Morning journal and courier., 1888-02-27


broad stature of mental aad moral strength,
full of sound sense and honest conviction.
The hour found man ready for the work.
NOTES OF FASHION AND DRESS.
styles-Big Bonnets, Short Waists,
Plain Skirts and Empire Gowns
Novelties OF the Season.
Especial Correspondence of the JOURNAL AND
CoUR1ER.1
NEW YORK, Feb. 20.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
I'm the spring fuller crimson comes upon the
In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself
other crest
SIN the spring a iiveler iris changes on the bur
la the sprng gGqoE oSa maos fancy nightly turns TO
And in the spring every woman, with the
natural instincts of womanhood, turns her
thoughts ''to a love of an Easter bonnet"
Since tabled Venus rose in her pristine
leveliness from the waves, to be lovely and
loved and beautiful has been the innate de-
sire of every woman's heart All native ia
stincts, all natural desires are right in them
selves and benefcent, when not perverted by
overindulgenee or rendered crude and imper-
and training. The finest natural traits must
be improved by judicious exercise and that
feminine instinct the love of personal adorn-
ment must be curbed when excessive and en-
couraged when weak to produce that thing of
beauty and joy to sea we'll dressed wo-
| man. Lady readers of the JOURNAL AND
COURIER, I must utter
A WORD OF WARNING.
Never was there greater need of discrimi-
| mating taste in dress than this spring.
Why? Because in the very infnitude of
variety in colors, fabrics, styles and decora-
tive effects, in the very beauty and novelty
of the materials for the composition of the
| toilet there is danger of misapplieation of
| things beautiful in themselves but requiring
| peculiar styles of womanhood to wear them
to advantage. Nor can any set rules be
| given to- guide the untutored; for taste in
/ dress is ina measure innate. It can be cult
| waited; it cannot be impaired if there is
| natural instinct, no feeling for the beautiful
/ and trus in drapery, color and forr.
There is feature that threatens the aspir
| ant to tasteful attire this spring. There is
war between two very contradictory styles
| of dress, the Directory and the Louis XVI,
or Marie Antoinette.
| The long waists, peaked bodices and
beuffant skirts which we have been admiriag
| for the past four or five years are not ban
| ished from the wor Id of fashion. There are
| waistcoats, long pointed waists and full if
\ not much leoped draperies. In fact that
style of dress is in the ascendant, bat in
Paris itself there are daring innovations
| among the new people, the people with plsn-
| ty of money, too, who affect the short full
waists, long straight skirts, big bonnets,
puffed sleeves and broad belts and sashes of
THE DIRECTORY PERIOD.
Now while I must say that those Directory
STYLES are very ugly am bo1nd to admit that
| they are singulsrly becoming. I suppose it
| is by contrast. Not altogether, however, for
y I have observed that q well planned, well
| carried out Directory gown makes an old
woman look young again. Why cannot
| tell, bat the fact remains that they impart
| look of youth and force that is charming.
AS for the Directory bonnets they are hid
| eous They are short above the ears, and the
open brims rise up in peak above the fore
| head or are tilted forward over it in the most
absurd manner. Then they are trimmed
with great big bows of wide ribben
| that stand out in every direction
on the very trent of the crown,
| and have Immensely long strings of the same
| wide ribbon forming big bows on one side
under the ear or directly under the chin.
| But ugly as this sounds those horrid big bon
| nets actually make a plain, hard featured
woman look soft, sweet and baby faced.
| The long directory cloaks with their huge
| rolling collars or deep caps or hoods are i'm
mensely fashionable for opera wear. saw
| one in box at the Metropolitan Opera
House last Tuesday night, tho night of
THE ARIoN BALL.
Y 1t was lovely. The cloak mean, not the
ball It was of white and silver brocade,
| bands Of f1eecy Cashmere goats hair. 1t was
| fastened at the throat with a silver clasp
| with silver cords and tassels. When
the wearer threw it off revealing a
| Directory gown of pink broche with over
drapings of pink China silk and trimmings
| of lace and silver fringe, confess was
| dazzled. The bodice was short in the waist,
| low in the neck, back and front, but high on
| the shoulders, or rather it had shoulder
straps of pink ribbon braided with silver.
| The very short sleeves were putfed, rich tulls
| formed standing fraise around the bodice
and fell on the arms, meeting the long tan
| Suede gloves. The hair dressed la
Psyche and braided with silver galloon spark
| ling with small diamonds or neck jewels.
| The fan was of rose-colored crepe lisse
| spangled with silver. The handkerchief was
| of pink batiste edged with narrow Valen-
ciennss, and the lady wore a corsage bouquet
| of black roses. Her sash was Of pink
| ribbon soft and satin-like, bordered with
silver and feather edged with the same.
| She looked lovely and picturesque, but was
| conspicuous, for her dress was a contrast to
| most of those seen in the boxes. It looked
almost like
FANCY COSTUME.
| There is decided prevalence of canary
shades in all the new spring millinery. 1t
| is a becoming color TO all but pale COM
| plexions, and it combines admirably with
| almost every other color.
The colorings of the new China silks, benz
galines and chs1lis are enough to drive an
artist wild with delight. Never were full
reds, blues, greens, browns, tans and yell
| lows SO boldly brought out among such
variety of bewilderingly beautiful medium
| shades, ranging from tapestry greens
| aud gobslin blues to opaline grays,
THE FIGURED CHINA SILKS.
| Bengalines and other printed goods, WOOL
| en- and cetton come in all the new and old
pure tone colors, with bold figures in seat
tered jardiniere patterns in small set de-
signs and medium sized figures also, making
a variety greater than I have ever seen on
the counters before.
The new moire silks-and they are inn
menssly fashonable-come in all shades and
colors, black aud white, and in new watered
effects, in stripes of satin and Bengaline al
ternating with moire stripes and in short