The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-04-02 00:00:00

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

Tim newest thing in visiting gloves (says The
Season) is to have them made with four or five
buttons and a stripe of black leather round the
bottom. Broad seams at the back, similar to those
made on gentlemen's gloves, match the edge. Such
gloves look best in grey or light brown, and are worn
with half-long sleeves.

CHECKS rule the day among spring materials, but,
as if in contrast to the stuffs of the last season, in the
smallest pattern possible, the check itself being
scarcely larger than a pin's head, and almost resem-
bling a tiny dot. These materials are generally coarse
and loosely woven, and look like something between
etainine and home-spun cloth. The colours are
mostly neutral, sometimes in light and dark shades of
tone. Some diagonal stuffs again display the favourite
fine stripes of last year. Another new and very useful
stuff is the half-silk material, which unites the glossi-
ness of silk with the durability of wool, and as the
silk warp and woollen weft are of different colours—
for instance, black and white, light and dark blue,
blue and brown—they have not only the well-known
shot-silk glance, but also the effect of small checks.

LACE plays a conspicuous part just now, not only
for trimming dresses, but also for fichus, jackets, on
hats, and even muffs. When a bodice is cut out
square or V-shaped in front, a lace chemisette is
worn with it, or, should the front be filled up with
another material, a lace fichu, with the crossed ends
disappearing under the opening, is worn. Lace sleeves,
either black or white, are characteristic for evening
wear; and so is lace drapery. We must also name
flounces and tablier trimmings, made of costly point
lace, or splendid imitation, with the outlines of the
pattern marked out with fine gold thread.

PAEASOL handles exhibit more and more rich and
artistic decorations. Carved wood is certainly less
seen than usual, and then mostly for umbrella
handles, whilst for entoucas and sunshades an end-
less variety of style, shape, and material is noticeable.
Chief among these we may mention vines, fancy
knobs, and figures in Dresden China, and even gold
and silver tambourines, which are made double, and
thus serve as bonbonieres. Then there are charming,
cleverly carved ivory productiion, representing
sirens, dryads, and other mythological*figures.

I CANNOT resist (says "Zit," writing in the Pictoria.
World) describing two lovely mantles just sent from
Paris. There it is not deemed such an imperative
necessity that spring and summer mantles should be
black, as here, where it seems almost de rigueur.
These two are in colours, the first in a kind of rich
chcsudron faille, which forms the front gathered to
the waist, and finished off at each side by straps of
rich gold embroidery that hangs low down in front,
like the ends of a mantle, each finished with a rich
tassel. The sleeves, part of the back, and a wide sort
of cape-frill round the neck, are made of a rich kind
of string-coloured embroidery in a Spanish lace
design, in which gold thread is lavishly used. Two
narrow chaudron ribbons are interlaced through the
interstices of the embroidery on the collar, and a
wider one down the edge of the sleeve which partakes
slightly of the form of a sling sleeve, but starting
from the shoulder; the ribbon ending in a bow with
ends. It is intensely elegant. One characteristic of the
newest mantic* is that they nearly all have real sleeves,
not the sort of half-and-half things that have
been made during the last two or three years. There,
fore, the second mantle I am describing will be found
to have a sleeve of decided shape. It is chiefly coin- ,
posed of eucalyptus green Ottoman silk, which, in a
deep kilting, longer in front than at the back, forms
the lowest part of the mantle. The sleeves join be-
hind and are round, and loose in front., finished off
with a frill of the same lilting. The top, down to
the elbow of each, is embroidered in silver, and the
fronts of the mantle Are turned back in revers of the
same silver embroidery over a long jaboti drapery of
lace which might be cream, string coloured, or black,
according to taste; the ends of it finish in a rich
tassel. Of course, both these pretty mantles might
be very successfully and effectively reproduced in
black, but they are the very latest idea in spring
cloaks, and have a cachet quite their own.
• • •

So long (says the Queen) as the severity of the
weather renders the continued wear of winter gar-
ments desirable, a degree of conjecture must prevail
as to what will be most widely adopted when these
are laid aside. An appeal to the leading tailors
elicits the assurance that both stripes and cross-bars
will be in demand, and the increasing desire for the
latter is producing them under several new aspects.
* * *

MANY are shown in vicuna, soft in texture and
light in weight. These display loose hair upon a sur-
face of large broken plaids in mixtures of black and
white and neutral tints, as well as in some of the
new shades of ecorce and heliotrope. Chess-board
squares are to be found upon others, with a bright
satin divisional cross-bar, in tones of beurre frais and
leaden greys. ;A more notable novelty, and one which
could only be achieved by the setting up of new
looms, is to he found in the diamond reversible cloth.
In this manufacture an obvious difficulty to effective
draping is overcome. Those who are experienced in
the costumier's art know full well that when,
for the sake of appearance, a material has to be
used upon the bias instead of the straight, a strain
or pull in an undesired direction is frequently the
result. It is the triumph of this new tissue
to present a diamond framed in diagonal lines, run-
ning the straight way of the material. The cloth—a
species of tweed—which is also reversible and shot,
allows the colour showing the diamond upon one side
to offer the stripe on the other, and vice versa. In
the lozenges of two-inch proportions the colours are
seen in distinctness, on those presented in smaller
size shading is produced by means of an interlining.
The mixtures are much varied. Navy blue and white,
admiralty blue and mordore, tan and chocolate,
eccrce of one shade crossed by another in a deeper
or paler, and occasionally with white, offer scope for
choice. Combinations of this nature are already to
be met with as inserted waistcoats to some smai t
little coats, and are also in readiness for skirt
draperies. As folds and pleats diminish upon the
latter, more colour and variety are becoming apparent
on the surface of the fabric in which draperies are
represented. Occasionally long draperies are broken
by a kilting on one side and a handsomely braided
revers on the other, with that portion of the bodice
suggestive of decoration trimmed to correspond.

AN instance of this is to be found in a costume
which has been made in a deep shade of heliotrope,
having the revers of both skirt and bodice, as well
as cuffs and collar, finely and richly braided in black.
In several models one long ample drapery is carried
completely over the foundation, and caught up into
a butterfly bow at the back, while an almost imper-
ceptible kilting prevents the edge of the skirt from
falling in at the feet. Examples occur in which such
drapery is finished with a band of braid instead of
rows of stitching.

A cosTumn lately supplied to a leader of fashion,
which had its modore surface flecked with gold,
showed a braid of the former colour carried as a
bordering at the edge of the drapery, and supplied to
do similar service on the bodice. The collar of the
latter was folded back at the throat, to fasten with a
single button over the linen shirt, which is now bidding
fair to replace the waistcoat. It is becoming usual to
supply shirts in dozens or half-dozens with such cos-
tumes as demand their presence. The models shown
suggest occasionally the starched fronts of the manly
garment, fastening in front with tiny studs, and
assuming at the back a habit-shirt form. In others
they present pleatings and folds held in place by a
band at the waist, and are finished with a tiny bow at
the throat. Another novelty of the season endows
the jacket bodice with a front out like the dress coat
of a man, and allows the opened space to be filled
either by a waistcoat or shirt. Habit bodices are,
however, still in vogue, and are frequently made with
revere, which leave a richly-braided waistcoat appa-
rent. In those double-breasted bodices which close
with a single lappel the latter is generally supplied in
velvet, and has collar and cuffs to correspond.

A SUCCESSFUL combination of a polonaise and mantle
has resulted in the new Asoot cloak. The back view
presents the latter moulded to the waist, from whence,
with a double box-pleat, it falls to the edge of the
skirt. In front, long wings, lined with silk, and fall-
ing unrestrainedly from the shoulders to the feet, dis-
close, when thrown back, a closely-fitting polonaise of
graceful form; while, by means of straps, they do
duty as sleeves. A curtailment which lets the under
part of this garment end in a long pointed bodice and
clips the wings into the dimensions of an epaulette
cape, results in a short, smart wrap. This, as well as
the more ample specimen, will probably be seen in
plush, as well as tweed, performing the service for
which it is designed.

Winn Philippa sleeves are apparent on many
dolman-shaped mantles, while upon others, of plush,
the sleeve only ends at the edge of the skirt. Broad
stripes or ribs are a feature in the latest make of
covert coat, while to some of the close-fitting over-
jackets is imparted the appearance of a waistcoat by
means of a second front, which is made loose. The
elaborate braiding often seen down the centre is
usually apparent likewise on the outside pocket. A
few models have a simple fern leaf, or other device,
shown as a breastplate, with duplicates on the
shoulders, cuffs, and centre of back. Women of
ample proportions like this braiding put on as flatly
as possible, while those who desire it can obtain
increase of width by letting the braid be upstanding.
Flannels in stripes of blue, grey, and pink; cloth in
pure white, and vicuna in a shade of old rose, are
among the fabrics now being converted by this firm
into costumes for fashionable bridal trousseaux.

A. wnwLY-ArrorrrEn official on the Natal Railway
recontly wrote for "a gallon of red oil for the danger
lanterns,"

Mn. A.: I see you have got a new servant-girl..
Mr. B.: Yes, I ma° it a point to get a new one
every montb.—But that must be very inoonvenient.
—YeR,-but there is uotbing going on in this town that
I don't know all aboetsit. •. ;UJj. •
W.ire : I don't see howyou can say that Mr. White.
' choker has an effeminate way of talking. He has a
very loud voice.—Husband: I mean by an effeminate
way of talking, my dear, that he talks ail the time.