Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-03-01
SPRING FASHIONS.
THE DISPLAY OF NEW FABRICS
IN THE SHOPS.
Spring Designs IR the Work Rooms
The Rage for EmbrOiderV-The
New BOnnets - Re sthesic Ideas
street Goats and Baeques.

robes, and nuns yelling in all the delicate tints
for summer wear. Only about six weeks, and
these broken by warm days. have demanded
the expensive garments lined with gorgeous
plush and trimmed with the plumage of birds
or the skin of the otter, which nerves and
purses were strained to obtain, and already
they are insupportable and must be replaced
by lighter garments, by still more curious and
eccentric garments and combinations
For fashion is nothing now if not eccentric,
striking, peculiar, individualized, and ''effec
tive" Color is the watchword, and color which
has heretofore rather shyly hidden itself and
only made its appearance in public in small
quantities and on unusual occasions is now to
come boldly so the front and be used in masses,
so that the neutral and funereal aspects Of our
streets and day assemblages may be go-ten rid
of; and the darker shades of olive and brown,
invisible green and sombre black be used as
or blended color.
Figure designs are wrought out on artistic
NOTES.-The lower part or base in solid
color, the upper part in patterns which
seem to have reached the height of absurdity
when cows quietly Rrsz@ on the alternate
checks OF lady's overdrsss. Yet this does
not really look so absurd as it sounds-for the
cows are quiet unobtrusive rumiDating
COWS, well shaded, prettilV drawn. and almost
invisible in the tiny corner of leafy lane in
which they are chewing the cud of their sweet
let us hope-fancies. l confess TO senti-
Almost everything that one sees or can con-
ceiVe is available for design, If only the deli
cate yelling OF fine ard poetic imaeiuation be
thrown about it; and. that is precisely what it
is the object OF the artist designer to accom-
pllsh. To the crude mind an idea presents it
self IN its most simple forms-a gridiron is
gr1dtron. nothing more. For the artist even a
gridlron is endowed with a soul, and it is the
soul OF the gridiron which he tries to express.
SPRING FABRICS.
A new departure always begins with fabric
because the manufa cturers are on the lookout
for novelty. and they have trained men. some
Of them real artists, to design their patterns,
to watch the markets, to keep on the lookout
for ideas and seize them before they are appro-
priated Among the makers of fabrics into
garments, on the contrary, there is little origi
nality. as class they are imitators-afraid
to take step in advance and always watching
and waiting for the word of authority before
venturlng on the slightest variation from the
established order Doubtless one of the reasons
is that dressmakers, as a rule, are poor and
timid, afraid of giving offense, unwilling to
take risk, and generally worn out with rou-
tine. with no time or strength for experiment.
ing on new ideas But this keeps them poor.
Only those become successes who dare to be
ORIGINAL; who lead the van instead of dragging
at the rear.
The secret of Mr. Worth is his daring,
his originality, and his genuine feel
ing for art. The French, as a rule,
are not strong in artistic color They are une-
qualled in form and in the confectionery bright
ness which they impart to their surroundings,
but it is only within the last very few years
that they have begun to understand the posi-
bilities Of light and shade in color, of
combination and contrast and it is to
Mr.. Worth that they owe much of
what is most original and valuable in
their discoveries. He goes to the fountain
head; he oes to nature FOR his spring tints and
combinations in green and brown. and he
blends his colors after morning spent in his
garden or avi9ry' where the infinite and bril-
liart variety, The wealth of softly toned color
in leaf and flower and plumagS contain never
falling sources Of fresh and charming suggos-
tions.
The flavor of the natural school is very
strong in the designs of the recent French
manufacturers but it is often overlaid with
what iS artificial and untrue Nothing can be-
more out of place than the so-called "lace''
effects on cotton satines. Lace is never used
as drapery upon cotton, SO that it has no
meaning, and the long strips of simulated net,
or WI at old ladies call footing" which forms
transparent stripe over the pattern, confuses
and obscures but adds nothing to the beauty
There are. however, some exquisite designs in
rich printed silks. The eglanTine with shaded
foliage. the wild honey suckle and hedge roses
with buds and leaves are reproduced upon
tinted grounds with the fidelity of hand
painting; and when it is consider
ed that these fine shadings this delicate
veining, the perfect outlines and
lovely blended flowers are not printed into the
ground work of the fabric but into the threads
before they are a oven and that the least error
in forming the bud, in shading the leaf, would
spoil the design the perfection to which the
mechanism has been brought renders il more
Of a marvel than hand painting upon the
fabric. These silks are beautiful forever no
matter what the fashion or what its changes
They are designed especially for the house of
Lord & Taylor, who also have had some great
novelties made for aesthetic customers in what
are known as the "supf1ower'' dresses. These
are of soft rich texture and dark as well as
light tones. The sunhowers are en-
broidered upon them in shades of yel-
low and brown, the perfect disk be-
ing OF course In shades of yellow
most beautifully wrought. the centres in shades
of brown The flowers do not cover the sur
face, nor are they put in at regular intervals
They are dropped here and there, and are
sometimes half concealed by the folds Of the
drapery; one in the point OF the tablier one
half hidden in the drapeTy, one (of smaller
size) at the left of the bodice, and one upon
the right shoulder; but none upon the sleeves
Only the colors brown and gold appear on the
sleeves. which should be composed of one or
more pufs and straight bands terminating in a
deep cuff. Doubtless the idea will not be con-
fined to sunf1o ers, but express itself in lilies
and roses. in tulips and daffodils-in all the
flowers indeed which are popularity ussd for
establishment but it is the sunfower which
appears first and has given its name to the de-
sign, and it is the sunh 1wer which will be re-
produced IN greatest variety upon the lighter
fabrics, the linens, the pongees, the
barege. and the nuns yelling. which follow
suit to the happy thought that finds it's first
opportunity In the more expensive and exclu-
Sive fabrics. 1t was last year that lace effects
upon the plain surface of rich self-coIored sat
ins and velvets were first exhibited, and though
their cost prevented them from being popular,
they were cert ainly suggestive The idea they
conveyed has been eagerly taken up by manu-
facturers, and applied in many different ways
To cotton, wool and si ken fabrics. The lace
effects upon cotton satine have been already
alluded to. But there are some lovely soft
silks with lace patterns woven in them in all
silk so closely that thu revers g side seems to
be composed Of the tints of the pat
the fabric and forms part of
it. The richness and beauty of these designs.
which reproduce Spanish point the old Breton
lace (now being revived), Honiton and others
of the famous old and modern laces, make e. e
fabric costly, and as it is elegant rather than
snowy. it will not become common. more
popular fabric will be found in the wool
spanish lace" This is a fine all wool stuff
woven in Spanish lace patterns, and intended
for the upper part of dresses, for polouaises
and many of the purposes for which Spanish
lace is used. 1t is in black or cream u hite and
quite as effective as the ordinary Spanish lace,
while it is of course cheaper and much more
durable.
Cottons have become so very handsome In
texture and design that they are competing
successfully with richer fabrics and particu-
larly with fou'ard and soft twille1 s ks Satnes
at less than half the price cannot be distin-
shed from the foulards which they copy in figure
and design. and are particularly well adapted to
the country, and for morning walking we ar
Some of the borders to the new thin percales
and cambrics are beautifully shaded in greens
and browns with delicate foliage, leaves and
grasses, which form,a sort of d6do to the pretty
design of the fabric. Others make little
field starred with buttercups and daisies the
flowers reappearirg on the border part Of the
material, but small and daintily shaped. Fig
ured satines are accompanied by plain material
of the ground color for the skirts, but the
small figured cambrics aud lawns are made up
into simple, pretty costumes and dresses all of
a kind. The border of,these is one forming the
narrow hounces round the bottom of the skirt
and upon its front, while the same bordering
Is put on fiat upon the overskirt or polonaise
THE RAGE FOR EMBROIDERY
A new impulse seems to be given to the taste
which has already been formed and greatly
stimulated during the past few years for EN-
broidery as trimming. Doubtless the power of
executing the work upon all fabrics by ma
chine, and with such rapidity as to reduce The
cost to one-fourth, and thus bring this coveted
method of garnishing within the reach of mod |
crate purses, has had much to do with its sud
den popularity. Every woman who can afford
a nice dress can now have an embroidered |
dress if she chooses, the only difference between
machine and hand embroidery being the regu- |
larity and conventionality of the patterns and |
Jne superior smoothness of the machine work. |
This. however, is good deal Artistic people |
abjure the smooth and the C nVentional. and |
the natural designs which grow out of the |
brain OF the artist needle worker, as she plies |
her needle as the artist does his brush or his |
pencil, are those which are most priced.
There are three special ways in which en- |
broidery is used in connection with dresses and |
costumes. One is as iouncing and bordering: |
another in detached designs upon piece stuff |
for garniture. and a third in large sprays or |
flowers for corner, shoulder, drapery and |
corsage decoration An olive or rather bronze |
wool has been embroidered for spring wear !
with dropping clusters of daffods and bor- |
der of crocusses. It is lovely. Another has no |
border, but sprays OF clematis and honey |
sucklo decOratoR the diagonal corner of the /