The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-10-08
cHIr-CHaT ON FASHION.

Few women dress with taste and an
artistic arrangement of color, and why
mott Simply for want of that tact with
out which man or woman, as Fanny
Fern says, is little better than a blum
dering numbskulI.
women seldom think how unpleas-
antiy an incongruity in dress strikes
the eye OF lover or husband; accustomed
to sober colors themselves, their eye has
been educated to a taste for fitness and
propriety as well as the beautiful, and
they are struck by the absence of it like
discord in music.
Astout or tall woman dressed in white
becomes very grenadier in petticoats;
a short or ordinary sized one, dressed in
the short black dresses, at present,
grGnde parure for the promenade, dwin-
dies into Lilliput, Venus in minia-
ture.
Can anything be more elegant than
Miss -, f. street. What charm
ing combination of colors-how rich in
detail-how simple and yet artistic.
How jauntee the little chap au sits on
those clustering curls. The plume of
brilliant scarlet shading the snowy
brow and giving the one touch of color
so indispensable to painter.
We admire short dresses for the prom
enade, both for their neatness and
utility, but there is graceful medium.
Fashion, however arbitrary in her
demands, prompts US to adopt only
those modes that are becoming. For
tall or short ladies inclined to embon-
point, more complete sweep of drapery
is more becoming.
Some of the materials for dresses are
very beautiful. Making an examina-
ton of j. s. Rhodes g. Co.'S. stock yes
terday we were struck with the great
variety to choose from. The materials
for this season are alpacas, serges,
plaids, waterproof tweeds and plush.
In plaids the tavorite is the Forty-sec-
ond, or blue, though the Stuart tartan,
with its many bright colors, and the
Roy Roy, with it's quare, uncompromis-
ing blocks of scarlet and black, are
worn by many. They are suitable and
becoming to children, and all the favor
ite plaids are reproduced in small pat
terms for their benefit. The Victoria
plaid cloth is especially suited for little
ones. The serges imported this year
are superior to anything we have had in
that line. The celors are beautiful dark
blues, rich browns, bottle greens, and
deep, warm, reddish shades, so different
from the dull, heavy colors of last sea-
SON.
A still finer quality has a beautiful
gloss and scarcely noticeable rep; it
Is as heavy as habit cloth. Merinos and
,ashmeres that have been buried out of
sight for long time have been resur-
rected this season, and we welcome
hem once more to the light of day.
They make useful dresses, and as pretty
Is they are useful. Poplins and velours
are also much worn.
In waterproof goods we have seen
some first-class articles at Rhodes a.
Co.'s, new and sure to be popular.
Some are striped brown and black,
others cross barred. The English water
proof comes in very pretty mixtures,
black and gold, black and maroon, and
s servicable. These repellant cloths
ire considered indispensable, no ward
robe is complete without suit, or at
east cloak of the material. There is
/ variety of fancy cloth in the market,
enough for an empress.
They are intended for etening wear, as
ournous and opera.cloaks, and have al
5ernate stripes of scarlet plush and
black and gold, with quaint Oriental
pattern delicately traced. Others
equally elegant, but gayer and livelier,
have narrow stripes of white velvet,
with blue, or gold, or cherry
color. Astraohan, it is said, will be
worn for ladies' cleaks this wiAter, as
will also Thibet cloth and velvet. But
t is almost too soon to speak confidently
On this subject.
The two most noticeable features in
the present fashions are profusion of
and a tendency to masculine
styles. Having exhausted the navy and
appropriated everything worth having
in that profession, we are compelled to
fall back on the days of the Grande
Monarque for novelties; so we have
Louis the Fourteenth waistcoats, and
Louis Quatorze basques. We have great
coats and chevalier redingotes and pos
tillion basques and Gouble-breasted gar
ments and trimmed overcoat collars,
and although we have not caught up
to Mrs. DR.. Walker, yet | think our
progress ought to satisfy Mrs. Stanton
or Miss Anthony. These masculine
overcoats have coat sleeves, with
up cuffs, and two rows oflarge
buttons down the front, looped with
cord. They are short in front, while in
the back some are made with short
square basque, and others are deep and
bouffant.
The furore maintains in shawls as well
as in suits. The Alexandria plaid is
one of the most beautiful we have seen.
1t will be becoming to most complex
ions, and has a warm rich look that
must commend it.
The fur trade has not opened yet.
Rhodes e. Co. are making preparations
to keep large stock of fur goods this
winter.
The favsrite trimming is velvet, either
cut bias or in narrow or wide bands or
riben velvet. Satin is also used and
gros grain edged with satin is popular;
fringe and braid, crocheted gimp and
ruches, ruffies and founces, fat bands
and puffs, are all worn. Lace, of course,
is always elegant, and is frequently
with other trimmings. In
deed, the rage for lace is going to be the
absorbing passion of the season, and
pretty expensive one it is.
A general impression prevailed week
ago that the Coming Bonnet would not
only be much larger, but that it would
show a return to the original shape; but
all speculations, as we said, have been
set at rest by the authoritative pronun-
ciamento of the modistes. One look at
the new fashions shows that the Coming
Bonnet is no more of bonnet than its
predecessor, and though there may be
more of it, it does not cover more of the
head. When we say that it rises higher,
81 A.,