The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-05-05 00:00:00

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

AN observer of things notable in dress at the
fashionable view of one of the great London picture
shows says: Four-fifths of the costumes were un-
mitigatedly wintry of aspect. Cloth mantles looked,
for the most part, as though the clothes brush,
vigorously applied, might medicine them to some
advantage. Furs had a patchy aspect after the long
winter's wear. Bonnets of dark velvet seemed care-
worn, and feathers that once were young and
beautiful had acquired a dowdy air of the antique.
Things that have been worn for several weeks will
took like this on a bright spring day, notwithstanding
the daintiest care. What wonder, then, when a mar-
vellous toilet suggestive of bridesmaids appeared
among so much that was sombre and uninteresting,
that a pleasing sensation was created, and the pretty
wearer was mobbed as she passed through the
rooms? Her dress was of two kindred shades of
almost indescribable colour. Too bright and soft
to be called pink, it is difficult to assign a name
to them. They could easily be matched in some
of the prettiest varieties of sea-weed, and the lighter
of the tints is that of the bright clove carnation, the
paler tone supplied a fichu handkerchief folded softly
round the throat. The large, shady hat was in the
same silks as the dress, and it threw a most becoming
glow over the tender tones of the youthful complexion
beneath its liberal brim. Artists thought the bright
colours an injury to the pictures, but as no one looked
at the latter so long as the bridesmaid lady was in
sight, the injury could not have been serious. Another
brilliant exception to the prevailing gloom was pro-
vided in the large mantle worn by a tall lady whom
everybody knew. The colours of the brocade were
bright and soft. Some of the wintry dresses were
surmounted by a vernal bonnet, suggesting a fresh
green shoot appearing above the dark ground.

A GENERAL glance round the room took in many
touches of green and a singnlar scarcity of red.
Deficiencies elsewhere in the latter colour were, how-
ever, made up by the large and loose red silk sleeves
and other supplementary touches added to a navy
blue dress which laced over red, Swiss fashion, down
the front of the bodice. A dress with a decided
flavour of Paris was composed chiefly of cress-green
moire silk, with interludes of white guipure em-
broidery lined with pink silk. The bonnet was an
airy erection of Tuscan straw and gold embroideries,
assorted to the dress by means of its knots of green
moir6 ribbons. In many cases the hat or bonnet
killed the dress, and in other instances the jacket
swore at the gown more or less violently. More espe-
cially was this latter fault in costume noticeable when
the skirt was grey and the short coat in one of the
innumerable shades of fawn or drab now so popular.
Very few tones of grey combine with these, and a jar-
ring note is added to an otherwise harmonious com-
position by their introduction.

A SMALL dolman of Indian cashmere was, in itself,
admirable, smart and neatly turned as an epigram,
nor did the dress of dark green velvet incommode it
in any way; but the bonnet with a flare of orange in
it was a terrible discord with the subtly intermingled
crimson and pale gold of the Indian fabric. Few
combinations, however, could be so absolutely appal-
ling as one that fretted the eye in the crowd. A
heliotrope skirt, green mantle, violet hat, white veil,
black gloves, and a cable necklet of some metal that
may have been gold, were the items in a badly com-
posed dress menu. An orange hat destroyed the
effect of a curious but pleasing toilet in brown silk,
with a loose coat of gobelin blue network.

AMONG the tailor-made gowns, one in tweed with a
silk-lined hood and a tweed hat to match the dress ;was
perhaps the best. On a matronly figure a gown of
grenat cloth made with a panel braiding in grenat and
gold went well, and was crowned with a dapper little
bonnet of gold and grenat. A girl with lovely hair
wore green in some soft fabric falling in folds over
velvet of a darker tone. The cool-looking hat was of
some transparent material in white, with a little green
in the trimming.

A GREY plush mantle on a slender little lady looked
worried by certain irrelevancies of steel beads. Ex-
traneous growths, they had no affinity with what they
rested on. When beads aroused in dress, they should
carry with them the excuse of having a point or so in
common with what they trim. In the same way, hats
and bonnets should be built to plan. They ought to
carry out some architectural idea in the milliner's
mind, and convey that idea comfortably to the spec-
tator. The shapeless object that we sometimes see
illustrates only a sort of helpless struggle with mate-
rials and "fixings." To this order belonged an in-
coherent edifice of black lace, that looked as though,
like Topsy, it had "growed," rather than been made
with any resolute intention. There are invertebrate
people, like this hat, and on them a formless head-
gear, void of plan, has at least the merit of consis-
tency.

A YOUNG woman who ought to have been prose-
cuted, and would certainly have been found very
guilty indeed by a jury of taste, wore a red veil over
a hat of mingled mauvd and violet. Set on edge were
the teeth of those who saw her. A most unhappy
marriage is that of red with mauve, miserable in itself
and distressing to those who witness its dissensions.
Among the harmoniously clad was a dainty little lady
in blue, relieved with touches of golden brown, the
dress fitting with the refinement of accuracy to a
pretty figure. The brown bonnet with trimmings
brightening to gold rested closely and confidingly
upon the soft hair. A very tight-looking grey tweed
dress was heavily braided, and suggested the discom-
fort of overmuch pressure. A brown dress, on
the other hand, fell across the bust from the
right shoulder in half-loose and wholly classic folds.
The dress under them may have been quite as tight
as the grey, but it had the merit of not appearing to
be so. To assume an absent virtue is occasionally
almost a virtuous action.

MANY black toilets were worn, some fresh, some
the reverse. One black gown was all a shimmer of
jet beads, so arranged upon the bodice as to suggest
a waterfall in deep mourning. The black and glitter-
ing fringes swayed heavily to and fro and caught
unwarily on buttons and in other trimmings. A few
of the hats were of the riotous order, now in great
favour among those who run up to the topmost note
of the diapason of dress. A particularly boisterous
hat was composed of a wild whirl ot red and yellow
ribbons measuring some 14 inches in height.

THE private view at another London Gallery was a
much quieter function than that above described. A
lady who consistently carries out her own views as to
the adaptability of the Greek dress to the needs of
Englishwomen appeared in a charmingly harmonious
toilet of soft grey, embroidered in the same colour,
and trimmed with chinchilla, the coolest-looking of
all furs. A plume of softly bright pink feathers in
the small bonnet added a valuable touch of delicate
colour to the negative tints of the dress. Very
mournful looked the black dresses, but some of the
large black hats were decidedly picturesque. Among
these was one worn by a lady whose art is indis-
solubly connected with beautiful Venice. Chinchilla
formed the trimming of her dress, too. Exaggera-
tion and eccentricity appeared here again in the hats.
Huge roses climbing up almost inaccessibly high
crowns and leaving a trail of buds and leaves behind
them in the struggle, formed the chief feature in
many of them. The quiet, good taste of the smaller
hats was all the more accentuated by these wild
aberi ations.

A uirn, in a well-made gown of pale su6de silk,
striped with openwork. wore bands of dark green silk
on the skirt, with touches of the same colour on the
hodice. Her hat was of a black straw, with but littlo
trimming. Another girl, in grey, pleased the eye not
only by the graceful lines of her figure, but by the
exquisite softness of the grey feathers that trimmed
her hat. One long feather fell down over her hair at
the back in a fashion that was long ago called
"Amazon," and is being revived this season to delight
the eyes of elder women who once were girls, and
once wore pretty hats.

THE fact of which a great Parisian modiste who
shall be here nameless is principally proud is that his
customers put implicit faith in him as to the choice
of Suitable materials and the style of dresses. "For
example," he said to an interlocutor, "a telegram
COli.C3 from the Empress of Russia, Send me a dinner
dress.' Nothing more. We are left absolute freedom
as to style and material. Not that the Empress is
indifferent in the matter of dress. Quite the contrary.
'Le will sometimes require that all the ladies'
costumes at a certain ball be pink, or red, or blue.
And her own toilettes are always masterpieces of
elegance. The point is that she trusts our judgment
rather than her own."

"AT the time of the coronation of the present
Emperor of Russia we had girls working night and
day for six weeks on a court train for the Empress,
which was covered with magnificent embroidery in
real silver. Thattrain alone cost 25,000 f., and will be
preserved in the State Museum as an historical
curiosity."

"You ask me if fabulous sums are sometimes paid
for dresses? It is quite impossible to make any
estimate as to that. If you begin putting on gold
thread, jewels, Szc., of course there is .no limit to
the cost. Some years ago a Peruvian heiress paid
us 120,000 f. for a single gown, 118,000 f. being the
cost of the laces alone. A few weeks ago we sold
a cloak for 45,000 f., of which 4 I,ooof. went for the
fur."
"WE count among our patrons the ladies of all the
Courts in the civilised world, that is all with a single
exception. Queen Victoria has never honoured us
with her patronage. During the busy seasons we turn
out about 200 gowns and 150 cloaks a week. Points
of difference among ladies from various countries?
I am sure it is impossible to classify women in that
way." --
"I FIND that every country produces beautiful
faces, graceful figures, and lovely dispositions, as
well as their contraries. I suppose Russian ladies are
the greatest dancers in the world; Englishwomen are
justly proud of their perfect complexions; the French
lead the world in real elegance; and the American
ladies impress me by the easy way in which they
wear gorgeous gowns. Nothing overwhelms than,'"
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