Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-02-02
ESTABLISHED 1850.

the recipient is q married lady. With the stiff
conventional forms, the camellia has disap-
peared; there are few used now. and only by
persons who do not keep in rapport with mod
ern ideas and knew no changes from the round
plate-topped bouquet and basket of twenty
years ago. These have taught us also the
beauties OF the daisies, and many wild flowers
the common heath and the vine the golden
rod for decorative effect, and the scarlet flower
Of the homelY kitchen bean.
Our faShionableS have taken so much of a
lesson from the aesthetics that they are begin
ning to differentiate special occasions from the
ordinary events and permit innovations of cos
tune. At a recent lovely at-home wedding
the bridesmaids were little girls dressed in
Kate Greenaway costumes of white null with
wide pink saShes, mob caps with band Of pink
satin ribbon, and carried satchel baskets Of
pink roses.
At another wedding the bride wore conven-
tional white satin and orange blossoms, with
train. but the bridesmaids were charming ia
early English" dresses of terra-cotta red silk,
with red silk bonnetS trimmed with roses, and
great punches Of white roses at their belts.
The ball toilets of young girls are more sim
pie and much less elaborate in train end trim
mings than formerly but embroidery lends ex-
ceeding elegance to the costume Of some of the
elder ladies. A dress prepared for the Charity
Ball is of white satin with princesse front and
boddice embroidered all over with fine white
Jet The pleated train Is Of striped satin and
moire. edged with a thick satin ruche. A pale
pink satin has been embroidered in the same
with a leaf-shaped basque tied with an enor-
nous bow of moire, over a train of plain satin
finished with exceedingly fine pelisses Of the
same, and interior lace. very hand
some dress is of wood colored MORE.
with shirred satin front apparently
covered with fringes of nall cut beads in
mixed bronze and ruby and brown and am
ber The sleeves were OF beaded lace to
match An aesthetic dress worn at a recent
ball was of salmon colored silk, with
brown velvet sleeves and 'front.' the latter en-
brOidered with two Gala lilies crossed in a
way that was not conspicuous. A natural
lily was set low at the left of the bodice which
was embroidered with brown silk in a coral
pattern forming a border above which
was a neckerchiet Of white tulle. A charming
dress of pale yellow satin has been made for
a private entertainment, quite covered with
Spanish lace and garnitured with red and vel
low tulips two forming hanging cluster.
The bodice of this dress was cut a low square.
The sleeves were mere bands OF satin and
lace. not straight but rounding, and the halves
overlaid each other
The fashion of wearing brown or tea colored
gloves with white satin dresses is a vile one
ard will be short lived. 1t is inharmOniouS and
gives the impression that on the absence of
suitable gloves the wearer had put on those
which she ordinarily wears In the street. 1t
has never been generally adopted. and at
very large ball, one Of a fashionable series,
which occurred last week. only a very few
were noticed, so that it may be presumed this
caprice is dying out.
AESTHETIC IDEAS.
The hold which aesthetic ideas have upon the
world of dress and fashion is their novelty
There is nothing else that Is new In the whole
realm of modern attire. The demand for
novelty season after season and year after year
not only exhausts resources, but disgusts and
wearieS all women who are capable Of COM
pretending the enormous waste that lies be-
hind them, and these, practical, sensible though
they are. find In the range of @stheti-
cism something which suits their
cases. Minus the transcendental element,
they find a simple. useful dress,
which gives them courage to adopt it. We
shall this coming summer find London repeat
ing itself in New York, and the young girls
especially wearing prints and muslins and
cambrics, with shirred waists gathered into
wide belts, puffed or modified leg-of-mutton
sleeves and straight skirts trimmed with one
or more flounces. The large straw hat, the
Gypsy and poke or cottage straw bonnet, the
mittens and the muslin fichu will all be repre-
sented; and the Nile lily and pond lily the
daisy and daffydowndilly will flourish in mil
liners windows in loving proximity. All this
is inevitable, because there Is nothing else to
fall back upon. There is dearth of ideas
The irruption Of novelty which followed the
revival of color and design in fabrics, and of
opulent SplendOr in beaded trimmings, though
still capable of surprising effects. have no
Color tires. Glitter soon loses its power to
charm. There must be the elements of true
beauty in that which holds us with perma-
nent bond. Mere fashion is not based on that
true beauty. 1t never can be so long, as its
essential element Is change, and admiration
tomorrow the opposite Of what is approved
to day.
Esthetic ideas set fashion at naueht. Thev
do not ask what is fashion, but what is beauti-
ful in form and color: and they set form before
color, as they should. This one feature of
courage in wearing what pleases them without
respect to conventional demands is the great
est merit of the new departure. For women
can never dress well, never work we'll never
act effectively, until they learn to think and
work and act for themselves. AS mere pup
pets marionetteS, blocks upon which any 40
surdity can be hung, which interested makers
and dealers choose to call fashionable, they
cannot fail to render themselves liable to CON
tempt and Tidicule besides dwarfing their pow
ers of mind and body; but IL they will treat the
subject of dress as they do any other, get all
the information they can upon it, using only
that which is suitable and convenient for them
to use they will find themselves relieved from a
thraldOm the effects OF which can only be es-
ti0ated when it has been gotten rid Of
OF course it is no better to be mere imitators
of one school than another-an echo is an echo
whether the sound be a note higher or note
lower on the musical scale To be ones self ia
the thing-and then if others follow it will be
a sign that there are something good in
what you originated. Yet there is no harm in
copying good model. Not to be able to do so
is still to be in bonds and 1t Is the release from
them, and the work and waste they entail, that
is one of the principal objects to be attained.
For women OF time and means, however, there
is another, and that is to realize for themselves
and in their own persons, something of that
world OF beauty which they have heretofore
seen only in pictures, works of art in galleries
and museums. or the choice haunts Of nature
1t has been the habit to look upon these as en-
tirely set apart from common life and az the
opportunities of the me iority are limited art
and its meaning have been unknown to the
masses or considered foreign and fantastic
This is sad and greatly to be regretted be-
cause the conception and realization of true
beauty in art and life, and one should be
synonymous with the other, is equal to being
born again. 1t is another new birth. 1t gives TO
every object a deeper meaning, a new signifl-
canoe. Itmakes US know what there IS in the
primrose by the rivers brlm" besides the
primrose. 1t discovers to us the secret of the
wild grape vine and its tendrils. the droopinp
petals of the honeysuckle, and the purple glory
of the roadside gorse. We may laugh at the
sunfiower, and rightly when its yellow face is
blaZoned on the narrow circuit Of fan or the
corner of a parasol. but who cannot see it's use
and instructive appropriateness in the corner
of an unattractive yard, against the grey and
brown of earth and air and sky and bare frame
cottage; its eye always turned towards the
sun, its long stalk holding its perfect disk, and
the wealth OF sunshine and color that uncon.
sctoGsly warns the hearts and lives OF those
who look upon it, The suntiower Is an emblem,
not an ornament, except when used as an
emblem.
THE RIVALRY OF STYLES.