The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1886-05-20
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New York Tribune: buttons are
now rs unci, part Of the makeup of
dress ~ The cloth itself" dealer
said To reporter Yesterday. and ~
much care is exercised in their selection
as in the cutting and fitting OF the gar
mcnt The color, must harmonic with
that Of The good, 10 the shade, and in
size the buttons must correspond with
the general style Of the dress and the
toilet which follows. On street COS
tunes Of rough imported cloth. which
have lately come into fashion. buttons
rs large as Il silver half dollarare used.
They are mostly of bronze. decorated
with various designs. ant expensive.
Some are made Of shell. and are va
ricgatcd and brilliant. The decorations
on the bronze buttons are landscapes,
heads. Of various historical person
ages. and horticultural designs. There
are still others that are made in imita-
ton Of cameo. and other, are manu-
featured from apec.lliar mixture Of gilt
and silver. OF course these styles of
buttons would never do for house cos
TUNES, hnt are quite appropriate on The
street on heavy garments. The old
style buttons. which were once 80 FASH
ionable, are now used on black silk
suits. Women Of quiet taste. however.
always prefer flat, silk covered buttons
and small crochet buttons. School
girls affect large Gilt buttons. but the
handsome bronze buttons are lie rage
and will no doubt. continue 10 bc 50
for some time.
In looking back over my stock Ten.
/. fifteen. twenty. and twenty-five years
ago. find many curious styles Of but
| tons which were in use at those periods.
| The buttons used among the rich TWEEN
| ty-iiyc wears ago We're made Of metal,
mostly in imitation Of gold and silver.
In still earlier days it was the custom
| to make buttons III Of silver aud rul,
pieces. but that was long before my
dav in the business, and haven't an,
relics of that time. Chintz and calic,
dresses were profnscly decorated with
| buttons Of agate n large AS silver
dollar, among which red and purple
predominated. Then there were the
small bronze horn buttons. which he
came popular aud were much worn b,
! the bellies of the period. There was
also about this time large button oil
solid mother Of pearl. Then came
glass buttons Of peculiar shapes. nicke
buttons, with designs of stars and other
figures upon them, and also large brass
| buttons, with which dresses were pro
fnsely trimmed. Conc-shapcd, whit.
porcelain but, ans Were in vogue nj ont
time. aud the more pointed they wer,
the more fashionable they We're con
sidered.
BRASS buttons shaped as acorns
buttons of bras, open work, with rec
Innings, and myraid Of other odd de
signs were among the styles wtri
twenty-five years ago. A little latcl
small pearl buttons, shirt buttons they
were called. came into use, and were
sewcd close together on tho front Of /;
dress. About the same time the meta
buttons were made smaller, and tn,
glass aud porcelain ones shared TIL
same fate. The craze for small but
tons became rs great Is it had former
" been for the large ones. Then it be
came the fashion to initiate fruits nnt
clusters Of grapes in buttons. Thcs'
buttons were worn in large punches o,
the front Of ladies' suits and were al
most rs tempting as the fruit itself. tn
limitations We're SO perfcc,. jet but
tons superseded these aud were worl
in various shapes, but usually in h
form Of \ long black worm. The.
were used with heavy braided pla>iron
and were. in their day. CONSIDERS
Just the thing