Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-12-31


are bargains which by q circumlocutory pro-
cess the happy owner contrived to obtain from
her husband as Christmas gift. Papa"
knows that Mama" wants new dress He has
ignored the fact hitherto but grown daughter
takes him by the arm some fine morning
smuggles him into the costume department of
great dry goods store. and triumphaEtly eX-
hlots dress with long train, marked at $S5
when the obliging salesman saws was last week
$50 To the ObtuSe male mind it is all right
he effect is dazzling. There is glitter enough
ana stdf enough to please any woman. He
does not know that the dress has been selected
by his wife, and that his daughter is acting I'M
Ger orders: But he likes to please his pretty
daughter, he considers it real good and thought
tii OF her to look out for her mother. Besides
he considers thar as he had not expected to get
on for much less than hundred dollars for the
new dress alone, he shall find clear gain in
putting dress and Christmas present into one
purchase. and that only SS5. So the dress is
bought and spoken of as a $50 dress and init
mate lady friends say: 1.-The extravaganza of
t:idt woman is shocking. ! should think she
would send her husband to the poor house."
But she does not. On the contrary he gets
rich. The fact is, both husband and wife know
h7W.to calculate and sentiment does not inter-
I're with business on either side.
ARTISTIC DRESS
There is an utter absence of the artistic ele-
ment in the dress Of fashionable New York So
c'ety. 1t is strictly conventional. very French,
often pretty and graceful. though not always
and sometimes very costly. but never original.
Nothing is Worn that Madame the modesto
Goes not approve Of-and. in fact it cannot be
otherwise. The life of the rich or those who
1--we III fine houses and have numerous rctinue
OF servants. is ordered for them that they cam
not depart from the routine and as their food
Is what the cook and house steward see fit to
provide. so their clothing is according to the
Ideas OF Mr. Tailor and Madame Dressmaker-
nf fhnYr fnp Il
polite society. and it is easier to get on without
any 1t is not in what are called '.hgh' circles
therefore that one is to look for the picturesque
or the strikingly original. These if at ALL are
met with in professional circles. at art recep-
tiOns. i'll picture galleries. and informal lat
homes" At recent opening of an art ex-
hlbltlon, there were number of striking
toilets which were simple and not at
all costly. but impaired immense dis
tinctiOn to the wearers. A Vandvke collar
ana hat with plume, surmOunted a cos
tune OF dark green cloth and velvet WITH
girdle of thick cord, which caught the drapery
on one side. There was a MOyenage dress of
garnet velvet. and one early English (this
last was worn by Miss Kate FieIdD the prffed
sleeves, the belted bodice the straight skirt.
and plated tulle neckerchef (making only
rim inside the neck of the 6ress). being all re-
produced with eXactness. OF Course on such
an occasion historical or other ideas are not
carried out through the entire costume for that
would look like masquerading: but there are
artistic bits and freedom from the Journalism
OF usual assemblages, which make them very
much more attractive. 1t will be rough white
beaver bonnet projecting over and almost con-
cealing a sweet wild rose sort of face and some
how 1T will remind you instantly of matched
roof cottage with flower garden and rose vine
winch you have seen in some obscure lane of
an English village. A TALL fair girl will make a
picture in large hat of pulled red velvet with
red feathers and collar of dark red velvet
trimmed with old lace and tied with red cord
and tassels.
There is look of Kate Greenaway about the
very young girls, particularly the round faced
ones. with tOw-cOlOred hair and hats with
straight wide brims. which are not Objectionable
In gallery because they do not stay long in one
place. Stately and sedate young women do not
indulge any infantile prOclivities but get them
selves up in Huguenot or Marguerite stvle,
with sleeves set high and stuffed at the top and
long. slender bodice molding the waist and
losing itself naturally in the close clinging skirt
THE ETERNAL COMMONPLACE
One cannot help wishing that the artistic ele-
ment would take the church and society fairs in
hand and infuse something into them that
would lift them out of their dead level OF COM
monplace. The church fair and church
bazaar are as inevitable as measles, have been
held annually for longer period than any one
can remember, Yet their features are ALWAYS the
same. The same stale lodges the same stale
tricks are always reSOrted to. the principal
effort being expended in begging from trades
people and reseling the goods which have been
gwen to them or parted with at half price In
England the direction of fairs has become fine
art. and one vies with another in offering origi-
nal attractions The attendants, particularly
the young girls, adopt some quaint peculiar and
picturesque costume which corresponds to the
general idea or TO that Of the stall over which
they preside or to which they are attached
under the wing Of chaperOne. TIL interior of
one bazaar will be early English; of another.
the street OF a village in Switzerland or the
Black Forest; one stall will represent a French
shop. another a Swiss chalet. a third an English
cottage, a fourth a Norman farmhouse and a
NTH q German kjffee-garten.S The costumes of
the young women who are the attendants i'm all
OF these Will correspond with the idea which
the structure conveys. and. though the details
are largely left to the imagination and a great
deal OF freedom is permitted yet the whole en-
Icrprise. including the costumes, will he full of
novel suggestions.
ENGLISH INDIVIDUALITY.
1t Is the custom to disparage the dress of
English women. but in reality they are the only
women of any country who, as a body. show
any daring, or who put ideas into their dress
For special occasions they invent special cos
Tunes weddings for example The bride NAV
wear the conventional white satin and orange
blossoms. but the bridesmaids will wear short
they will appear in artistic hats or with the
straight skirt and belted bodice. the scarf the
baT and the poke bonnet. which is understood
to specially represent the early English period.
ESthetic ideas are universal in England and are
seen everywhere The effort is not to get what
other people have got, but something they have
not got. Here. men control the fashions of
women much more than they do in England or
perhaps 1t would be more correct to say the
dress of women, probably because women here
are more dependent on men. and it is men who
are above all things studiOusly conventional in
regard to dress. Did anyone ever know a man
10 wear white hat in summer until he had seen
dozen or more upon the street, and u society
man confessed the other day that the having on
a black necktie upon an occasion when other
gentlemen wore white had once made him so
unhappy that after very Sh0ft time he left and
went home. \ man always wants the lady he is
with to look exactly like other ladies. and
though he is proud to have her display the
latest fashionable kink. whatever that is. it is
because it is fashionable, because it is like
others. not because it is unlike them. 1t is
women themselves who must educate men out
of this worship of the ordinary and they can
Only do 1t by being themselves independent and
able TO please themselves.
AFTERNOON TOILETS
The dress at afternoon receptions is very plain
and practical. though not nfreq uently rich in
fabric. 1t is usually short and consists of COM