The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-09-11 00:00:00

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

CII ATTING on "Dress at the London Dressmaker],"
a writer in the Queen has the following: Alt hough at
the present moment the shops are fairly well supplied
with the season's novelties, the dressmakers have
not quite finished their annual holiday, and certainly
have not set themselves up with the store of hew i!eh-
ing garments which extract so many pounds from the
purses of womankind, to the benefit, we will hope, of
trade in general. I am, therefore, not going to
attempt a review of the wares of any particular houze,
but I will give a general impression of what the
fashions among leading dressmakers are likely to be,
accompanied by a description of some few gowns on
their way to England. At the present moment the
fashionable world of Paris are away from that capital,
wearing embroidered cashmeres of grey and brown
tones, trimmed with foulard, and exceedingly high
hats and bonnets, either of straw or felt, trimmed
with colouring to match. There is coming over to one
of the dressmakers renowned for her good style a
charmingly cool-looking dress of prune foulard,
striped with grey and red, to be worn with a long
redingote. The underskirt is made perfectly plaia ;
the redingcte of prune opens up the centre of the
back, and is so long that it is only as the weaver
moves that the pretty stripes beneath are visible. It
is cut like a man's frock coat, the basque joined in a
similar fashion to the bodice. The front plaits start
from the shoulder, and end in a point at the waist,
while the long front basques below are draped a little
on the hips, and, where it is possible, large carved
buttons are placed. I gather from V.'s that many of
best dresses will have redingotes, and that the buttons
worn upon them can hardly be too large or too much
carved.

Turinn is a striped Algerienne stuff to be greatly
used for the intermediate season's dresses. The
ground is white, but the stripes are red, blue, and
yellow in bright tones. Many of the foulards and
soft woollens, of 'thich dresses are made for sending
off at once to the country, are often of a decided tone,
covered either with a vermicelli pattern in white, or
with pea spots. With such gowns I have seen border.
logs of cotton worked in gold thread, which renders
tam stylish at once.
MANY dresses are trimmed with appliques of velvet
honored with gold, and the panellings introduced
down the sides, of simple materials, are often quite
magnificent. The wonder is, just at present, when
they are to be worn, for in country houses tailor-made
and simple woollen gowns are the fashion, and any
brilliancy of costume is kept for tea and evening
dresses.

BLUE FOX IS to be the fashicnable fur for the
winter ; it shows up well on dark blue cloth. The
following is a kind of gown which will be made with
the redingote opening in front, to show a plaiting of
silk matching the facing to the side of the over dress.
The draping is apparently held in its place by a sash,
the ends of which are gathered into a tassel having a
silk Covered wooden top, with handsome drops of
gimp chenille and beads below. These sashes will be
an inevitable part of the best style of gowns, with or
without belts, but the newest mode would seem to be
to have them knotted round the waist, in just one
single bow. If ribbon is employed, it is moire; but
piece silk, satin, and velvet are more usual. Some-
times a mass of narrow ribbons of a darker shade
than the dress are so grouped together that they have
the appearance of wider ribbon; for evening gowns
such sashes are often composed of crepe de chine.
* *

HELIOTROPE and beige are the particular shades
which are now used. 1 say "beige," but it is more
accurately described as mud colour. It would not be
wise, therefore, to infer that this tone is to be upper-
most in the list of fashionable colours. The fact is,
that it is just the tone for the mid-season, and shows
off the kind of stuffs then worn to the best advantage.
On a cashmere gown of this colour, a panel has been
introduced of brocaded plush, bordered on either side
with handsome new drops in a double row, and cord.,
and strangely fashioned ornaments, which were drawn
across the material. At the back, the cashmere was
bound to the depth of half a yard with plush, and the
slightly puffed fulness was hooked over the basque of
the bodice, so that it appeared to be all in one. The
bodice was made with one revers, the material plaited
on one side only, and these bodices, made with the two
sides dissimilar, will, I believe, be a marked charac-
teristic of winter modes. A little fur found its way
on to the front of tbis dress, and on the cuff, which
was cut far up on the outside of the arm. I note that,
whenever fur is put on a dress of two shades, care is
always taken that it shall be set against the darker
tone.

MOST of the bodices have some fulness in the front,
but the novelty is for this fulness to be so arranged
that, it seems to form one continuous part of the same
material in the front of the skirt. Curiouly, in
several new dresses of the more costly kind, the in-
explicable drapery shows a tendency to be full and bouff-
ant immediately in front of the waist; very few figures
can stand it, and it is a mode more to be honoured in
the breach than in the observance. I have in my
mind's eye a magnificent heliotrope velvet intermixed
with some thick striped silk, tied here and there with
the tasselled ends of silk to a girdle of silk, while at
the sides there was a good deal of pa,sernenterie of
beads of the same tone. At the back, the rich velv,t
fell in graceful folds, being caught up just at the baeli
into a waste plaiting, such as surrounded the stiff
bodices of the Medicis period. Heavy bead fringe
bordered the basque and the drapery, shading a
plastron of heliotrope-coloured pearls. French people
are much affecting a new woollen stuff which displa)s
stripes of different colouring, made hazy and indistinct
by the long hairs cn the surface of the material. To
all appearance it is far better suited to a railway rug,
but some of our best dressmakers are bringing over
dresses made of it intermixed with velvet, a combina-
tion which to the initiated seems singularly inappro-
priate. Epaulettes are showing their influence in a
marked manner, and extending their boundary.
Fashions always begin with one thing and go on to
something more wonderful. Now,'as well as epaulett es
an upper sleeve above the elbow is beginning to be
worn. It is once more quite correct to wear sleeves
dissimilar to the bodice, but according with other por-
tions of the dress.

THE draperies are long and massive, the skirts
appear wide and important looking, but tbe chief
point is the trimmings, as for exatnple a panel formed
of great gimperings, at least a quarter of a yard in
circumference, with some three or four tasselled ends
springing from the centre, the back drapery formed
into a sort of jelly bag end. Touches of colour find
their way into the best dresses, in the form of linings
to side draperies and vests.

A FASHIONABLE material is a ribbed velvet, the ribs
of the finest, and yet recalling corduroy, only I never
saw any with such minute stripes. A gown of this,
intermixed with double -cashmere, was bordered with
the gimp balls slung on satin ribbon, just as a school
girl might thread some old reels. Another petticoat of
the same velvet had over it an oblong tunic of fine
lady's cloth just turned in and stitched round the
edge, the ends turned over on to the front, so that
they almost met; this is a graceful draping in the
front of the skirt, but muct be seen to be appreciated.

A cRO3SWAY band of velvet is often laid round the
waist of the bodice, so forming a basque, and pointvl
in the centre of the front. Double breasted bodices
are to be worn, while many are made with three
double buttons at the waist and a double revers
above. In lieu of frilling or lace, purl edged ribbon
doubled is sometimes used and so put pa that the
double purl edge is visible.

WAISTCOATS made of the yachts' flags have been the
fashion in the Isle of Wight this year, and the mode
has survived that week of sunshine and enjoyment.
Silks of the same nature are being used for waistcoats
shaped to the figure, not We bouffant plastrons, for
which they would be too conspicuous away from tips
Bea.

THERE is a rage for embroidery, and it is evidenced
by the uovel idea of feather stitching, which is applied
to many of the bands and revers on gowns. For
example, with a dark blue velvet skirt, a bodice and
drapery of blue, brown, and terra-cotta drapery were
worn bordered with velvet, feather-stitched at the
heading with red silk. Brown and heliotrope are a
favourite mixture. The side draperies of the skirt in
such combinations are left open, so that the entire
length of the skirt is seen. Often when the skirt and
bodice are in one, the side seam is open from the
waist, giving the appearance of an apron. One corner
is sometimes caught up and tucked into the waist,
showing a lining of a colour to match some other
portion of the dress. Fashionable dresses for young
girls will have velvet coralets and velvet braces; but
their elders, unless of slender proportions, will do
well to avoil them. Thera is a disposition to
revive many of those jaunty modes which were worn
by young women in the early part of Louis XYL'e
reign. •

LEADING dressmakers declare with one accord that
it is to be a woollen season, and that all dresses, how-
ever handsome, for morning wear will exhibit some
combination of it. There is plenty of choice, and
many woollen fabrics are quite as costly as the most
expensive silks.

THE HOT WEATHER AND BATHING
IN THE SERPENTINE.
During the recent hot weather there has been
vast amount of bathing in that portion of the Serpen-
tine in Hyde-park set apart for that purpose by her
Majesty's Board of Works. According to the records
taken by Mr. Horton, the superintendent of the Royal
Humane Society, the average number of bathers in the
morning has been from 800 to 1000, and in the evening
from 3000 to as many as 6000. During the prennt year,
notwithstanding the season Commenced so late, the total
number of bathers, according to the record up to now,
has reached no less a figure than 155,245. During
the season there has been only one fatality—a can in
which the bather was seized with a fit in proximity to
the shore—and there have been no less than 104
rescues by the boatmen, many of them of a iery
gallant character.

THE first in converAtion is truth, the next good
sense, the third good huninur. and thn fourth. wit.

WRECK OF AN ENGLISH STEAMER.

On Saturday morning the Leyland Line steamer
Algerian arrived in the Mersey from Lisbon and
brought eleven of the crew of the English steamer
Joseph Ferens, which was wrecked at Cape Verde,
and by which the crew of 22 hands had a narrow
escape and an extraordinary adventure. The Joseph
Ferens, a steamer of nearly 2000 tons gross register,
was going from Hull to Bolama at the time of the
disaster, calling at Newport for coal. The disaster
happened on the 22nd ult. at midnight, and during a
dense fog. The vessel took the ground about ten
miles from St. Vincent and remained fast in the sand,
notwithstanding that everything was done to get her
off. The crew remained on board for about 11 hours,
by which time the sea was breaking over the vessel.
The first boat launched contained five men, and was
in charge of the second officer. This was taken
towards the shore for the purpose of fastening a line
and permitting communication, as the surf was so
bad that it was impossible to row a boat ashore. The
boat arrived within a short distance off the beach,
where there were some treacherous-looking rocks.
The craft was suddenly lifted up by a huge wave and
dashed on to the rocks. It was capsized, and the men
were left struggling for their lives in the water. The
surf, however, was running towards the shore, and
after a time at the grea..est danger of all the men
managed to gain the shore, though some were hurt and
all exhausted. The second boat was able to gain the
land, though during its passage two of the crew were
washed bodily into the sea. Both wore rescued,
though one of them was almost dead. They were
both firemen. A line was, however, fastened, and
commun;cation with the other boats was made less
difficult. The captain was the last to leave the ship.
The crew saved a few hiscuLs, but these got saturated
in coining through the surf, and were put to dry on
a sail spread on the beach. When th 3 men reached
terra firma a band of islanders marched down from
the mountains. They were a most barbarous-looking
tribe, and as they numbered nearly 200, the ship-
wrecked men felt anything but comfortable in
their presence. They stole all of the biscuits, and
left the crew without any food. They even carried off
the buckets which the men had brought from the
steamer to bale out their boats. and also took any-
thing else they could lay their hands on. Fortu-
nately information of the disaster had been con-
veyed to the town 18 miles distant, and a number of
Spanish soldiers were despatched to the protection of
the shipwrecked people. With loaded rifles they
kept guard, and daring their presence the islanders
did not come near. The men slept as best they could
on the beach for three nights, and were eventually
taken to Lisbon, having to tramp*many miles over the
mountains. They were able to go off to the steamer
and replenish the purloined provisions. The 11 men
were brought from Lisbon in the Algerian, the re-
inaincler shipped at the port on another vessel for
Shields. On arriving at Liverpool the men were
received by the Shipwrecked Mariner's Society and
sent home. Most of them belonged to Hull. The
Joseph Ferens was owned in Newcastle by Mr. 0. 11.
Hunting.