Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-05-13
BUTTON LORE.
How Our Ancestors Bedecked Their Per-
sOns-The Styles of To-Day.

How Our Ancestors Bedecked Their Per-
sons-The Styles of To-Day.
Buttons are now as much part of
the makeup of dress as the cloth
ITSELF" dealer said to a reporter the
other day, land as much care is exer-
cised in their selection as in 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 as large as 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 variegated and
brilliant. The decorations on the bronze
buttons are landscapes, heads of vari-
Gus historical personages and horti-
cultural designs. There are still others
that are made in 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. The old style but
tons, which were once so fashionable,
are now used on black silk suits.
Women of quiet taste, however, always
prefer fiat, silk-covered buttons and
small crochet buttons. School girls
affect large gilt buttons, but the hand
some bronze buttons are the rage and
will, no doubt, continue to be so for
| me time.
so"In looking back over my stock of
ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty-five
years ago, l find many curious styles of
buttons, which were in use at those
periods. The buttons used among the
rich twenty-five years ago were made
of metal, mostly in 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 profusely dec
GRATED with large buttons of agate as
large as silver dollar, among which
red and purple predominated. 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 this 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 profusely trimmed.
Cone-shaped, white porcelain buttons
were in vogue at one time, and the
more pointed they were the more fash.
ionable they were considered.
''Brass buttons shaped as acorns,
buttons of brass open work, with red
Innings, and a myriad of other odd de.
signs were among the styles worn
twenty-five years ago. A little late,
small pearl buttons, shirt-buttons they
were called. came into use. and were
sewed close together on the front of 9
dress. About the same time the meta
buttons were made smaller, and tn,
glass and porcelain ones shared the same
fate. The craze for small buttons becam,
as great as it had formerly been for tn,
large ones. Then it became tn,
fashion to initiate fruits and clusters o
grapes in buttons. These buttons wer,
worn in large punches on the fronts o
ladies suits and were almost as tempt
ing as the fruit itself, the limitations
were so perfect. Jet buttons super
seeded these and were worn in various
shapes, but usually in the form of
long black worm. They were use,
with heavy braided plastrons and were
in their day, considered Just th
thing. IN Y. Tribune.