The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-08-07 00:00:00


GOSSIP ON DRESS.

TIM entertaining andpraetical "Lady Dressmaker,"
who writes on " Dress : in Reason and in Season" in
the Girl's Own Paper, has the following in the number
for July 31st: In spite of the cold weather which
formed the bane of the spring season, plenty of light
tabzics have appeared, especially as fooming part of
the dress of young ladies. Nevertheless, even those
in the "sere and yellow leaf "—in these days of lacy
materials and canvas—find them most useful and
perfectly suitable wear. Canvas, in every new and
varied make, is much liked, and we find it in the
lightest shades—pink, white, primrose, grey, blue-
grey, and smoke-colour; while one of the most
popular and newest shades for the season has been
"heliotrope," an old friend, but looking now prettier
and more becoming to certain complexions than ever.
White and cream-coloured dresses are much liked;
in fact, I think more white dresses have been seen in
London this year than for several years before. They
are very much embroidered, some of the skias being
all composed of open work, on thick Victoria lawn.
I cannot say, however, that I think fur capes look
suitable with these white dresses. and it would be
better if the wearers waited for warmer weather, so
that they might dispense with such very unsummery
coverings. There is, notwithstanding, no doubt that
when the Colonial and Indian Exhibition is in ques-
tion, warm coverings are a necessity on account of
the draughts.

AMONGST our novelties may be mentioned lace boas,
morning are immensely popular for morng and after-
noon use as a kind of warmer adjunct to the bodice
when uncovered by a mantle. They lock equally well
over cotton, velvet, or foulard dresses, and with the
high bonnets; the hair being turned up from the nape
of the neck, and the lack of strings tied under the
chin, something full round the throat seems to be
needed to fill up the void between the shoulders and
the ears. The fur boas of the winter were very becom•
ing, and probably gave the idea for them. The lace
of which they are made is not yak, nor of woollen
yarn, but a good French lace of pretty design. The
ruche is very full, thickly plaited round the neck, two
ruchings being joined together in the centre. The
ends reach to the knees, and are made (when not
ruched) of a cascade of lace on a found& ion of black
net, with bows of ribbon at the throat and ends. They
are made also in cream lace, and have been worn by
the bridesmaids at some recent weddings.

I MENTIONED the subject of parasols in my recent
article, but I noticed that the idea of tying bows and
knots of ribbon on the parasol-handles and tops has
been much extended and utilised lately. One bow is
tied on top and anther low near the handle. The
ribbon does not match the parasol, but the dress; or,
if the dress be black and the bonnet coloured, it
matches the bonnet or colour of its trimmings.

ALL kinds of fancy-headed pins are used for the
bonnet, even those very queer-looking fan-headed
pins which hail from Japan and China. There is no
season like the present for the home bonnet maker,
and especially if the ambitious maker 11:1ppen to be a
young girl. The newest bonnets, made of net, and
mounted on perfectly transparent foundations, their
only trimmings some bead ornaments or a feather or
ribbon aigrette, are surely the easiest po-sible things
to make. They are very generally made in black, but
can also be of net, to match the costume in colour.
What used to be called" magpie bonnets "—i.e., black
and white, the bows being of black and white ribbons
—are much seen, and are always pretty and becoming.
Lace hats of all kinds, many of them copied from lace
hats seen in old pictures, are very much %von], and are
also easily made.

ONE of the novelties of the season is certainly the
"political bonnets" which have recently appared in
town. The first, a "primrose bonnet," was made of
yellow and very pale primroses, with leaves, and
draped or veiled in clouds of yellow tulle. The op-
posing headgear was made of blue and green tulle,
with wreaths of blue cornflowers and shamrock leaves.
Young girls do not wear strings to their bonnets at
all, but when they are worn they are only a tiny bow
under the chin, in which small gold-headed pins are
put, as well as small brooch es.

BONNETS and hats are as high as ever, and what with
the height and the heavy trimmings are most difficult
to keep on. The fancy headed pins I have mentioned
are by no means reliable holders on of a bonnet, so the
real work is performed by means of small black-
headed pins—about three inches long, three or four
being used—a plan which strikes me as very likely to
destroy the bonnet by the numberless holes they
would make, and also would be productive of continual
headaches from the dragging and pulling at the roots
of the hair. The passion for very large-sized beads is
apparently increasing, and the great weight of many
bonnets is quite absurd. Luckily these extremes soon
bring about their own cure, and sensible people decline
to adopt foolish ideas, which carry headiches in their
train.

As I have had many queries about a good and com-
fortable dress for a tricycle, I think it will be well to
notice that the Cyclists' Touring Club has decided on
a uniform for its members, both male and female;
the gentlemen to wear a Norfolk jacket, trousers or
knickerbockers, polo or cricket cap, helmet or deer-
stalker (all to be made of the grey cloth specially
made for club use), with straw hats, grey stockings
and grey shirts, etc. The ladies' costumes to be made
of the same grey cloth, with a Norfolk jacket or coat-.
bodice, skirt, knickbockers, merino or lambs-wool
combinations, for under wear; grey stockings, straw
hat, helmet, or soft cloth hat of the same material:
All clothing to be of wool, as the safest from a sanitary
pmt of view.

KR-BANDS of dress bodices are as high as ever
and eery few starves or neckties are, in consequence,
worn round the neck. In having a dress made at
present, it is always needful to watch the dressmaker
cutting out the neck, for a single snip of the scissors
may ruin the whole set of the same. The bodice
itself must be cut high. Anyone looking in the glass
and studying the shape of the neck will see that
there is a perfectly well-defined line round the throat,
which line the dress must reach, so that the band
shall exactly encircle the throat, meeting so as to over-
lap in front and showing no pull anywhere. A well-
fitting dress would be a perfectly comfortable one at
the neck; but few dressmakers understand what the
new style of cutting requires. With the high collars a
small quilling of lace is often worn, save when the
collar is of velvet, in which case nothing is added to
the plain edge. Several fashionable ruches are sold,
with beads of wood, jet, gold, and pearl, and also ef
folds of silk and gold braid.

No signs of returning to the white frills appear, and
the present style has not proved unbecoming to most
people, and is decidedly economical. The frillings
were a constant source of expense. They neither
wore nor washed; and when the Greek plays of last
year showed that in the days when taste was the most
pure and simple no such decoration was thought
necessary, everyone saw that expense and trouble
might well be avoided. A small bouquet is now
generally worn in front, just below the throat, where
it interferes with nothing. If the dress be not high
enough in the neck, a wide band of velvet, either
quite plain or with some kind of fancy bead or orna-
ment sewn on it, is worn fastened tightly round. This
hides the throat—a consideration, if thin or lined:

SOME of the new waterproof cloaks are very pretty,
and are covered with shot-silk, as well as brocaded.
They look quite like a handsome dust-cloak, and I
daresay will often be used as such during the summer
weather, when the sky (as it so often does) looks
doubtful. I consider it a very happy idea to cover
up our national trouble—our uncertain climate—and
turn even our waterproofs into something pretty:
• •

MANY girls are wearing the cheap Madras coloured
muslins for home evenings, with the addition of a
little lace and ribbon. This Madras muslin can now
be procured for about threepence or fourpence a yard.
It must always be remembered that they require a
good deal of material in them to look well, as they
have no stiffness of their own. The most popular
additions to the dress at present are waistcoats, which
are to be seen of all descriptions, tucked c-ossways
or else like a man's shirt, with studs, and in striped
flannel. White waistcoats for morning wear are being
very much made for tailor-made dresses, and are
adapted to fit into the front of the dress, over the
front that matches the material. Grey i. now a
favourite colour for these dresses, and also tial.lc blue
braided with white. Both have loose jack,s, match-
ing the dress, with fitting backs and straight fronts
unfitting.
•

Tun newest bouquets are composed of leaves. At
the last Court hall several of these were seen; the
beautifully striped and variegated leaves being
arranged with the utmost care and taste and tied
with greenish ribbons, to harmonise with them. The
neck bouquets worn are long and very large for the
purpose. They are generally made of one flower only,
or if there be several colours of the game flower, they
may be mixed.

LONG gloves are as much used as ever, and many
people wear bracelets to excess over them, which is
not in good taste. Swede gloves of browny yellowy
shades are worn, and also white, for the evening; but
in the daytime I have seen nothing so much used as
grey, in both dark and light shades. In fact, nothing
for ordinary use is so much liked as grey dresses, as
I have very often said in my chats on clothing. One
of the new arrivals in grey are grey alpacas, which
seem likely to be much adopted for travelling dresses
as well as for daily wear. It is much used now
with pale blue silk, and the white piqu4 waistcoats
which have been so constanty seen this year in
town.

"Just load the gun, Fritz, said a German restau-
rateur, the other day. Soon Fritz returned with the
gun, and the old man walked out into the alleyway,
where there was a brick wall, with a gun in one hand
and a lot of meat in the other. In a little while each
barrel of the gun let of a report that shook the
house. "What does that mean ?'' asked a customer
of Fritz: " That," said Fritz, is a little trick of
ours, We shoot the mutton and veal full of shot, and
then stew it like game, and palm it off for rabbit,
reindeer, antelope, woodcock, and moose."

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