The Portland daily press., 1883-02-28
[Harper's Bazar.l
New York Fashions.

and summer. The rule with these is plain
fabric for the waist and drapery, with fig |
ured goods for the lower skirt, but there are |
few exceptions that prove the rule. For
the first spring dresses for the street, cash
mere of the fine qualities that resemble Hen
rietta cloth is used for the basque and over
skirt, or for the polonaise, while the lower
skirt, or rather the 1ounces or pleatings that
represent the lower skirt, are Of ottoman
silk with blocks of satin upon it, or else
stripes of velvet are upon plaid ottoman silk,
or perhaps the skirt is made of checked silk.
There are also dresses entirely of woollen
stuff, such as the new beigette (which is
substantial kind of French bunting), or of
light twilled camefs hair; for these dresses
the pleated wool skirt is plaided, while the
over-dress is plain wool, and there are many
wool skirts of dark grounds that have very
large balls in the richest cashmere colors.
The variety shown at present consists of
plain grounds, blocks, checks, small broken
plaids, some very large blocks, plain stripes
alternating with plaid stripes, and the large
ball and disk patterns. Some of the new
material, usually velvet, is added, but in 9TH
ers there are very strong contrasts, among
which green trimmed with red prevails, and
there is tendency to introduce orange and
fiame-colors amid dark and quiet tints.
Velvet ribbon is brought into use again
for trimming cashmeres and silks. 1t is used
in great quantities on the box pleated skirts,
ha;o al
rows down each broad box pleat, and laid in
loops that overlap each other at the end,
while on simpler dresses it is placed across
the box pleats near the foot, forming kind
OF border of three or four parallel rows.
| The inch-wlde ribbon is most used for these
| trimmings, and that two inches wide, with
| satin on the wrong side, is useful for the
| long-looped bows and chains that are placed
down the front of the skirt and corsage, on
the back of the basque and oyerskirt, and as
kind of sash that drapes the front--not the
back-of the skirt, beginning on the sides,
and being curved down amid the front dra
peries and loosely tied there. Rows of inch
wide velvet ribbon outline square yoke on
| the shoulders of woollen basques, or else
three rows very near together, and some
times tapping, are placed straight down the
| front from the col ar to the top of the darts,
and the ends are turned under in loops, Civ
| ing the effect of square plastron. The
wrists of the sleeves have three rows of rib
bon set on around the arm, or else extend
ing up the sleeve, while others have the out
er seam left open slightly, and two rows fol-
lowing the whole edge of the sleeve.
Palm leaves have come into vogue again,
and promise 10 supersede wheels and frogs
both in passementelie and in sontache braid
| ing Soutache braid will be much used in
| palms and in parallel rows, and the new fan
| cy is to put the braid on a material of DIFF
| ferent color from that of the dress, and then
apply this braided piece to the dress; for in
| stance, dress of olive brown cashmere mas
the olive wool soutache braid laid on dark
red cashmere, which shows with pretty eff
| feet through the interstices of the braiding
| pattern, and brightens up the sober brown
| of the dress. Nine parallel rows of soutache
| placed on band three inches wide make a
very pretty trimming.
Other trimmings consist principally of
| pleatings facings, and hounces of the mate
| rial used in combination with the woollen
| goods Velvet is very popular for the small
| accessories, such as vest, collar, cuffs, and
| balayeuse, and is used as third fabric when
ottoman silk is chosen for the combination.
| Satin is also used for pleatings and plas-
irons, and especially for facings of bright
color, but it is not seen in the profuson late
| ly fashionable. Embroidered dress patterns
Of nd Ior
ly imported, and are made up with the CIR. elk
overskirt and hanging loose pleats that are
| edged with embroidery.
| Buttons remain small and inconspicuous,
| and are no longer used for show, but merely
/ TO do service f3r fastening the dress; they
are, however, very pretty when made of Gro
/ cheted silk In ball shape, on which star or
square is wrought, and these are placed in
two rows close together down the front.
| There are also many fiat metal buttons the
| size of a silver half-dime.
The reader will be glad to know that
dresses made last year can be easily altered
| into the new styles, and this will probably
always be true as long as the sensible plan
of combining two materials prevails. There
are also designs that suit the slender and de
signs for the stout and these are seen both
in the basques with overskirts and in the va
ried polonaises. The basques are Positions
with pointed fronts, very short sides, and
| pleated square backs that may be varied in
The fullness of the pleats to suit the size of
the wearer, those for the stout being pressed
fatty and heightened slightly on the hips,
while for the slender they have hollow or
gan pleats, futed box pleats, or else looped
bows of doubled material put on to give
full effect. vet generally preserving square
outlines. The sharply pointed fronts of
basques are thought to be becoming to both
large and small f. ures. There are a great
many vests worn and among these are Di-
rectoire vests and the Continental styles
sloping wide below the waist, and finished
at the top with very deep, square-cornered
collar thai fastens low on tue bust, while
there is standing collar to the plastIon liz
side. The military standing collar with
square corners that nearly meet, or even
touch without tapping. is seen instead of
that with the curved corners sol long in vogue.
These are an inch and quarter high, and
may be of velvet, or of the cashmere nearly
covered with rows of soutache, or it may be
of the ottoman used in combination, finished
with cord or piping fold. The old fashion
of covering a thick welting cord with the
dress material or that of the trimming, and
finishing the edges of the basque with it, is
revived. The new and pretty turned-over
collars are compromise between the roll
ing Byron collar aud the standing bands, as
they both stand up and turn down. They
stand as high as military band, and are
turned over all round they are rolled over as
deep as an inch and quarter in front, aud
nearly third of an inch behind. THIS is a
pretty way of using two materials, having for
instance, plaid ottoman silk for the outside,
with velvet turned over upon it from the
inside. Sleeves remain of the close coat
shape, following the line of the arm very
closely until they come to the shoulder,
where they are enlarged and rounded to
stand out and above the armhole. The pad
ded roll introduced last year. comes in the
sleeves of almost all French dresses, and TO
this is now added steel spring six or seven
inches long that gives high curve to the