Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-06-01
SUMMER FASHIONS.
THE NOVELTIES IN MUSLIN
DRESSES THIS SEASON.

BOnnets A Revolt Against High
ShOulders-The Use of the Words
FrOck, Dress and Gowns.
Correspondence of the Morning Meas.
NEW YORK, May 30.-It has been said
in previous letter that this is an ''Off''
season so far as fashions are concerned
Presidential seasons always are, and
this year it is particularly dull socially
and in a money spending way, because
"Wall street has tumbled all to pieces,'
and business sympathiZes with failures
and depression in stocks. There is prob.
ably no country in the world where the
fluctuations are greater and affect a wider
circle than in this, because there is none
where the general prosperity is so great
that possesses so few fixed incomes or sc
little certainty of permanent individual
hold upon accumulated wealth. A
"crisis" such as comes with the reguIari.
ty of showers in April affects all classes
of society, and particularly the dealers in
such wares as are commonly known
as dry goods. American men are proverb.
tally generous when they are flush, and
will pay $50 for a wrap, S25 for a bonnet.
and 500, more or less, for the new spring
lowance to depend upon, irrespective OF
the changes and chances of business; and
when period OF depression arrives hus-
bands "shut down." and experienced
mothers with young society daughters
warn them to keep quiet and not ask for
money or anything that will suggest out
lay until the critical time is past. This is
not thrifty or economical system, for WO-
men naturally take advantage Of the Oc-
casiOnal spurts of liberality to make use
Of-all they can get, and are so accustomed
to periodic fits of gloom and presage OF
disaster as to consider them part Of the
natural order of things, and not as some
thing calling for serious consideration on
their part. The signs OF the times are
quickly seen and easily understood by
sagacious merchants and manufacturers,
who at once suppress costly experiments
and announce
A MUSLIN SEASON.
Fortunately warm weather admits of a
good deal of display at small cost, and
when one hears of "yafds and yards0 of
lace upon one dress, it is not necessary to
imagine it as representing a small fortune
in bank notes, for lace which looks very
pretty at distance and trims effectively
is now sold anywhere from 5 to 80 cents
per yard, and one can be covered with
lace almost as cheaply as with cheese
cloth. Another of the phenomenal cloth
ing houses for women and children, for
which all large cities have become famous
during the past fifteen years, has been
opened on the site of what was Booths
Theatre, in Twenty-third street, and adds
one more to the Costume" esta 5lishments
which are cutting one another's thrOats
in the effort to secure a lions share of I'M
certain and unsatisfactory trade. The
j
enced hands, and among the pretty and
practical styles exhibited are some charm
ing novelties in garden party dresses
of dotted muslin III dark
ly shaded Leaf and flower
patterns, trimmed with Oriental or Pom
padOur lace, and broad, soft ribbons in
subdued shades, which harmonic with
the general tone rather than with any
special color in the design. A speciality
is also made of nuns yelling dresses in
pink, cream and blue, trimmed with
pleated lace; and of white dresses in In
dia null trimmed with wide Valenciennes
lace, and fine lawn trimmed with needle
work or embroidered lace. Dresses ready
made and trimmed in the popular styles
indicated can be purchased from $25 to
$50 each, and last a season, though they
are not good for much beyond that. White
dresses would be the most economical of
summer toilets were 1t not for the eX-
pense and trouble of laundering them; but
this is an important item and soon dupli-
Gates their first cost if the work is done
by city or watering place hotel laun-
dress.
UUiored muslins are not supposed to
pass through this ancient process of reno
walton. With care they are expected to
last "a season" without washing, and if
- l,,.sGt CHI
prOlOng their usefulness or render its eX-
tension desirable, they are sent to pro-
fessional cleaner, who, for 81 or So, sub
jects each one to a dry-cleaning operation
which makes it as nearly new as cleaned
glove. 1t is so long since muslins were
in fashion that they are likely to be sort
of rage, every lady-yOung or middle
aged-desiring one or more for her sum-
mer wardrobe. Their prestige is height
eped by the lovely tints and artistic char
acter of the designs, and also by the
{ comparatively simple and graceful
style of making. There is nothing novel
in the modes this season. They are all
reVivals of styles which have been more or
less ''well worm" but have probably held
some reason within themselves for their
continued popularity. The ''tie-back" is
a thing of the past. Drapery hangs loose
and what may be called ''flOppy" if great
care is not taken in its adjustment. The
sagging puff is not so much used as last
season, but it has not disappeared; and
deep single flOunce has largely taken the
place of the pleated rutfles to which we
have become almost habituated. The
popular mode of making muslin dresses
is with one deep-kilted or boX-pleated
flounce, a rounded apron extra divided
and crossed to the left; an irregular dra-
perry at the back, which deepens until it
falls over the top of a narrower f1Ounce;
and basque which is shirred or pleated
at the back, or cut short, leaf-shaped, and
filled in with a tullnesS which is rounded
and lace trimmed.
White lawn dresses for morning wear
are tucked at the back from the waist to
the hem, horizontally; killed at the sides,
thus forming panels, which are edged
with a needlework band and arranged
with two or three tucked and killed
founces in front. The basque is pleated
lengthwise back and front and trimmed
with needlewOrk, or rather machine en-
brOidery. This is belted on with wide,
soft ribbon CT velvet. White and delicate
muslin dresses afford an opportunity for
pretty dressing at small cost, which young
ladies should not tail to take advantage
OF. The expense of material is almost
nothing, and if they will spend half as
much time upon the making as upon a
sofa cushion or the painting of question
able plaque or jar, they will be almost
certain to reach satisfactory results.
HOUSE WEAR.
Distinctive house wear is now confined
to a class, principally to young Well-tQ-dQ
married women, whose cares keep them
at home part of the day, but whose du-
ties do not stand in the way of dainty in
door toilets. A charming morning CO.'S
tune consists of a foulard in a clover
leaf pattern, the front covered with a
draped apron of null, embroidered with a
clover leaf design, and the shoulders with
a square handkerchief crossed upon the
breast and embroidered to match. A little
breakfast cap is made Of half handker-
chief of the same kind, and the bow is the
color of the clover leaf in the dress-viO-
let, strawberry, or brown. The null may
be silk and embroidered with silk by
hand some ladies execute this work for
themselves, some have it done to order, }
or it may be all white IN the soft tint pc
culiar to null. This is a matter of taste
but of course the specialized color and the
handwork individualizes it, and renders
it more costly. The foulard is made up
without trimming or overskirt. A round
ed muslin cuff, edged with lace, finishes
the sleeve and preserves the unity of the
accessories.
The handkerchief morning caps were a
little rage several years ago. Then they
disappeared. Now they appear again in
numbers like lOcusts, only the effects are
less disastrous. Probably it is only one
way of getting rid of a superabundant
stock that did not DrOye salabla in their