Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-02-10
THE FASHION WORLD.
THE LATEST STYLES AT THE EAST AND
ELSEWHERE.
Former Fashions Through Modern Gases
Latest Colors and Materials in
Dress-I emi-Toilets =


reference to fancy dressing Tablesux,
theatrical entertainments, and the like,
have been SO much in vogue. fancy dress
balls may be largely anticipated TO wind up
the winters gayeties. The facilities for
these have been largely increased of late
years by the acquisition of msny large and
magnificent dwellings which not only con-
tain spacious bathrooms and galleries which
light up brilliantly, au1 in which fancy
dresses can be seen to advantage, but as
specially adapted by their interior arrange
ment. by their finish in the fashion of
Moorish halls or French salons, Italian
courts and Japanese apartments, for the
carrying out of any revival or representa-
ton Of national or historic forms and ideas
There are also houses which correspond so
exactly to the purely Gothic ideas that in
dividuals attired in kingly or queenly
robes, and passing under the antique
arches and lofty groined ceilings, might
very well take on phantasmagorical
aspect and appear as the great
personsges of another age and time. 1t is
rather curious that while In Eaglsnd at
fancy dress balls among people of rank and
title, the odd, the grotesque. the quaint,
the original and the humber types are pre-
ferred in the selection of characters, here
at the private fancy dress balls Of the high
est character it is always the grandest his
toric percentages, the characters illustrious
by reason of their rank and birth, that are
selected for representation. Sometimes
this gives way to the desire to group some
characters created by an eminent author,
or utilize dress prepared for such pur.
pose, but the general fact remains the same,
and is to be explained probably on the
principle of admiration and desire for what
we have not got rather than what we have.
An exception to this was seen lately in
laughter provoking costume representing
Mrs. Lydia Pinkham, and worn by alarge,
robust man. The much-ruffied cap, the
beaming face. the broad belted waist, the
straight skirt, the muslin kerchief, the
figured shawl, and the umbrella in the form
of a huge bottle, with the well-known
label, were all irresistibly funny.
An owls dress is very good. 1t Is made
of two shades of gray gauze over gray
satin. The oyerskirts are painted In gray,
brown and white. with owls and owls
heads, and trimmed with a double border
of miniature owls made of peanuts, with
tiny white beads for eyes. The head. dress
is trimmed to match and the folds upon
the bodice are outlined upon the same. The
"Whlte Cal" is costume entirely in
white fur. Il ought to be worn by small,
plump and very little lady with blue gray
eyes and pale gold hair. The dress is a
short plain princess in cut, edged with a
short fringe, laid on, of gray and black fur.
The bodice is low square no sleeves
and boots of white satin, with white fur
tops. Long white kid gloves reach above
the elbows. In the production of historic
costumes a great help has recently been
found in what is really triumph OF man.
ufscturing art-the broche nonpareil vel.
vetine. Nearly all royal and court dresses
require velvet, plain or figured. There
| is the objection to silk velvet,
besides the cost, that it will
not stand emergencies or hard
usage. 1t fattens and grows shiny under
heat and pressure. Tne moisture from
| flowers that have been put in water spoils
a velvet ccrsage. La fact, there is constant
| fear of what may happen. Now that
| figured fabrics are SO much in demand, and
used go largely in combination with the
plain stuffs, it has been difficult to put
nonpareil velveteen to all the uses for which
it is admirably well adapted, ON account of
all velveteens having so far been limited in
their production to tine plain fabric. The
Nonpareil Manufacturing Company have,
however, at last succeeded in obtaining a
broche velveteen equal in appearance, in
variety, in beauty Of pattern and superior
in useful qualities to the silk figured vel.
vets-that is to say, it does not iatten. II
is somewhat lighter in texture, though az
IL 3 10
tones of the plain fabric, SO that they can
be used together or separately for every
purpose for which the Lyons velvets have
been considered desirable.
| A number of court dresses, now in prepa-
ration for bali which is to surpass all
others in splendor and correctness of CO.'S
tune, are making entirely in plain and
broche nonpareii velveteen. Specially
distinguished among these costumes are
some of the sixteenth century, Lady
Jane Seymour dress, Margaret of Anjou,
Queen Elizabeth in state robes, and others
of the same period.
A fact to be remembered in connection
with the use of velveteen is this That all
secondary velvets are part cotton or linen,
and that fabric composed entirely Of one
material, whether silk, cotton or linen,
wears and cleans better than any mixture.
An article by G. d. F.. in the New York
Erening Post, says: "We saw picture
recently describing the style of dress worn
by gentlemen sixty-fve years ago, and be-
side it was a woman arrayed in the preva-
lent fashion of that period. To our eyes
of to-day it would at once be set down as
caricature, and monstrous, wicked
caricature at that. But the printed de-
scription which accompanied the grsyer's
art correets such an impression. 1t was
an honest portrsiture of the accepted style
OF the cay. The query, how any rational
creature, with freedom of choice in the
selection of any suitable and becoming
apparel, could consent to clothe himself or
herself in such shocking guise. is only to
be solved by falling back upon the mysteri-
Fashion. The man in the picture was
drawn as very tall, and very lean, lank
gentleman, with his back to the reader.
His coat, the collar of which was on line
with the top of the shoulders, and tightly
encircling the base of the neck, was fash
Toned with waist that reached no lower
than the middle of the back, from which de-
pended two scanty skirts which tapered
gracefully to a point, nearly reaching
the heels, and provoking the guess that
the pattern of the garment was suggested
by partially opened pair of BARRIERS
shears. The lower limbs were SO tightly
encased in trousers, or SO obscurely drawn,
that the doubt remains whether the artist
had not forgotten to complete his sketch in
this particular, leaving wide margin for
the on lockers imagination TO fill out at
his leisure or discretion. Two large but
tons, which no doubt would have shown as
gilt metal had printers ink permitted,
showed where the waist began and the
back ended /; and the browning grace of
this memento or monument of fashion
of sixty odd years ago was hat Of the
stovepipe variety. type of that which still
fingers on Broadway, despise the fact that
it has been set upon by innumerable hosts
of men who despise and condemn and
wear it. IL the man struck one at first