Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-04
| NEW YORK FASHIONS.
SUMMER DESIGNS AND SUMMER
FABRICS


For In and Out-Of- Doors Wear The
Difficulty of Choice-White Washing
Dresses-The Fail of the Draperied
Overskirt-Summer and Linen Under
wear-Parasols and Yachting Suits.
Correspondence of the Morning Neses.
NEW YORK, May 2.-The ingenuity eX-
hibited in creating novelties in fashion, or
variations that pass for such, is certainly
wonderful, and deserves better recogni-
ton than it receives. 1t is true that good
or bad ideas are accepted and much money
spent on very perishable articles; but
women always buy, wear and speak of
dress as if it were something to be apollo
gized fora weakness which society de-
mands of them, but which they would
willingly get rid of or relegate to a Sec
Ondary place if they could. Many women
are in reality very proud OF their own
taste in selecting their attire, or they are
proud of it costs or it's individuality;
but l never knew but two women who
acknowledged it. One,a beautiful woman,
had been all her life cramped for means,
but married rich, and her delight in all
the lovely things for her own adOrnment
was so natural and genuine. so free from
vanity and ill-will, so purely the outcome
of her love of beauty and pleasure in all
that was fairest and best in this world,
that it did not seem in her fault or even
a weakness, but only a part of her frank
and honest nature. The other believed
dress to be part Of the mission and duty
of woman, one of the means-hke Bart
hOldPs statue-Of enlightening a dark and
stupidity dreary world. Her dress was
less spontaneous, and, therefore, less joy
Gus than that of the first mentioned lady,
and had moral aspect, as if gotten up
with a purpose, and with determination
to be equal to the occasion.
TIE DIFFICULTY OF CHOICE.
Dress was never more difficult than it
is to-day, simply because choice is so
abundant-the resources so large that it
is almost impossible to decide between
what you want and what the Fates seem
to have provided for you. You look in
vain for something of which you have
read and which seemed to be Just the
thing you would choose for yourself
You see nothing like 1t. Everything
strikes an AVERAGES hOpelessly common
place, or so sensational as to suggest the
caricatures in a French comic paper.
What you lack is individuality and lack
of adaptation to special tastes. But this is
incompatible with the modern demand
for cheapness and the necessity for turn
Ing OUT every lulD8 Dy IndCulu6 anu III
quantity. This cheapens and raises the
general standard of attainment, but it
produces an average of mediOcrity which
rises or falls only a few inches above or
below its level.
GRAY AND WHITE.
1t was remarked last season that soft
shades Of gray and gray and white were
in high vogue, and some examples of gray
refinement in these tints were given. This
season gray and white is more fashiOna-
BILE than ever, and indeed it has become a
sort of furore among young ladies in So
ciety, whose gray morning dresses with
square tucker Of white muslin or transpa-
rent lawn, delicately tucked, straight
skirts, and small tucked or embroidered
white aprons. constitute somewhat de-
mure but most certainly very charming
toilets. Other gray dresses are used for
travelling, and are very effective, yet SIM
pie and not necessarily expensive. The
models are imported, and they are made
of fine silky gray mOhair, trimmed with
a white mohair braid more sIlvery than
silk itself. Silver braid is used for the
same purpose, but the mOhair is preferred
by the best dressmakers as more refined.
The skirt consists of a plated front up
right surmOunted by a short draped
apron, sides finished differently, and
straight back, consisting of two full
shlrred breadths; short habit basque. The
braid is wide, is put on upright between
the pleating in front in fiat single row
upon the apron, and also upon the edge of
the basque. The buttons are small and
silvered, or hematite set in silver.
The effort to re-intrOduce mOhair is the
entering wedge to the anticipated revival
of the whole class of stiff silk-finished
wooden fabrics which have been striving
for so long a period to regain their lost
prestige. That they are durable, dust
proof and economical, there is no denying;
and it is a stroke of wisdom to reintro-
duce them in the soft grays, in which they
are more attractive than in any deep or
positive color. OF course gray is fashion
able in many other materials beside mo-
hair, but these mohair travelling dresses
are distinctly new, and the few brought
over by importers have been snatched up
as soon as seen. Poplin belongs to the
same family as the mOhair, and they rise
and fall together. Several of the hand
soonest of the new dresses made this sea-
son have been made from pOplin, and have
won eXtravagant eulogIums. One Of
these dull golden bronze; a russell shade,
was combined with dull gold satin which
formed a vest and paniers. The round
skirt was full and straight at the back,
and the Overskirt, carried to the sides
only, formed a diagonal lire descending
very deep on one side, and on the other
reaching only to the line Of the panier.
The trimming was wide fiat Persian braid,
solid gold, mixed with Persian cOlOrs in a
very rich Persian pattern.
A beautiful dress of gray poplin is worn
by Miss Georgia Cayvan in "May Bios
sOms.' 1t is very simple, as are all Miss
Cayvan's costumes. She is singularly in
dependent of clothes, or rather the con-
ventionaI forms seem to be entirely lost
upon her. She wears several different
and pretty gowns in "May Blossoms
one a chintZ cotton, another a soft gray
indoor dress, third a white satin surah,
and the fourth very handsome gray pop
lin. All of them are made with straight
skirts, without suspicion Of overskirt;
and how pretty and graceful they are!
how well they suit her! The fullness is
of course massed at the back, the sides
and front being gored and draped or pleat-
ed. The cotton and surah bOdices were
both full, and the latter had a Turkish
sash, the silk folded about the hips on a
line with the bodice, where it was attach
ed with the ''accOrdeOn" pleats of the
skirt.
THE FALL OF THE DRAPERIED OVER
SKIRT
is presaged, and when the event really
occurs there ought to be a general and
hearty lie DeUn1 sung over us departure
and the deliverance of woman from its
tyranny. If poplin effects this, and it
must or go to the wall, we can welcome
back pOplin, the UNACCEPTABLE, with re-
iOicing. The part that the draperied
overskirt has played in dress and fashion
for the past twenty-five years is certainly
curious. The changes in it have been the
only ones of any moment that have taken
place. The ''tailor-cut" has heightened
the shoulders and shaped more closely
the basque and jacket; but the overskirt
has been the terror, the pivot upon which
the fate of dress hung, and the interior
cats cradle of strings upon which its
"effect' depended, has brought many a
fair lady and many an apparently fault
less toilet to grief. Now all the changes
have been rung upon it over and
over again. 1t has been cut
so as to suggest everything under
heaven that is used to cover something
else. Awnings, lambrequins, curtains,
fluted Innings, portiere and manteIpiece
draperies. Doubtless it will die hard, but
it will be something to get rid of it so as
to admit Of the real skirt asserting its
claims to supremacy, for of late the over
skirt has not been content with covering
up the real skirt, with concealing it. 1t
undertook to reduce it to a fragment,
mere flounce, and boldly usurped its
place. For some time past the most ele-
giant trained dresses have been made with
single skirts, or skirts trimmed in
front and at the sides; but with only the
eli rDIaf4oI 60 o-;rr