The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-04-02
[Harper's Bazar.l
New York Fashions.

Twilled silks are the favorite choice for
dresses this Spring, and have in a great meas
ure superseded the repped gros grains and
those smoothly woven like taffeta. Surah is
the name given to several of the twlled soft
silks now chosen for waist drapery, founces
and other trimmings of dresses, while the
repped silks so long used for such purposes
are employed for substantial foundation skirts
and for waist Innings. Serge silk with regular
diagonal twill like serge is the hghtest quality
used for the principal parts of the dress or for
trimmings This comes in black and all styl-
ish colors for $1.50 yard, upward. The more
closely woven fabric called Satin Surah, and
sometimes satin merveilleux, is used by Par
isian modistes for the handsomest spring dresses
and mantles; this has the bright gloss of satin,
and instead of the even diagonal twills of serge
it has smooth surface made up of the short
irregular twills of cashmere; it greatly resem-
bles satin de Lyon, but is much softer, and for
this reason it will probably be more durable; it
costs from So to $4 yard, in plain colors and
in stripes. Sicilienne in light colors and black
is more used by Partisan modistes for dresses
than at any time since its introduction. 1t is
suitable for Spring, but there are also lighter
qualities of this soft repped fabric in less
marked reps, called Bengaline and Victoria,
both Of which are all silk and will be used
throughout the Summer.
Simpler costumes for spring and summer are
dresses of very light weight made of the print
ed satin foulards that have dark grounds of
some quaint shade, such as bronze green
or brick red, terra Gotta or porcelain
blue, nearly covered with Japanese figures,
such as plaques, fans, folding screens, moons,
or else copies of hand-painting in small flow
ers. When light-colored dresses of silk are
selected the material is the serge Surah in
pale blue or cream-color, with great deal of
white lace and batiste embroidery for trim
ming. For white dresses the inexpensive Chi
ma silk is one of the few fashionable fabrics
that are not twilfed, but is commended for its
softness; it costs from S1.5O to SO yard,
and is suitable for bridesmaids and indeed for
the BRIDES dress at summer weddings; it is al
so shown in the faintest shades of green, pearl
faded rose, and in blue-green hues that
are green-blue as we'll. The pongees
are again largely imported, and are
made to differ in China, Japan and India as
well as in the fabric manufactured in France
and called pongee. The bamboo-lke fibre of
JdpaueSe anu lHula pODSeeS Is very SerVlcea-
BILE and the dress pattern is sold for IS to $40.
The French manufacturers embroider pongee
elaborately in gay colors or in brown tones, and
sell bands of this for trimming, or else the en-
tire material for the over-dress, consisting of
four and half yards, is embroidered and sold
for $50.
The shirred waists that were introduced a
year ago are generally adopted for new dresses
made of any soft fabrics that shirr we'll, such
as Surah, fine woods, fonlards and soft muslins.
This shirring is not now confined to clusters at
the neck and waist line, but covers the entire
shoulders in parallel rows, Stimulating round
yoke. 1t is also conspicuous in the full sleeves
called generally bishops sleeves In some of
these it appears in several rows around the
armholes, the elbows, and again at the wrists;
in others the gathering at the elbow is omitted
so that soft puff is formed, while other sleeves
are shirred all over-those for short arms in
lengthwise rows, and in horizontal rows for
long arms. Shirring is also seen on standing
collars and also on the wide round Stuart col
lar. The shirred scarf for trimming the front
of the corsage remains popular, and is now
much broader than it has been worn, and is
longer than the basque, both ends falling below
the basque, and being finished with fringe.
This scarf is now shirred in clusters with the
space between folded in pleats; five clusters of
Shirring are used, the middle cluster is in the
back of the neck, two clusters are Just below
the throat in front, and two more at the waist
line There are various ways of shirring dress
skirts, the simplest of which is to shirr the en-
tire lower skirt in rows around the figure. An
other new feature is the use of two soft bias
puffs around the lower skirts instead of pleat-
ingS. Sometimes these are yery narrow and