Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-03-25
h FASHIONS.
Paragraphs on Dress, Dinners, Society
and Manners Generally.
Boston ~Transeript.l

All the shades of wood and brown
are used for the light wraps made in
Paris for the spring season.
The empress of Austria wears choc-
olate-colOred knitted mittens over tan
colored gloves when riding.
Plain gray hnsey in the street, and
purple cashmere in the house, are the
correct Lenten uniform in New York.
English women are wearing silver
gray for their spring costumes. 1t is
becoming to brunettes, but the neutral
tints in blonde hair do not accord well
with it.
The ladies belonging to the Chicago
charitable society are busily preparing
their carnival of authors. Miss Alcott
has been invited to take charge of
Mrs. Jarley's Wax-works.
Bayonnaise, a new material resem-
bling tamise cloth, will be in favor for
spring dresses. Light shades of it are
preferred, and they are trimmed with
satin brocade or figured foulard.
THE merit, origin and the obliga-
ton Of keeping the Lenten Fast are
not discussed by well-bred people in
general society" says the Home Jour
nal. Well, were they ever thus dis
cusSed by well-bred persons?
At present the home dress of the
Partisan lady-the gown which she
wears in the house every day except
that upon which she receives-is of
satin or brocade, lined throughout
with plush and trimmed with that
material.
One of the cards belonging to a
state of civilization to which Boston
has not yet attained is the Mardi- Gras
card used in New Orleans. This
opens out in half a dozen different
ways and shows a variety of odd
pictures.
William Morris objects to horizon
tai bars on curtains, and thinks that
green carpets or rugs with fiat bios
SONS of creamy white are considered
by Mr.. Morris as especially adapted to
light woods in flooring and w~ainscot-
ing.
Batlstes OF black with stripes in
Roman %colors, and of deep blue or
green striped with Pompadour colors,
are the freshest novelty. The light,
clean-looking combinations of white
and lilac and white and blue remain in
favor.
Correspondence cards now have airy
like Japanese fans in blue and silver
and coral and gold embossed in the
corner; others have. odd little orna-
ments in the same colors or metals,
making a bright spot in the right
hand upper corner.
The buttons on spring wraps are
ususally either of plain satin, match
ing the trimming or of horn or mother
of-pearl. Some of horn, inlaid with
light fecks of pearl, are very hand
some, and set off light mantles very
we'll. A few blue sacques have split
yellow Roman pearls for buttons.
As the fat stolid women, whose
nerye-tips are all coated with adipose
matter, are much more common in
the mother country than in America,
it is refreshing to hear an English pa
per say In every relation of life
the apathetic woman is a most obiec-
tiOnable person, infinitely more trying
than her excessively nervous sister
The children of New York mortify
the Hesh by going to calico dress
parties where the refreshments are ex-
ceedlngly meager, and after the fes-
tivities are Oyer they give their gowns
to the poor. This is modification of
the flesh, really and truly. Aren't
the mothers of these jealous little
afraid that they will iniure them
selves by such rigorous devotion e?
Miss Elizabeth Gardner, the Maine
artist, lives in the Rue Notre Dame
des Champs, Paris, a street of studios
and converts, and, according to a cor
respondent, the only living creatures
in it who have neither the cares of
religion nor the cares Of art on their
minds r Miss Gardner's birds. She
has enough Of them to furnish the
vocal harmony for a South American
grove.
The phrase, "a dress of red plush"
means a dress of which, at least, a
third is of gray satin for, although
the basque, the puffs and the train are
OF the former material, the skirt is
entirely of the latter. The same
method is pursued in making up
pushes of other colors, so that when
one reads of the plush gowns worn by
French women the story should always
be taken with a largo grain of salt.
The revival of the old waist is
threatened by the English dress
makers, but the only women to whom
It was ever becoming were those whose
figures had the graceful outline of a
broomstiok or a gymnasium wand, and
it is to be hoped that American wom-
en- will not take itup again. A French
waist is epduTable, but the Princess
saoque which accompanies many of
the summer suits is the prettiest of
all styles.
A French dress maker has intro.
dqcod a Clarissa Harlowe costume
with a knit plated skirt, a tunic
turned up washer woman fashion, a
waist with a waistcoat, an array that
would have made the original Clarissa
stare in establishment. By the way,
the costume Of the industrious heroine
would not seem very odd if worn now.
and the cuffs embroidered by herself
would be in tho hight Of fashion.
Tho cotton %satteens, challies and
other light materials that are making
up into gowns for lawn and garden
parties look best when fashioned into
costumes like those worn in the days
when similar materials were the daily
wear OF the beauties from whose por-
traits many Of the patterns arc taken.
These may not really be any prcttier,
but they remind one of the pictures.
and oua unaouooiouolv anJo-. IL