Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-06-10
FOR THE FAIR SEX.
Parisian Marriages.

published in Paris, says: Our lady
readers will perhaps be interested to
know how grand MARRIAGES. arranged
at Paris. The preliminaries are gener-
ally arranged between the two families
with the help of the notaries; less often
the marriage is more romantic and
springs purely from love, in which case
the traditional steps of courtship and
marriage are much modified. Suppos-
ing, however, that marriage has been
recognized as advisable between the two
families the first thing to do is to ar
range an interview between the young
| folks. For this purpose some neutral
ground is generally chosen-a reception
at friends house, a concert, ball and
| the theaters. The opera is preferred by
the world of fashion; the opera comique
is popular with the bourgeoise and the
provincials. The young man sits in the
orchestra and the young girl dressed in
| her best, is placed in front of a box
Between the acts the young man pays q
visit to the box and is presented. The
next day he pays visit to the father
and makes formal demand of the
young iady's hand. Ifit is accepted, he
begins to pay court to the young girl.
Every day, a. this stage of proceedings,
| the young man is admitted to the house
of his future wife as if he were one of
the family.
He is called by his christian name.
The day after the accordailles," or his
acceptation by the family, he presents
his future wife with ring, always the
same one pearl or two pearls mounted
with two diamonds. You may see
these rings by the score in the jewelers.
| ch dou ho 10 n
quet of flowers. Nowadays these
bouquets are splendid and cost small
fortune, for it is the custom to envelop
them with lace, which is sometimes re-
placed by watered ribbon, on which the
name OF the young girl is embroidered.
In arigtocratic families the first person
to whom the marriage is announced is
the pope, who sends his benediction by
telegraph, on the day of the ceremony
at the church. The mother, accom-
panied by her daughter, visits her
friends in order to inform them of the
happy news. In Madam de Sevigne's
days young girls wedding trousseau
contained only three dresses. In the
year of grace, 1880, a wedding trousseau
in high life is very grand affair, and
comprises twelve dresses, all made up
with stockings, shoes, sun shades and
hats to match. The trousseau, together
with the linen, is worth from 10000 to
so, GOO francs In the trousseau of the
Princess Isabella de Groy, the wife of
the Archduke Frederick of Austria, all
the linen is counted by the gross. There
are twelve doz ems of everything.
The Head Dress That Fashion Prescribes.
Hats for the seaside and country gen.
orally, says q New York paper, have
wide dropping brims which may be
arranged to suit the taste of the wearer,
either dropping all around, turned up
at one side or the other, or at the back
only. Ribbon, flowers, silk, gauze and
foliage are tie principal garnitures, for
feathers do not retain their graceful
form and fiexibility long if exposed to
the sea ar. A beautiful Dunstable
white straw hat for a young lady has
wide rolled brim in front, but dropping
at the back; the crown is encircled with
a silk gauze scarf, dotted with gold, and
three handsome white ostrich feathers
are arranged in a graceful group be-
tween the crown and the brim in front.
Tie inside of the brim is faced with a
white silk filet, and the hat is to be
worn off the brow. A riding hat for
young lady just in her teens is an i'm
ported black Derby, with dark green
cocque plume at the left side. The rid
ing habit is of black cloth, with black
buttons closing the basque to the throat,
white linen collar just peeping above
the straight cloth band and dark green
gauntlets matching the plume. Ladies'
riGing hats are of the glossy dark silk
seen in gentiemen's S, and only vary from
these latter in being shade lower in
the crown and having quilted silk
lining with a pad over the brow. Rid
ing habits are made with a very short
basque, the fronts coming only three
inches below the waist, the coat back
clearing the saddle; skirts fall about
three or four inches below the stirrup
foot and are very narrow, owing to the
fact that trousers, matching the mate
rial of the habit and strapped under the
boot, are now considered an essential Of
all ladies' equestrian outfits.
Summer Dresses.
Leaders of fashion, with their craving
for variety, are already protesting
against the use of figured fabrics to such
an extent that Paris dressmakers send
to the modistes here dresses of plain
surface .and solid color. This is espe-
cially noted in the use of sewing-silk
grenadines in preference to brocaded
ones. and of plain Surah silk instead of
figured silk, also in the attempt to re-
vive taffeta, which is always plain and
lustrous. The most elegant black
dresses this season are of the plain sew
ing-silk grenadines, trimmed elaborately
with black lace in which gilt threads
are thickly interviewer, or else with
open trimmings entirely Of jet, or per-
haps with fine embroidery done on
grenadine for founces- and panels.
Spanish laces over colors, especially red
or yellow, are also used for trimming
black grenadines. The square-meshed
canvas grenadines is liked for parts of
dresses that are completed by Surah, or,
if figures are not objected to, by very
rich brocaded grenadines that have
smooth ground of satin luster, with
large, open worked figures. The plain
canvas grenadine in such com binations
is used for three or four narrow plated
frills at the foot, and these are sewed
directly on the black silk skirt used TOR
the foundation. There are then pyra-
mids of such plaitings up each side, or
only up the front. Folded plaitings of
the pain grenadine are then laid like
diagonal scarf across the front and sides;
above this is the apron of brocade, and
the hooped drapery of the back is also
Il g 1os