The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-12-08
The Weekly Leader.
IssUED EyEAT
Tens Sz.sss Yea, $I.so Hail Year


The velvet season seems TO have
changed into a ''fUr'' season, and the
fur dealers would have reason TO re-
joiee If the solid furs were in the ascen-
dant. But, alas, sealskin listers at
$3.50 and $500 each are luxuries re-
served for the few, and the fur Is
mostly worn in shreds and patches, even
muffs being made by dressmakers and
having only a band Of fur trimming OF
a lining of fur u an outside matching
the custume.
The short dress Of the street is q
blessing so generally appreciated and SO
absolute a necessity for the new class OF
business and professional woman that
1t will not be likely to loose its hold or
lapse into obscurity. as 1t has been in
the habit of doing. There are enough
now of self-supporting women in active
pursuits to sustain whatever they find
most suitable and convenient, at least
SO far as the length Of skirt is con-
cerned, and the comfortable walking
dress will, therefore, be retained during
the present generation.
The special feature of this seasons
styles are warmth and comfort. II
people who can dress at all are not
warm, it must be their own fault.
Short WOODEN dresses for the street, long
feather-cloth or sealskin u~lsters, and
beaver bonnets knocked ia and tied
down with garnet ribbon under the
chin. The garnet, however, is for gray
or ecru beaver; IL the beaver is black
the ribbons should be black also. Ma
terials are warm. Colors are warm and
dark. Fur is present everywhere, and
Is used upon everything dresses,
jackets, bonnets, gloves and shoes.
New cloths are furry on the under side,
and the hats and bonnets that are not
beaver are either feathers or fur or
trimmed with fur.
1t is noteworthy that many new ideas
considered decided Innovations at first,
and for which a short life-whether or
not q merry one-was prophesied, have
steadily held their own and become q
part Of the existing order, susceptible,
OF course, of change and modification
in their details, but intact as elemental
conditions. Tho walking hat, for ex-
ample, was born, or rather born again,
about twenty-five years ago, a round,
straight brimmed, decidedly rustic
looking country cousin in the way of
head gear, and the laughing stock of its
more fashionable relative, the coal
scuttle bonnet. 1t was a reaction in all
probability from the ''throe stories and
mansard roof" and though it was ridi-
culed, 1t found adherents which 1t has
never lost. The low crown and straight
brim appeared and disappeared; but the
hat remained, sand remains still; has
figured variously as the Hungarian, the
Polish, the Russian and the Tyrolean,
and moro recently as the Gainsborough,
the Rembrandt, the Rubens, the Van
Dyke, and the Duchess of Devonshire;
until now there are hats and caps of
every imaginable form, but all a mere
outgrowth and enlargement Of the origi-
nal idea. The basque is another case
in point. What a hideous thing the
early basque was. Broad, ill-fitting be-
cause cut low up on the shoulder and
broad upon the back, it was a most
awkward and ~ungainly substitute for
neat, tidy belt-waist. But there was a
useful and convenient idea in it, also
an Opportunity for molding the form to
more shapeliness than was possible
with the belted-in waist, and this oon
began to be perceived. The basque
gained ground, and for years the test OF
a dressmaker was her ability to fit a
basque. But the numerous failures
made some ladies resort TO the tailors,
who improved the outlines by making
them more like those of q coat-whence
came the term s'tailor-made basques"-
and the basque became a fixture. What
more perfect form can be imagined, for
a high bodice, than the well-itting cui-
rass basque?