The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-07 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

TEE handsome mantles of the present season are
(remarks a writer on "Home Dressmaking" in The
Lady) elaborate and fanciful to the last degree, and
might almost be described as opera wraps of dark
colouring. Braiding, intermixed with beads, is ex-
ceedingly fashionable, and many of the long wing
sleeves are covered with elaborate designs of em-
broidery and beads. With a little ingenuity, it is pos-
sible to make really extravagant-looking mantles at a
very small expenditure, more especially when there is
a useless yard of brocade lying by, or where a broch6
velvet mantle can be utilised. Handsome brocho
cloth is now much in vogue, and this is so effective
that it can be used with plush or velvet, and trimmed
with real furs. The one danger in these combinations
is that the figure may be widened if the sleeve portion
is too pronounced in pattern or too light in colour;
and when this is the case, it is hope-
less to attempt to narrow the figure by a
close fit, or by making the sleeves unduly small.
On the other hand, if the back and front portions are
of brocade, or of light-coloured material, a sleeve of
dark plush or velvet will give a slender appearance to
the figure, which may be further heightened by a
pointed bonnet of the darker plush or velvet, and a
high bow in which the lighter shade is reproduced.
For the amateur—who, however clever she may be at
bodices, the mantle is a difficult problem as regards
fit—the most simple plan is to first join the back and
fronts, and fixing a string exactly in the waist-line to
try this on, minus the sleeves. The back should be
narrow, but not so narrow that it draws the sleeves
on to the flat portion of the back, and so increases the
size of the sleeve. At the waist the back of the
mantle should define the turn of the waist, so that the
sleeve begins where the back begins to turn to the
side, and by this means it is possible to get a
proportionate sleeve and back without giving the
effect of a broad figure.

THE tea-gowns bid fair to replace entirely the
" demi-toilette "—the black mery or grenadine, with
the square cut corsage, that was for so long con-
sidered an indispensable adjunct to a lady's ward-
robe. Some very handsome tea-gowns are being
worn this season, dressy enough to be worn at the
smartest dinners. Mrs. Lee of St. Valery is wearing
one of ilne white veiling, the front of white crlpe de
Chine, the side pieces of watered silk, on which are
laid perpendicularly strips of coffee-coloured lace—a
very effective arrangement. The sleeves, which are
loose from the shoulder to the wrist, are of crepe de
Chine, and the close cuffs are of watered silk and
coffee-coloured lace. Another very handsome tea-
gown worn by the same lady is of trieux rose faille
with a front of rich pompadour silk of the same
colour, brightened by a small running pattern of pale
blue flowers and bronze leaves. For those who can-
not afford such handsome materials, the coarsest of
white or cream flannels may be used with good effect,
and trimmed with string-coloured yak or furniture
lace. Anything is better than cheap plush which
never looks handsome, and soon begins to look com-
mon and shabby.

A FASHIONABLE woman, not wholly unknown to
literary fame, appeared at a reception the other
evening dressed entirely in red. A red gown, un-
relieved by trimming of any kind, red shoes and
stockings, and even a red pocket-handkerchief. She
carried a limp posy of white flowers, and it made a
rest for the eyes frcm the fiery glare of the costume.

ALL Paris just now—all bonneted Paris, that is to
say—is wearing the veil down to the chin, or even
below it. The wisp of lace, barely covering the nose,
is now voted out of fashion and very bad style. The
only novelty in ball dresses to chronicle is the intro-
duction of veilings of different coloured tulles, one
over the other—rose over pale blue, sea-green over
amber, orange over grey; it is a pretty style if the
skirts are draped to perfection. But everything lies
in the "if."

A LARGE ball was given recently in the Metropolitan
Opera House, New York, by one of the leading Uni-
versity societies, to over 600 guests. Some of the
dresses were very magnificent. Miss Ethel Gardiner
wore a charming robe of passion flower brocade,
draped in pale green gauze, violets, and diamonds.
Miss S. W. Scott had on a gown of pink satin and crepe
de Chine; the corsage was long in the waist, and
covered with a very elaborate and pretty passemen-
terie. The sleeves were puffed, somewhat after the
fashion of our own testhetic gowns, and in her hand
she carried a bouquet of jacqueminot roses. Miss Jose-
phine Potter was dressed in white moire and crepe de
Chine, with a long pointed corsage, and draperies of
white and purple heliotrope; her ornaments were
pearls. Miss E. M. Paine wore a very beautiful gown
of sea-foam green silk, draped with lace, and trimmed
with glistening silver. Miss Condit appeared in
Spanish yellow faille and gauze, garlanded with
jasmine blossoms.

THE latest novelty at fashionable weddings is for
the bridesmaids to carry satin shoes filled with
flowers, and the result is charmingly pretty. At one
wedding the shoes were of eau c 1,4 Nil satin, and were
filled with blush-pink roses. At another there was
a very effective combination of pink satin and maize-
coloured roses, while the delicate structure depended
from the bridesmaid's arm by pink satin ribbons, like
a veritable miniature hanging-garden. At a third the
shoes were pink satin, and the flowers were golden-
brown chrysanthemums, toning from dark brown to
pale yellow. In some cases these shoe bouquets take
the place of ordinary posies; in others they are merely
supplementary to huge clusters of flowers carried in
the hand; sometimes, however, by way of intensifying
the novelty of the innovation, the bridesmaids are
divided into two detachments, half carrying shoes filled
with flowers, and the other half being supplied with
bouquets of the regulation pattern.

SOME very pretty dressmaking has been done in
London for the Ranee of Kutch Behar, who recently
returned to India. They are made particularly grace-
ful by the sad, or large scarf, which is really the
mark of the Brahmin caste, but is always worn by all
Bailees. Part of it covers the head in its original
form, but in the slightly modified shape now worn—
a kind of lappet to match the dress is placed on the
hair. The dress on which this sari looks, perhaps,
prettier than any other is of plain white glac6 silk and
white mousseline de soie with a silk stripe in it. This
white dress is intended for wear in India. The front
of the skirt and all the left side are made in plain box
pleats of the silk, over which the sari falls; it is
draped from the right shoulder' where it is caught by
a cluster of ribbon bows right down to the bottom of
the skirt on the left side. Here it is knotted together
with another bow of ribbons, for it falls on both sides
of the figure, in front and behind. In the extremely
soft mousseline de soie its lines are classical In their
grace, and nothing could be more becoming. The
right side of the skirt, which is quite free from
the scarf, is covered entirely with the tiniest llounces
of white silk, all pinked out at the edges, and put on
in curved lines, going from the waist downwards
towards the front, so as to shape the figure very
prettily. Its appearance is not unlike a mass of
wreathing made of white rose petals. There is a vest
of this pinked flouncing just at the neck, above the
sari The Ranee looks particularly well in pale blue,
which is rather a favourite colour of hers. Another
dress made with the sari is of very pale blue satin
brocade, trimmed with a most wonderful spangled
silver passementerie. This passementerie is very
wide, and is made to look like lace; three pioces of it
are put across the right side of the skirt, with a fine
pleating of blue tulle under the dropping Spangles
which hang from it. The sari on this dress is
very voluminous; it is made of plain pale blue
mousseline de soie spangled all over with silver.
This has no ribbons, but is simply knotted
thickly together at the bottom of the skirt, and on
the right shoulder it is fastened by a diamond brooch.
This dress, like the white one, is made as the Ranee
always wears her evening dresses, high in tre neck,
and with no train. But the sari gives a very elegant
and "full dress "appearance, and also shows to
greater advantage on a dress like this than i would
with a train to confuse the eye. The milliner's skill
is shown in arranging it over a simple skirt, and using
its effectiveness to the utmost. A pretty tea-gown in
pale blue and coral pink is made without the sari, as
it is only intended for morning wear. It is in the
simple Princess shape, opening in front over an under-
skirt. The outer dress is of pale blue faille, lined
with coral pink; the under-dress is of the coral pink,
and is entirely veiled from the neck to the feet with
Valenciennes piece lace.

ATLAS must have been round-shouldered,
ONE swallow-tail doesn't make a winter.

E are always apt to think the best is our own
way.
A DENTIST, when he gets down to business, has the
inside track.

KILLING unclaimed dogs by electricity is justly
described as a shocking process.
"I'M going to the bawl," said the young lady on
starting out to visit the baby show.
ITE mighty dollar is not mentioned in oruithology.
Net it is a tenth of an eagle.
A JUDGE was recently maimed, paradoxical as it
may appear, by the court plaster falling on bim.
IT is said that March snow makes an excellent eye-
water; but this is nothing more than an optical delu-
sion.
t* ART is long, and time is fleeting," remarked the
young portrait painter, as he introduced his watch to
the pawnbroker.
A MURDERER out West says he was convicted in a
trial by newspapers. He evidently does not believe
in paper hanging.
lIIEHE is a universal language, and it is called
Volapuk. Otherwise the universal language is getting
along pretty well.
CHASING a bull across a soft swamp is the kind of
agricultural pursuit that even the independent farmer
does not rejish.

FOUND in an album at Nice: "Nothing is more diffi-
cult than for a woman to decide when to begin her
thirtieth year."
Miss GOLDSDT : "How does my new gown strike
you, papa?" Papa (laconically) : "For about two
hundred and fifty, I suppose, my dear!"
PLINY attributes the invention of soap to the Gauls.
If he attributed it to the Turks, he would be regarded
as an unreliable historian.