New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-04-05
NEW ORLEANS, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 5 l8e8

stead is to be assumed what careless OF
ill-informed observer might suppose to be
our old acquaintance, ''the bustle,n but
which unexceptionsl authority enables me
to state is really ''pdnier.' Let not the
bewildered reader search in Webster's una.
bridged for definition of this word. It is
freshly coined, and has significance only to
those who accept its meaning as described
| by the modiste who fabricates this new
adornment or appeudage of the female
form. 1t is "a gathered puff located in
that region where once the ''bustleY stood
and over it the outer garment is made to
fall in folds of winning gracetulness. The
| subject is delicate one; it admits of argu.
ment only a poSteri0ri, and prefer to drop
II with the hint that here, at least, no lady
will be considered fully reconstructed
unless she accepts this supplementary sec.
tion OF the toilet. And with this remark,
let me hasten forward to describe the other
novelties of the fashion which will rule the
female world for the next five months, and
which were unveiled to public view on
'opening day." the twenty-dfth of this
month.
Sam Weller once remarked that
if his eyes " was pair of Dat
ent double million magnifyin'
gas microscopes of hextra power" he might
be able to discern objects that were at
present hidden from his gaze. 1t is still
possible to see the bonnets of the coming
season with unaided vision, but if they
were a very little smaller one might con
clude that they also had vanished with the
departed crinoline. The new bOunets are
much smaller than were the diminutive
ones Of last fall and winter; but what there
is of them is exceedingly beautiful And if
the truth must be told, the very acme OF
the style now is to wear no bonnet at all
but lace coihure, dTaped over the hair
done up in full puffs or curls, and ornament
ed on one side with a single rose, by
which it is held back on one
the other, so that it may be thrown over
the countenance as veil, or allowed to fan
backward like the cotFUre MANTLE of a
Spanish dame. My own opinion nav be
worth nothing, but it is that this head dress
is exceedingly graceful and picturesque.
But for those who hesitate about adopting
it, there are still bonnets. The new STYLES
do not lie fiat on the head, but raise their
tiny fronts above the hair with sort of
diadem or coropet. They are of ali colors
and designs, green and ''Sultana red" pre-
ponderating. Each one is of one uniform
color, bonnet ribbon, and flowers of the
same shade; and the monotony is only
broken by the plentiful addition of brilliant
ornaments of gold and steel. Nothing is
more striking than these tiaras of cut steel,
which glitter like diamonds, and bonnets
thus decorated cost fifty dollars.
The new regime also ordains that while
bonnet of blue, green, or lilac may be worn
with a black dress, dress of any light
shade must be worn only with bonnet of
the same COLOR Very narrow striped,
checked, and chene silks, in light neutral
tints will be the rule for warm weather.
Dresses for the street must still be nearly
plain, and no fullness must be visible at the
bottom of the skirt. If hooped skirts are
worn at all they must be so small that no
trace Of their existence can be seen.
Trained dresses for the house are very full
at the back, slightly plated over the hips,
but perfectly plain in front.