The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-04-16 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

Cold as it has been, yet some of the smart ladies
have already (according to "Flower o' the May," the
tea-table talk correspondent of the World) ordered
white morning dresses—not matinees, but walking.
dresses, made of white batiste and white embroidery.
Deliciously fresh and nice they look hanging in the
wardrobes, suggesting morning walks in the park,
with soft air and the delightful necessity for carrying
a parasol. And though it seems almost absurd to
have these prettiest of all morning-gowns made so
soon, yet it is a plan which I applaud. Some fine
morning the wind is south, the sun strong, and spring
has come with a joyous dash of summer in it; and
then there is the reward of forethought—the proud
possibility of going downstairs in a perfectly fresh
white gown. The first spring day becomes a glorious
fact wnen a pretty woman enters the morning-room
dressed like this. Indeed, I regard it as one of the
duties of a smart dresser to accentuate the changes of
the season and give them added point.
• • •

APPROPRIATENESS has very much to do with success
in dressing. The entre-deux will be almost universally
worn in summer morning-dresses, made in a simple
fashion by using insertions of embroidery. The
narrow insertions make pretty sleeves, with fine
batiste between. Sleeves are all going to be quite
different from those to which we have grown accus-
tomed. The Parisians are used already to the full
sleeve of thin material, caught into a band at the
elbow, both for evening and morning dresses; but I
have seen very few of them worn in London as yet.
They resemble as much as anything the old-fashioned
bishop's sleeve which was worn 20 years ago. They
are made on a tight-fitting invisible sleeve, and they
look the most effective when made in the gauziest
and softest of materials, pulled into a band of some-
thing quite solid—velvet, if that is used elsewhere in
the dress, or a band stiffened by a firm lining and
bordered with large beads, which preserve its outline.
It is true this shape has been made by one cr two
milliners during the winter, but only a few ladies
have worn it; while now it is being made in all styles
of dress.

ENousiiwomEN are shy of a definite change, but
they. have to give way when the models for everything
are touched by it. Some of the sleeves are made with
two firm bands round the arm, one half-way between
the shoulder and the elbow, and the other just below
the elbow. There is a tight thin sleeve fitting to the
arm, and on that, fulled in high on the shoulder, and
fulled into the bands, are puilings of gauzy material.
In evening-drosses of velvet the sleeves are often quite
real little short sleeves, tight-fitting just over the
upper part of the arm, and with openings or " slash-
ings "through which the skin shows; or else cut right
up and caught back, making a little revers of colour.
For matintes and tea-gowns the sleeves will be wide,
bell-shaped, and showing the whole arm; or else made
with a long tab. The Watteau back will be very much
in favour for these loose dresses; but it is a Watteau
back modified so cleverly that it does not really spoil
or hide the figure at all. It is made, in fact, not of
folds of material, but of light falling lace.

THE crowd at a big artistic private view the other
day had some curious characteristics: there were no
really handsome dresses, and scarcely any even effec-
tive ones; while there were a number of fresh bright
faces which needed neither creme nor rouge. Many
of the owners of these charming countenances had
evidently come to look at the pictures, and were
soberly dressed in long coats of dark blue or brown,
as if for wet weather; so I suppose they belong to
the painter's world. One bright representative of
artistic society was dressed all in black, and wore a
high black hat of the style which only suits a few
faces, but which suited hers extremely well; blnek
tulle strings were tied in a smart full bow under her
left ear. One well known sculptor's wife made a
striking and brilliant figure in the rooms, chiefly from
her fine bearing and half-Italian beauty, for she was
not very elaborately dressed. She wore a costume in
thin gray cloth, the sleeves made very full on the
shoulder, and the outer side of them fulled into the
seams, nearly down to the elbow. Over the dress she
wore a sleeveless bodice of gray velvet, braided in
gray, and cut open right down to the waist in front,
the under-bodice consisting of falls of the thin
material pulled out over the velvet. A narrow pink
ribbon was tied high round her throat, and the dress
was "faced" with pink all over.
a •

LADY COLIN CAMPBELL was attired very soberly in
black, her dress being of black-striped silk and gailze,
fully draped, over which she wore a mantle of jet,
with entre-deux of velvet shaped to the waist. fler
fine diamond earrings, and the lovely laige amethyst,
which was fastened to her bonnet-string just under
the left ear, were the noticeable points in her dress.
Another lady looked well in a long mantle of soft
brown plush, and a brown bonnet with a pink
aigrette. But most of the dresses were commonplace,
or even dowdy; and from my special point of view
the show was not inspiriting.

WE
Went
to
cue
v., _ t, the chatty
girl's gossiper of Truth), and found that a goou nnius,
people were walking up and down under the trees.
The mixture of spring and winter in the garinenture
was curious. A bonnet wreathed with violets sur-
mounted a long plush coat, heavy with fur. One girl
had a white gown on under a delicious black velvet
coat lined with pale pink satin, and trimmed with
chinchilla. Only the hem of the white gown was
visible, but even that was too much. Several sun-
shades of the en-tout-cas sort made their appearance,
and were really necessary, so very hot and bright was
the sunshine.

WE noticed one or two hoods. lam sorry that
they are coming in again, for I think them senseless
things and by no means ornamental. Few women
wear them gracefully. The general fault in the hoods
is that they are not long enough. They should ex-
tend below the waist like a Watteau pleat, so as to
contrast the inward curve of the back with the straight
one of the hood. But, generally, they look just like
bags hung round the neck by mistake. In fact, some
of them remind me of Christian's wallet in the
"Pilgrim's Progress," before it got round to the
front.

• ••••-•
WOULD you like to know of a use for your old kid
gloves? I have just heard that very warm and
comfortable quilts can be made of them, a number
being sewn together. Does it not seem an odd idea?
I should think that those who fear to undertake such
an ambitious affair as an entire quilt, might succeed
in making chest protectors for delicate children and
girls, or even coverlets for infants' cribs, which would
be most acceptable to poor and struggling mothers
when the cold weather comes again.

I NOTICED a few new mantles and bonnets the
other day, during the fitful sunshine (writes "Chris-
tine,' the correspondent of the Lady's Pictorial in
Paris), while there was now and then a glimpse of a
new gown. One pretty little bonnet in pink velvet
was embroidered in flowers of gold. A wreath of
velvet roses passed from and a full puffing
of black lace filled in the spaiv between the velvet
side pieces. Another in deep gold straw, with high
diadem front of violet velvet, ornamented with a large
bouquet of purple iris and buds: strings and high
bows of the same velvet. A bonnet in black tulle and
lace, the crown being composed of tulle drawn up
fully on wires, and a large coquille of black lace and
a bouquet of cowslips in velvet, also attracted my
attention. A narrow wreath of cowslips was on each
side. There seems to be a leaning towards extreme
simplicity in dress, and I notice that jewellery is now
seldom worn except with evening dress.

1 SAW a very becoming dress the other day, evi-
dently tailor-made, and quite plain, in a kind of dark
serge. The high military collar was not even fastened
with a brooch or pin, but two very large pearls were
worn in the ears. I saw also a pretty satin in a light
chaudron tint, with "'bonnet in seal brown velvet
trimmed with pompones of the same shade as the
dress. Another dress was in steel-grey cashmere,
having side draperies on the skirt and revere on the
corsage in silver-grey Sicilienne, embroidered with
grey floss silks and steel and silver beads. The corsage
had a military collar and cuffs of the embroidered Si-
cilienne, and a vest in narrow pleats of the same ma-
terial. A hat of grey felt, trimmed with grey satin
ribbons and a group of doves, was very becoming.
Several dresses were in navy cashmere, which always
keeps popu'ar. One had a broad sash of this material
across the front, and fastened at the back in a large
bow and ends. The underskirt was entirely covered
with narrow satin pleatings in alternate shades of
dark blue and a lighter blue, embroidered with small
red rosebuds. The corsage was made with a narrow
vest and a military collar and cuffs of similar
brocade