Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-08-18
THE FORM DIVINE.
AMERICAN WOMAS,S OUTLINE
NEEDS no DRESS-IMPROVER.
Compliments and Criticisms Freely
Bestowed-A Chapter in the
Field OF Dress, Rings. Etc.

be worn, has conclusively proven one
thing, and that is, that no woman governs
the fashions. They spring from the fertile
brain of one man, and that man is Mon
sieur Worth. A year ago, before the news
papers took up the question at all, Worth
sent his customers skirts without any bus
ties in them, and even when the bad taste
of womankind asserted itself, he could
never be persuaded into permitting any
thing more than a small improver. Mon
sieur Worth is, first of all, an artist, who
comedies that the most beautiful line in
world is that of womans back he
knows that the most perfect painting of
Venus shows her reclining so that this
curve is perfectly brought out, and he
knows az we'll that it is coarsened and vul-
CARRIED when huge protuberance is put
upon it.
That ones gown should not fall in is
perfectly true, but Worth, Felix and
Ducey all understand quite well that the
dignifed ar Of skirt is gained by the
profusion and arrangement of folds that
the thinnest wool or finest cotton can be
made, by its silk lining, to have the neces-
sary cachet of graceful folds and not to
look as if it were going to fall into the
figure and seem fattened by frequent wear.
Felix, like Worth, rebelled against the
hustle, but he revenged himself in a most
delightful way. He took to making per-
fectly plain, heavy silk skirts, gathered to
their belts, and which, because of the
stately material, stood out from the figure
and took away from it any slinky air.
while the curve, that blessed line of Hog
arth's, was preserved. 1t is claimed that
Worth said that, being well-made, Ameri-
can women should not wear bustles: and
another remark, not very complimentary
to the English woman, wss that little
bit of an improver was possibly an advan-
tage to her.
The great artist in gowns, like the artist
in colors, finds the difference between the
American and English woman to be the
same; to paint Venus it would be neces-
sary to take the English woman from the
waist up, the American from the waist
down. This is claimed to be the abso-
lutely perfect shape. 1t ought to be COM
bined in one woman, and we ought to see
1t some day, because intermarriages are
getting to be so common. That to-day be-
longs to the slender woman cannot be
doubted. One hundred and SEVENTH five
pounds Of quivering flesh does not look
well in an empire gown, with its short
waist and broad girdle, and 200 pounds in
Directoire get-up, with its broad revers
and enormous cravat, is sight that makes
all the little fishes at the seaside shudder.
because they think a whale Is approaching
who will swallow them in lump. A good
modiste can always develop slender fig
ure-she can never reduce large one.
Happily, the average American doesn't
grow to be, with advancing years. the
great mass of avoirdupois that stares
the young English woman in the face
! and warns her that this will be her
future, nor does she grow to look as if she
were huge anaconda digesting her meals
as she half sleeps in her carriage, so that
there is no reason why she should not be
what Worth claims she is, when guided by
| him, the best-dressed woman in the world.
don't think there is any danger of the
summertime girl wearing rings on her toes
as the nursery jangle tells about, but that
she does have them on her fingers cannot
be doubted. A quaint ring, one set with a
curiously eolored stone, one that belonged
to famous beauty, or even to great man.
is valued not only far above rubies, but
quite casts the glittering diamond in the
shade. 4 ring with history is treasure
it affords something to talk about. and
as 1T is considered rather smart to openly
express admiration of ones belongings. it is
easy TO understand the advantage attached
to peculiar ring. One young woman is
h,,,j E I.
green enamel set about with diamond stars:
this was picked up in pawnbrokers shop
in st. Petersburg. At the beginning of
the season this was all the story told about
ii, but now, as the young woman has a
vivid Imagination, she has added to its
original story, and says that it was given
by the handsome Orloff to the beautiful
blonde Empress Catherine. She tells a
blood-curdling story about it. How he
put it on GATHERINGS finger the night be-
fore she sent him to Siberia, and how, at
the instigation of his rival, the tiny ring
was thrown out of the window, picked
up by peasant and after all this time
and many adventures flashes from the
hand of an American girl. This little
fiction makes the ring much more interest
ing, ana sends me in state of rapt admit
ration at the GOODNESS with which the
young woman tells this tarradidde
Another ring is of soft gold and was
made in miners camp in 40. 1t is set
with a single ruby. The workmanship is
very rough, but the ring is decidedly sug-
gestive of the old ones that were worn by
the Egyptian women as symbols of their
slavery to one man. The moonstone is
religiously worn to the races, for, follow
ing up the idea of the Prince of Wales, it
is believed to bring good luck IN gambling.
| She who is nervous, who feels that life is
only worth living because of the hope that
she may some day be well, is rapidly get
ting better under the influence of a beau
tiful emerald. Nobody ever does confess
to being annoyed about lover, to doubt
ing his faithfulness or thinking that he
may be growing weary, but the fad for
sapphlres seems to suggest that some maid
ems are taking time by the forelock and
keeping him faithful, before he has time
for anything else.
Clear pearls are not anxiously sought
for, as they bring tears without end, but
| the pink pearl that issues sudden shower
of tears and then weeks and months of per-
feet happiness, is as eagerly sought for as
| it is difficult to get. A long time ago a
wise man said: I" He who hath a trr-
quoise hath a friend" so that it is not odd
to see parasol handles studded with the
bright blue stones, while bands of them
are worn as bangles, and vinagrettes are
set with them; the smart girl of to-day
believes, like the old Russian: "The
more friends, the fewer enemies" Apropos
of pearls. while Mrs. Marshall o. Roberts
may have the finest collection of white
pearls it is very certain that the largest
single pin pearl shows its soft luster on the
white, well-formed hand of Mrs. Langtry
Mrs. Astor is credited with having the finest
single sapphire in this country, but again
does the Lilyship lead, for her famous
sapphire necklace is, it is said by experts,
to be the most perfect string of sapphlres
ever shown. Real rubies are not only
very rare, but, in addition, are wonder
fully expensive. No great number of
them is possessed by any single woman,
although almost every leader in the swell
set possesses at least one fine one. The in
terest in the stones those beautiful flash
ing stars of the earth, is to be commended,