Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-12-05


I'm Fashion-OrientaI Edcas and Colors
Rapidly Gaining fayor-New BOnnets
and Changes I'm Head Gear-SOme
Beautiful Dresses-EmbrOidery Given
the Highest Enecfs-Waste and LOSS.
From Our Own Correspondent.
NEW YORK. December 4.-Russet-red and
browns are quite the most fashionable tints of
the season for outdoor costumes, and the
great deSderatum Is TO preserve the
tone, while combining as many rich
shades a. possible. The result, when good
materials are really well arranged,
is emnently satisfactory; but this is rarely the
case. purely because of the personal resources.
many and various that are needed TO select
well, partly because the difficulty, even in the
best shops of finding harmOnies of color, or true
contrasts. This il particularly the case now
when figures and mixed fabrics are numer-
Gus and diversified. and combination neceS-
siiy In adapting them to practical, every day
requirements.
T.cre "A few persons who experience none
Oi the difficulties that asSail the ordinary
worn III IN securing something that will please
as well a. profit her To wear. There are some
women who can tell their aotiiSfe, they tell
their c,'j. what they want. or what they want
the particular article for, and u is provided I'm
accordance with what j. known of their tastes
anu the latest developments OF fashion. What
such a woman takes most pains about is TO tell
what she does not want, not so much what she
does, for the caterers to her bodily requirements
know this better. probably, than she does, and
their ingenuity L. taxed less to- satisfy the de
mands OF her Imagination than to excite 1t, and
thus afford that sense of qualification which
X so rarely experienced by palled and satiated
desire.
But the majority are not troubled in this way:
they cannot reach the heights attained by eX-
quisite hand embroidery or by the employment
oI garnets and amber OF real silk velvet and
plush: neither can they realize u dream in the
acquisition of a front breadth of pearl or opal
inc bead-work in an evening toilette of cream
satin-francais. They wisely content themselves
with cottOn-backed brOcades and trimming
outlined with machine-cut beads, turned out
by the peck, and no great loss when they must
be turned out because they have become so
common. don't you know; and replaced by a
newer device for filling the eyes and emptying
the pockets. Still, there is
SAD AND UNCrTERABLE WASTE
in the present methods pursued in regard to
women's dress. and little real growth or
strength can be expected while the majority are
given over to the eternal discussion and itera-
Iion of such absurd trivialitieS as Must wear
n large hustle? Are sleeves really worn short
10 the elbow? Must have two steels a. well as
"a 'mattass' in my skirts: Are very tall hats
O feathers? What shall do with n silk dress
that is just as good as new, but out of style?
trimmed with fringe?'
These enquiries are not from one source but
are reiterated by thousands, and they are re-
peated season after season, in endless success
sion. Were women dressed to suit themselves
or their needs in the beginning, they could wear
their clothes until they needed replacing and
there would be an end of 1t. But new gown to
which they have been looking forward tor a
year is made in q fashion which puts il out of
date In six months and Obliges the owner to
put as much time, trouble and money in the
process Of reconstruction as in a new costume.
WASTE In FASHIONS.
But women have not only to supply the loss
by waste In their own wardrobes, but they have
10 pay for risks incurred by dealers. Last sea.
son wooden lace came in with a flourish and
was talked Of In way to excite desire on the
part OF many who had no memory of the brief
pt,1,
knowledge Of the causes of its sudden decline.
Lace flonts FOR costumes and especially for even
handmade wooden laces were turned out over a
yard In depth and from ten to fifteen and even
drug at half price The popular " demand n now Was
killed, partly by the cost and partly by the fact
that WOODEN lace is ''only wooden lace, after ALL
10 any but the coarse wOrsted fabrics which do
not suit the majority, who require street dress
that can be put to fine we'll as common uses
The same experience is constantly repeated i'm
the variety OF rich figured fabrics prepared for
the market; dealers know that a few months
will see the termination of their career, so far
as fashion and novelty are concerned, and they
charge double prices in order that they may re-
women wait till the reduction takes place. if
the material Is something they want, and if it
has permanent value but naturally they have
to take the risk of losing the choice in colors
and OF appearing in fabrics that have ceased to
have the charm of novelty.
FOREIGN ELEMENTS
enter more largely into the dress and ap-
purtenances Of American women than they
have ever done before, not in the shape of
French silks and satins, but in the form of In
dian, Turkish, Chinese and japanese stuffs and
costumes. There are now as many houses i'm
New York city devoted wholly to these eastern
goods houses altogether thirty forty years
ago. From small beginnings they have stead
lily increased both in number and in the scope
of their efforts. until now a lady can not only
dress herself, but furnish her house down to the
requisite, from the diversified resources of these
oriental establishments, which are genuine
bazars rather than shops. At a fair recently
held. all the ladies We're dressed in Japanese
costumes. and few wealthy women but possess
one OF the quilted "Mikado gowns for the
boudoir and dressing room, hundreds of which,
season.
But the popular demand Is not so much for
series. embroidered squares, lengths scarfs and
shawls. 10 be used to combine with silk or saIin
and gold work, which is valued because it does
not tarnlsh and also because the Japanese de-
signs adapt themselves to present styles of max.
ing and ornamenting costumes most adyanta-
geously. Naturally IL requires taste aud expe-
rience in the selection and disposition and a
lady who wants a best dress of a kind to be uni
Nersaily useful. ct fifty or seventy-five cents q
YARD, would not be suited in materials or prices
but TO the ex perienced and wealthy pOssss,or
OF diversified wardrobe, the eastern shops are
mines OF undeyelOped ideas. Within short time
an exclusively Turkish bazaar has been added
10 the Oriental elements. and is o revelation of
beauty IN color and handiwOrk, compared with
the Il turkish work to which we are accus-
Toned III is indeed snowy and glitters with
mucn that looks like gold, but the inner produc-
tlons nave beauty, delicacy and refinement
winch nave been rarely seen, and the red fez
caps with gold tassels, the gold topped and
rlchiy engraved nacOns con tanning the far.
iaineo attar OF roses, carry evidences with them
Oh their true inwardness. All these things have
IN lnnuence and are assisting to make us more
cosmopolitan, more fraternal, more universal
every day, and directly influence the dress
question, which Is now SO easily led by what.
ever promises novel or picturesque result
THE HIGHEST EFFECT WHICH Is REACHED
however, Is arrived at through some form Of
embroidery. There Is nothing to surpass an ALL
white ivory TINT toilette with pearl and silk
embroidered front; sleeves Of long, Of the same.
or pulled with embroidery, between bands of
diamonds upon skirt and shoulder; a train of
ivory velvet, edged with plaitngs of SIX
and lace; diamonds on the embroidered cor
sage, diamonds in the hair diamonds i'm the
buckles which hold the single strap of the satin
shoes over the delicately embroidered stock
1ngs. II Is not that these costly accessories al
ways form part OF an embroidered dress, but
That they form natural part OF il; that YOU
cannot get beyond the exquisite handwork of
Today, aided by the charming appliances which
scientific development has put in the hands OF
The worker, thus making pictures of fashionable
gowns, poetry of sleeves and trains and some
lining good to see, or do, or be, of everything
Some very rich and distinctive toilettes re-
Gently received from abroad had beaded fronts
consisting of leaves, shaded and grouped In a