Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-03

SAIiu. OF Sinai quantity or plush. The made
up" dresses, which are sold in large quantities.
are necessarily indistinctive-thevm must follow
a model and strike an average If dress is to
be made to suit the individual il must be de-
signed by the individual and made by some
one capable OF carrying out design which she
has not seen, and that requires skill, and this
involves still higher cost The av rage Ameri-
can woman therefore takes the best that she
can find within the limit of her means, and is
thankful it is not worse There was time not
so long ago when dress ready for wear could
not be purchased for love or money. Now the
regulation article can be procured of any de-
scription-from the cheap and untidy cotton
wrapper for one or two dollars. to the trained
and draped and paniered and fringe and over
laid party and ball costumes at from one hun
dred and fifty to five hundred dollars. What
one cannot get is anything out of the regulation
style.
AESTHETIC DRESS AND IDEAS
We talk about aesthetic dress. but In society
there is only the dimmest Idea of what aesthetic
dress means. The caricatures In Patience
have furnished the only definite conception of
what it truly means, and OF these Mr. Gilbert
(who supplied the designs) has said that he had
never seen an aesthetic" dress, an that these
were only his idea of the sort Of thing" it
ought to be. In reality, the dress of the rap
turous maidens is an unwearable costume in
every day life, and no girl or woman who was
sane would think of adopting it. The classic
dress as worn by beautiful young harpist of
New York Miss Maud Morgan. is, on the con-
LFdTy. nOJ Only RTdC6Iul Dub WehTdDfb. IL e ~
sisfs of an under dress with a straight skirt
'baby" waist and the sleeves gathered length
wise on the under part OF the arm, the outer
edges being clasped or buttoneH on the upper
arm. Over this long tunic is held into the
waist under a box pleat by belt which fas-
tens under the tunic at the back also. The
shoulders are simply clasped together. the
length forming an open flowing sleeve. The
cut is exceedingly simple but very graceful on
a tall slender. young girl and a very beautiful
figure. Cashmere is nearly always selected
for these costumes because 1t Is the most
suitable for softly flowing draperY. One ex
hibits an underdress of cream color, with
tunic of old gold trimmed with gold embroid-
cry and fringe. Another was OF salmon pink
over cream, and a third OF shrimp pink over
cream-the cashmere trimmed with silver
bands and the tunic with fringe Buttons and
clasps were Of silver. For an evening dress
Miss Morgan wore recently tunic of white
silk null over an underdress of white satin,
the underdress richly embroidered. the tunic
finished with bands and fringe of gold.
There are two other genuine styles of Hstha-
tic dress. One is the full short waist with wide
belt: short, straight, much ruf1ed; puffed or
small leg of mutton sleeve, the other is the
deep moyenage bodice cut square; the skirt
slightly gored In front and upon the sides, and
gathered to the edge Of the bodice The sleeves
are full and divided into two puffs by wide
bands, one at the top, the other over the elbow,
the lower part terminating in deep ruff
shaped to the arm. An Bsthetic looking cos
tune worn at a recent evening reception con-
sisted of long Gabrielle or princesse dress of
white, soft, Rumchunder silk-a genuine artis-
tic silk-cut square aud sleeveless, but trimmed
as a border upon the square neck. round the
arm holes and round the bottom with swans
down.
Another handsome dress was also princesse,
and was made Of pure olive satin, the cool
shade. with train Of moire antique brocaded in
a very large flower and leaf pattern, in cream
tints mixed with olive. The satin front was
cut up to the knee In three different places and
knife pleated cores OF cream satin inserted;
was filed in with full silk null
shirred and finished with rucbe
of the same embroidered with gold on the edge.
The sleeves Of this dress were long and were
edged with gold embroidered silk NULL AT
recent festivity the young ladies wore Early
Fnglish" or Patience" dresses-the Early
English meaning the straight ruf1ed skirt the
baby waist and puffed or short sleeves; the
Patience a very short striped or killed skirt,
a f1sh-wife tunic. and square pointed boddice,
with long full puff for sleeves and opera
trimmed straw bonnet faced with daisies or
small sun flowers.
One Greek dress was pale blue, painted with
Jacque roses, and one dress represented the
"Byche" in 'Cinderella" lovely dress Of
pale silk was painted and trimmed with au-
tumn leaves, and one OF black sstine was
almost covered with blossoming wisteria.
Esthetic ideas are boon for indoor dress,
informal little parties, the summer dress of
girls, and such times and occasions as do not
demand formal or conventional dress. But one
rule ought to be rigidly oberved, and that is
purity of material. No cotton, velvet, or linen
backed SATIN or mixed and linen, or silk and
WOOL should be used for dresses made on
the aesthetic style. The material must be
pure cotton, wool, or silk; no matter which,
but not seeming to be what it is nOt-for the
very essence of aesthetic dressing is its truthful
ness.
FORTUNE IN PERSPECTIVE.
There is money in any Of our large cities for
any clever woman who could open an estab-
lishment, on a not too large scale, and make a
specially Of sesthettc styles and certain other
descriptions of costume which do not change
very materially; that are not subject to such
rigid conventional laws as the conventional ar
ticles of attire and therefore afford scope for
individual taste and skill-morning gowns. for
example; graduating dresses, lawn tennis
dresses. and the like At present no one knows
where to go or who to apply to for artistic ma
terial when an artistic dress is required. at
least, they do not in New York and it is safe to
predict that it will be some Western city, per
haps in Chicago, that the realization of this
idea will first be formed If It has not been ini-
tiated already. In London there is an artistic
can be procured Here is found the UmnitZa
cashmere, in the thin and thicker makes, with
the camel's hair fnish-a pure Indian fabric in
peacock and old China blue. sage green's, olives
dead-leaf browns, old-gold shades, and terra
Gotta and Venetian reds. The Mysore silk is
printed in real gold, and will not tarnish upon
several shades Of gold and cream grounds, and
makes up most artistically into simple prin-
ceSSe gowns.
In one or two irst-clsss houses there may oc-
casionally be found some bundles of India
crepe, a lovely material. One, the other day,
In pure Venetian red was purchased by a lady
to make up for rainy day" dress in summer
"a truly brilliant idea, for nothing Is more en-
livening than the influence of a bit of bright
color during the damp, chilly, respondent days
which sometimes break in upon the sunshine
Of our summers.
SUMMER sATTNBs.
But every one cannot afford to indulge a
caprice In India crepe, and so 1t may be as well
to remind the interested reader that very much
the same effect-at least q bright, lively and
cheerful effect-can be produced by fifty cent
per yard satine as that Of So so Auruneabad
fabric. These summer satines are OSCILLATIONS
of cotton, and nothing can be imagined pref
tier than the satines with red ground and tiny
figure like a broken jar in old blue and gold
made up with helted waist cut square, straight
skirt with double narrow ruffie, and full chemi-
settle of white null inserted in the square, and
throat. l have spoken before Of the pretty
effects in this material, Of the primroses on the
brown, leafy grounds, OF the old blues and the
yellows, of the cowslips and psriwinkles, the
buttercups and pansies, the 1onquils and the
dogwood all wonderfully natural and showing
such fine and delicate shading and combina-
tions that one cannot help wondering how so
much skill came to be expended on cottons,
even at fifty cents, and range up to one dol
lar per yard. To cut these goods up. TO bunch
them, to destroy the effect of their design is a
sin. They ought to be made up in some SIM
pie, artistic manner and leave to the himsy
cotton crepes cotton cheese cloths. the gauZy
nuns yelling, and other thin stuffs which have
no pattern to spoil-and none to discover and
take pleasure in-the task OF forming innu-
merable small ruff1es, being drawn of into
drapery.
THE RED BONNET.
The bonnet, or hat, whichever It is, has be-
come the most striking and distinctive part Of
the costume The white straws have almost
disappeared, and In their place we have reds,
olives, peacock blues, old gold, and, lastly
twine color, open solid and glaze. 1t is strange,
but the dark red straws, the old gold straws,
and the olive and bronze straws are not at all
so loud and pronounced as one would
shapes. with ostrich feathers for trimming of
the same shade, and facing Of velvet or satin,
are wonderfully distinguished, especially with
light or cream colored dresses, such as will be
worn with them at garden parties and the like.
Hats were in the first place protest against
conventionality, and they have maintained
their independence. Young women and women
who are not young Will wear the GainSborough
hat and the sesthetic poke who enter the
seVerest protest against any other departure
FRONT he strictly conventional ideas.
The large hats and bonnets are not how
ever universal. The small bonnets with
crowns of beaded or gold embroidered lace,
the fronts drawn or covered with lace similar
to the crown, reappear, and there are also
many bonnets covered with black cream
Spanish lace-the garniture a cluster of richly
shaded tulips or large crushed roses.
Ribbons sre made expressly for the large
bow which is q feature Of the modified poke
and the genius in making and placing it is ex
hibited in contrfVing that the scrawlv design
shall be clearly traceable in the large loops
and ends, il one has curiosity enough to look
for il.
For those who do not like the dark hats.
there are some lovely light MANILA straws
which are faced with delicate shades, shrimp |
pink. straw color and pale blue. Pale gold and |