West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-05-07
BUTTON LORE.
How our Ancestors Bedccked Their Per-
sons-Thc styles of To-Day.

How our Ancestors Hcdccked Their Per-
sonS-Thc styles of To-Day.
Buttons are now a, much a part of
the makeup of dress as the cloth
itself, ' dealer said to reporter the
other day, "and as much care is cNcr-
ciscd in their selection aS i'm the cutting
and fitting of the garment The colors
must harmonic with that of the goods
to the shade, and in size the buttons
must correspond with the general style
of the dress and the toilet which fol-
lows. On street costumes of rough
imported cloth, which have lately come
into fashion, buttons "a large ~ sill
yer half dollar are used. They are
mostly of bronze, decorated with vari-
Gus designs, and expensive. Some are
made of shell. and are variegatcd and
brilliant. The decorations on the bronze
buttons are landscapes, heads of vari-
ous historical pcrSOnagcs and horti-
cultural designs There are still others
that are made I'm imitation of cameo,
and others are manufactured from a
peculiar mixture of gilt and silver OF
course these styles of buttons would
never do for house costumes. but are
quite appropriate on the street ON
heavy garments. Tho old STYLE hut.
tons, which were once so fashionable.
are now used ON black silk suits.
Women of quiet taste, however, always
prefer fiat, silk-covcrcd buttons and
small crochet buttons. School girls
affect large gilt buttons, but tho hand
some bronze buttons are the rage aud
Will, no doubt, continue to he so for
me time.
so''ln looking back over my stock of
ten. fifteen, twenty and Twenty-Five
years ago, ] find many curious STYLES of
buttons, which were i'm use at those
periods The buttons used among the
rich twenty-five years ago were made
OF metal, mostly i'm imitation of gold
and silver In still earlier days it was
the custom TO make buttons out of sill
yer and gold pieces, but that was long
before my day in the business, and !
haven't any relics OF that time. Chintz
and calico dresses were profuscly dec
Grated with large buttons OF agate as
large as silver dollar, among which
red and purple prcdomnatcd. Then
there were the small bronze horn but
tons, which became popular and were
much worn by the bellies Of the period
There was also used about thi, time "A
large button Of solid mother OF pearl
Then came glass buttons of peculiar
shapes, nickel buttons, with designs
Of stars aud other figures upon them.
and also large brass buttons, with
which dresses were profuscly trimmed
Conc-shapcd, white porcelain buttons
were i'm vogue at one time. and tho
more pointed they were the more fash
iOnablc they were considered
Brass buttons shaped as acorns.
''buttons Of brass open work. with red
Innings, and "a myriad of other odd de-
.slgns were among the styles worn
twenty-five years ago A little later
small pearl buttons. shirt-buttons they
were called. came into use. and were
scwcd close together ON the front of a
dress. About the same time the metal
buttons were made smaller, and the
glass and porcelain ones shared the same
fate. IhecraZciOrsmal buttOn, became
az great "a, IT, had formerly been for the
large ones. Then H. became the
fashion 10 initiate fruits and clusters of
grapes i'm buttons. These buttons were
worn i'm large punches ON the fronts ~
ladies suits anil were almost as tempt
ing as the fruit itself. the limitations
were so perfect jet buttons super
5cdcd these and were worn in variOu,
shapes, but usually i'm the form of "a
long black worm They were used
with heavy braided pla-trons and were.
in their day considered just the
thing IN y. TrjbUue.