought in outline stitch, are
seen on one gore of summer parasols of pongee or other
light silk, and sometimes a single spray of embroidery
in Japanese style, or a monogram, is the decoration.
For the country there are gay eatteen parasols of the
material of the dress, or of ecru, blue, or red, with a
border of figures, or a small landscape in each gore.
There are also cretonne and satteen parasols of small
figures—birds, bees, flowers, and butterflies—all over
a dark blue, buff, or rose coloured ground.