Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-11-07

A STCD Autumn and Winter
American Brocades-
rsves4ses kets and Hats-An Epi-
asyies-4eads- 0rnaments Of Arizona
Ia><Scofch Speeialties and India
SrSls.

Ia><ScOfch Speeialties and India
~ls.
I'm Our Own Correspondent.
NEW YORK, Nov. Ga Partisan novelist has
described the interior Of great dry-goods
house, its piles of soft and shining fabrics, the
flashing of its many colors, the infinite variety
OF its allurements, in strong terms, but 1t is q
question lift is too strong, when the dissipating
effect of such lavish display upon the minds OF
the young and easily Influenced is considered.
Nor are the structures applicable to Paris alone;
they are equally suited to New York-more
true, indeed, for the confusion Is greater here,
the intrinsic merit less and the waste incom-
parably more, and more widely distributed
Taking general view of the great shops and
their contents. which line the principal thor
oughfares OF the En- pire city, one is amazed at
the apparent quantity and value of the wares
displayed. There is apparent order
classification, but the articles and manufac-
tsared goods seem to be alike valuable. and are
purchased alike by the rich and the poor Ex-
anime them more closely, and one finds how
much of them is sham, pressed designs, ma
chine embroidery, coarse tinsel, applique work
unfinished upon the edges, everything done for
effect and to initiate something that has real
value. There are plenty of limitations in Paris
labeled. they are not mixed up with the fine
work and they are confined more strictly TO or
namental wares, not found to such an extent
upon what should be useful dress fabr1cs-
When Ornamentation is put upon wool, simple
wool, abroad, il is usually OF simple solid
kind, not copied from the snowy tinsel pat
embrOideries. Lying in heaps. these Unset
stuffs retains nothing OF the beauty which they
possess when threads of gold or threads of
silver are woven into the groundwork of a rich
fabric, or put IN with the needle, in designs
specially adopted to the material and its uses.
Tinsei upon wool is always out of place. 1t will
not stand exposure unless of genuine quality,
and to be pure must be much higher than
the average buyer is willing to pay III 1t is not
good II not only shrinks and furnishes, but 1t
spoils the appearance of the fabric, which in it.
self may be of genuine quality.
II is pitiable to see in this wild confusion of
design and material the utter bewilderment of
women whose means and knowledge of ways
and methods are both limited; nor is there any
source from which they can obtain enlignten-
ment, One can only have thing wen done by
paying very high price for il. The ordinary
woman cannot pay high price, and here
afresh and forever remaining unsOived. There
is a multitudinious variety of fabrics, but they
require an artists eye, and an artists hand to
know just what to do with them. how to ar
range them without stiffness or fornali1y, how
TO make them suggestive rather than obvious,
and picturesque instead OF commonplace.
Among the most dominant ideas OF the season,
In fabrics OF every description, are stripes.
stripes are proverbially hard to manage, par
ticularly when they are wide and solid and far
apart. They are obstinate as well as aggressive;
they are worse than a fence. They are like
wall - which you can o neither d,fsr,,, get over
creased when the stripes are horizon
tai instead of perpendicular, ''Balmo-
woolsey skirts whiet. were fashionable twenty
five years ago, the first colored skirts fashion
foundation which fashion accepted for a setsi-
ble, useful and adaptable article of clothing,
that has never since been laid aside Bat the
Raimoral skirtingS We're I'm the finer gradeS)
clustered and shaded; they were besides, en-
ployed as underwear, only for a little while and
to q very limited extent as parts of costumes,
SO did not present the obstacles that the pres
ent rage for wide stripes does to the modiste.
Graduated, clustered or forming a solid border
hot
aged, but running all round and widely spaced
between, either the fabric must be sacrificed
or a bad effect produced.
STRIPES ARTIsTICALLY CONsIDERED-EEvIvAL
OF A PRIMITIVE STYLE.
The question becomes serious when the stuffs
are costly, as for example a rich brown French
fdilte with stripes of shaded silk plush, initiating
grebe fur, or stripes of uncut velvet upon otto
man, or velvet upon satin merveilleux. y fine
knife plating upon the edge of the striped ma
terial used as q skirt and long drapery caught
up on one side and concealing the other. offers
one solution, but thrift and economy dislike
much to conceal a costly material; and indeed
what Is the use of paying from two to four dot
sds of other % eSseo R aea
black velvet stripes. with lovely soft
WOODEN material, in dark smoke sflade Of blue,
outlined by a mere line of gold. TIE ~ vs ef
stKipes did not ascend to the waist, only about
wide, perhaps an inch and a half, certainly not
more. The spaces between were also lessened
by blue Kensngton embroidery in crewels,
fastening the edges of the velvet and extending
in clearinghouse patterns, beyond them upon
the red wool of the skirt. The over dress was
of the embroidered material and very grace
fully crossed and draped to one side: but this
dress, simple as it looked, and made only for a
house dress, cost a hundred and twenty-five
dollars.
The latest development in stripes is in solid
velvet or plush placed close together, but in
the fifth or seventh in number, perhaps half an
inch wide, the lower one increased to an inch
and a half, terminating in a curious mass of
frayed out and Topped fringe, which laid close
at first, is gradually lOosened into softly waved
slken loops which form thick and massy
fringe. This is revival OF a very old style, the
beginning of fringe, which was originally made
by fraying out the silKen fioss-like threads from
the ends of the fabric and knotting them Only
pure and rich fabrics can be used for this pur-
pose and the cost would limit their use, even if
they could be readily found, which they cam
not, only a small quantity and few shades hav-
ing been imported. Besides there is a problem
to solve in regard 10 the finish of such dresses.
The patterns, as imported, consist Of four
breadths for the skirt only and they are sold at
from sixty to seventy-five dollars per set. The
upper part of the dress must be selected and
made to correspond with it; that the cos
tune would not only be costly, but trouble
some before 1t was completed.
MEDIEVAL SEMBLANCEs AND GRACEFUL IL
LUsIoNs.
Except the tailor-made suits all the new de-
signs seem TO be combinations of at least two
fabrics and often three. while the styles recall
the dress of the medieval period in many of
their details-the straight collar foru1in" high
open square at the throat and strapped to the
plastrou, the plastron itself IN the form of a
breast-plate, the hong sleeve pulled at the top
and over the elbow and the fall sleeve. plated,
not gathered, and terminating the lower
arm In q deep close cuff, the fiat trimmings the
side "curtain' draperieS, the heavy cords, the
embrOideries the heraldic devices. the coin
and ring patterns, not single and obvious, but
overlapped INTERVIEWED, suggested by fine
lines, variety in threads and colors and artistic
shading. DraTerieS, too, are Ouly tolerated
when they are unrevea1ed in the graceful drOop
and confusion of the folds ,st n pufnngs gathers
and lnartistic; simple styles made simply
and those who cannot employ dripery an
original and artistic manner, or pay those who
eau. should make a virtue OF simplicity and in
this way maintain a certain distinction OF ap-
pearance, always allied To the highest fashion.
The interchange between Europe and America
II now SO Intimate and rapid that dress from
national aud interchangeable. The novelties
Of "A season apr ear here as soon as in London or
Paris: In fact many OF them are gotten mp
expressly for this market, and are hardly seen
In London and Paris at all. IL Il very well
known that we '.run" things in this country
'for all they are WORTH" but only for a very
short time, and that after they have been put
through the gamut we never want TO them
again. This temperamental or constitutions
popularity more or less modifies all that is done
In our behalf and while acting as "a slim illus 10
sensational styles of a cheap and not permanent,
character, deters those w no control the best and
most permanent things abroad from risking loss
and deterioration by short-iiyed popularity a
Hood of limitations and future oblivion.
AUTUMN SALES.--FUTURE AMERICAN Fro
CADES.