The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-01-02
FASHIONS UPSIDE DOWN.
Presens Styles Compared With
those of Our Anosstors-The
Fashionable World Com
pletely Reversed.

pletely Reversed.
New Ysrk Star.
There are things which look very
pretty in the matters of dress nowadays
which would shock our ancestors" was
the remark made by one ofthe leading
spirits in Miss Kate Fields coopera-
tive dressmaking establishment to an
amateur reporter for the Star one day
last week.
How sol" the reporter asked.
Because the fashionable world is
turned upside down" was the reply
''and what seems very proper and nice
to us would have been laughed at too
years ago. Fashions, like history, re-
peat themselves. | believe some dis
tinguished philosopher has remarked
that there is not a person il the world
who can invent a new idea. Every
thought that passes drought the hu-
man brain has been produced time and
again in the brains Of people who have
been hundreds and thousands of years
10 their graves. One OF the writers in
the Bible tells Us that there is nothing
new under the sun. Now the same
rule applies to the clothing We wear
as much as it does to anythin, else.
As an evidence of the truth of what
am saying, | will tell YOU that | an
assured by my mother that manv of
the fashions Of today are exact counter
par Of the clothing worn by TIE men.
women aud children fifty years ago
In fact. it may be laid down as a law
that the fashions are reproduced once
in every half century,"
"How do you account for this re-
markable fact!"
well, it is simple enough. Action
and reaction are equal. If things 60
to the extreme in one way they are
pretty sure to 90 as far in the oppo-
site direction. These people among
us who have lived in this world even
a quarter of a century will remember
the absurdIy large hoopskirts that we're
worn by the women. 1t is stated of
certain society belle, whs visited Sara
toga in 1858, that she wore hoop FIVE
feet In diameter at the bottom of her
dress. As the circumference of q cir
Gle is about three times Its diameter, a
person who walked around the Sarato-
ga belle would travel fifteen feet or
nearly rod By degrees the hoop
skirt grew less until it finally disap-
peared, and in its place came the
equally absurd pullbacks of five or six
years ago, when the ladies tied their
skirts so closely about their ankles that
it was With difficulty that they could
walk. The pullbaCk is now giving
way to more ample skirts, and ten or
fifteen years from now We will see
hoops again in fashion. The mucn-
talked-of Sarah Bernhardt glove, with
its long wrist of many wrinkles, which
is now so fashionable. is nothing new.
Our grandmothers wore gloves of SIM
liar construction. The poke bonnet
now worn by little girls, is decided
reproduction of an old fashion"
"What do you consider the most alb
surd fashion Of the present day."
s'Now, that is somewhat difficult
question to answer. Absurdity is
relative term. Many things that at
first seem absurd. seem beautiful after
becoming familiar.
'What is the latest fashionable
cOlor?"
Strawberry color. This is light
ishJ kind of pink. 1t takes its name
from its. resemblance to the color of
mashed Or crushed Strawberries. 1t is
Just now favorite shade for feathers
for ladies' hats. | have no doubt that
it will soon extend tsother< articles of
dress, and that it will become fully as
popular, - terra-cotta has in the past
year or two. Speaking of terra-cotta
reminds me that absurdityl can be ex-
empli6ed in the color as well as in the
shape or cut of garments. We all re-
member what great rage there was
for yellow and white when Oscar
Wilde first came to this country. It'll
seems strange that man should set a |
fashion for the ladies', but it will here
aftersbe . fact in history that Oscar
Wilde vas Instrumental in bringing |
the much-despised sunHower, Into
prominence, and the bellies of the land
were proud to wear the great awkward
yellow and white flower in their belts |"
From the cooperating dressmakiDgt
establishment the reporter proceeded
t. the aeadquartersof Nine: Demorest.
The chief executive of the concern was
too busyte be Interviewed. but one of