Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-06-07
Summer Silks.

The summer silk dresses shown at the
fashionable mOdistes are not the checked
and striped taffetas worn last year, but are
soft twilled foulards, or else lusterless
silks in figured designs, armure patterns,
damask and tish-scale brocades; if checks
and stripes are used at all, they are vague
and irregular, with dashes of color, or
else quaint contrasts, such as cream with
pink, or rose with cardinal, blue with
olive, or plum color with pink. They are
made up in pOlonaises, with plain silk
plastrOns or vests and skirts, or else with
habit basques, Breton vests, and over
skirts that form part of the lower skirt.
The plastron, the square neck and the
vest are popular features, one of which
appears on all such suits. The basque
with belt in front is also a favorite for
summer silks, and a pretty novelty has
the belt passing over vest of contrasting
color. Very tasteful dresses are of gray
silk in half-inch stripes, and these
stripes, instead of being solid, are made
up of pin-head checks. The demi-fan
train and the deep, round over-skirt are
trimmed with wide knife pleating of the
same. The waist is habit basque with
belt in front, and a square neck filled in
with pleated plastron of white crepe
lisse; long Hoped bows of black velvet
ribbon are on the wrists and corsage. For
a gayer dress is another striped silk of rose
with cardinal, in princesse shape, without
scarfs or flounces, but edged with full
jabot of the pleated silk around the bot
tom. A checked silk Of olive with pale
blue has a polonaise with peplum pockets,
and trimming of olive embroidery; the
skirt is plain olive. with knife pleatings
showing blue facings. A Breton polo
naise of brown and cream damask silk
has plain brown Breton vest, trimmed
with gilt braid. Readers who buy the
low priced striped and checked silks
should hunt out those that contain the
olive and cream shades, and the gray blue
called robin's-egg, in preference to the
more hackneyed black with white, and the
gr5saiILe effects.
The black silk dresses that many Ia
dies wear throughout the summer, also
black grenadines, are now made with col
ored plastrons or regular vests, or else with
jabots showing fringed edges of colored
silk, such as tilleul, cream color, Holbein
green, old gold, or the darker mandarin
yellow. Sometimes striped silks are used
for these vests, either in contrasts or else
merely satin stripes Of the same shade;
the back of such baSQues are invariably in
square habit shape or the long coat tails.
Worth uses black damask grenadine for.
knife pleatings on black silk dresses for
summer wear. The square neck filled in
with lace or lisse is also seen on many
black grenadines. Worth also continues
to use jet passementerie as heading for
grenadine pleatings. White lisse pleat-
ings are around the wrists and neck.
Camel s-hair grenadine with rough threads
is considered very stylish both in black
\ ~ L Il
grenadine, i'll open squares fiecked with
white threads, are among French importa-
tons for young ladies. There are also
dresses of cream and odd gold" colored
barege made up with pale blue silk or else
with silk of the same color, Last year
colored grenadines for day costumes were
confined to dark hues; for the coming sea-
son there will be many light-tinte gren-
adineS worn -HnYDer's Bdsnr