The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-07-29

Worth seemed 10 have attained perfection in
the art of dress, and his masterpieces were
| initiated in all quarters. 1t was no uncom
mon thing to see a shop girl moving alorg
in drapery that suggested some old picture
of Mary Stuart or Margaret OF Navarro.
There was withal an infinite variety OF
striking costumes, which is never possible
when particular style is pushed to an ex-
treme. All the time, however, the skirts
grew scantier in circumference, following
the inevitable law of fashion, which drives
node into sbsurdity and then retreats to
style directly opposite. The limit in mar
rowness of skirt has at last been attained.
The Bazaar remarks: "Dressesiso scanty
! that one can neither walk nor sit down in
them, and so long that it is impossible to
raise them in walking-such is the most
striking feature of the present fashion
Corsages longer and longer, and which
would divide the wesrer into two
EQUAL parts were 1t not for the length OF The
skirts-such is the detail that differs most
from the fashion of last season. The cors-
age, indeed, no longer stops at the waist,
but descends to the hips, which it irnpris-
'Ons. Never has lady so closely resemoied
! an umbrella tightly incssed in its sheath as
al the present time" Walking in such a
costume is a good deal like racing in sack,
and instead of a graceful. gliding motion,
ladies will soon have to go jumping along the
/ street like kangaroos. Indeed even now they
march like Falstaff7s recruits, "as if they
wore gives" The humorist of the Rochester
r. hot thQu
have trowsers with two legs instead OF one;
but the better way would be to give up the
PULL back style of dress and adopt costume
which suggests rather than reveals their
charms. To see damsel creeping along
at a snail's pace with her drap-
cry clinging back as If she
were rushing ahead against an
adverse wind with the speed of Aurora is an
incougruous sight. 1t is this suggestion of
speed in the pull-back skirt which makes it
so popular with fast girls.
The Bazaar remarks that "the cuirass waist
still continues its success" which is a very
gratifying piece OF information as
no more effective armor in
the contests of Cupid was ever
devised. There is something whimsically
attractive in these gorgeously colored
pieces of apparel, which suggest in their
shape the steel body armor OF the fierce
trooper that sacked Magdeburg, or of the grim
Puritan pikeman who charged across the
ravine at Dunbar, and through. the breach of
Drogheda, and along the sandy reach at
Dunkirk. All, well, the old cuirass OF heavy
iron was meant as a defense against sword
stroke and lance thrust, while the modern
cuirass of crimson velvet is any thing but a
piece OF defensive armor, and inflicts wounds
rather than wards them off, and
this very element of contrast
clothes the wearer with new interest.
She stands forth the representative of peace
and beauty, and the old emblem of war and
brutality becomes to her an adornment. tits
probably due to the tact OF this tendency
to warlike forms that the fashion writer an
nounces that I'VE shall return to belts with
buckles" And what can be more neat and
useless for woman than belt with a
buckle? Let the tongue of the buckle be
studied, however, as an example of discreet
ness and silence, and q valuable lesson may
be drawn from the new style. In curious
aud unintelligible description of a break
fast costume, a very interesting piece of in
formation is given among such barbarous
terms as "watteau wrapper" "white ba-
tiste, ""pink foulard, - 'immense plastron,"
etc. This CLEAN of good sense through a
cloud of absurdity says: "An Italian veil,
OF white lace, worn square, is thrown over
the head" This is we'll. The Sentinel is
strongly biased in favor OF things worn on
the square. For this reason ga square tablier
Of Louisine" ought to be a prime article.
Not knowing what it may be, however, it is,
perhaps, as Mise not to recommend it.
In glancing over the accounts of rare and
costly garments given in the Bazaar, one
thing is deeply impressed upon the mascu-
line mind, and it is, without doubt, the only
valuable conclusion that can be put forward
in this article. There are many strange and
outlandish stuffs and styles mentioned in
the technical explanation of dress architec
ture such as Chenille, ""shirring, ""fichus,"
"ruches,' "ecru linen," and like words, as
bsrbarous TO the ordinary editor as noun
and verb were to Jack Cade. But one par
ticular substance denominated "faille" pre-
dominates in all mysterious and mischevious
combinations. There is "noisette faille,"
pink faille," "blsck iaille," and faiIle OF
every other variety. From its frequent recur-
renee under suspicious circumstances, the
Sentinel is inclined to remark nearly in the
language of Mr.. Bulwer's Cardinal Richie
lieu: ain the bright lexicon of woman
there should be no such word as faille."
Tory TheOrisf.
A EnUliah Daunnh1ot aQlled