The Washington critic., 1888-05-26
no SETS THE rAsuIoNsq
American Ladies' who Do Something in
Tint Direction.

w no set our fashiOnsp asked one
woman of another, as they were going
"oh-ing" and "Ah-ing'' through the
costume parlor of one of our big dry
goods houses yesterday.
"Why, the French, don't they2
And some actresses, l suppose"
'Not altogether" said No. /, with
an accent of condescending superior.
ity. "Very few people--outside Of
the swell set that is-know how much
some of our American social leaders
have to do with the fashions"
'Who, for instanceW asked No. 2,
skeptically.
Mrs. Secretary Whitney for one"
Both were in measure right. There
is nobody in America or abroad that
exercises any controlling influence on
fashion. There is no single fountain
head of fashion, such as was the
Empress Eugene in her day. The
Princess of Wales might exercise q
great deal more power than she does,
but she is shy, not in any way self
assettive, and prefers, unless il be in
some small details, following TO lead
ing. Queen Marguerite has some in
has no effect on the world in general,
unless it be by chance. In the same
local way the CZarine sets minor fash
ions in Russia. The big effects, the
main features, are settled by
the Parisian designers. They
are influenced by the stage,
but only in limited way. Society
people won't put up with STACEY"
Ia
Bernhardt invents n pretty conven-
tional thing like the Tosca straw hat,
society condescends TO take hint
from her, but even there it can hardly
be said to follow her. Bernhardt
wears her Tosca hat back on her head,
with the wide brim as sort of
background for her face. Society
wears its Tosca hat tipped down, 80
as to shade its eyes. In the details
that are anywhere influenced now
by personal example we follow
to considerable degree our
own grand danes. Mrs. Whit
ney introduced into New York
the exquisite little wrap compounded
of silk and black lace and beads
Hers was made by Worth, to be sure,
and Worth has made a good many
thousand of them since, but the first
idea of them, the suggestion, came
from Mrs. Whitney herself. She
stood sponsor also for the long plush
paletot as an evening wrap. She is
particularly fond you see of beautiful
and graceful wraps, and is not con-
tent with the inventions of others in
that line.
The vivid yellow that New York
blossomed out in a couple of years ago
was due to Mrs. Marshall o. Roberts.
Worth lined the court train of mag
nificent broclde gown with il for her.
and she fell in love with the shade
and introduced it into all her bonnets
for awhile, until it became too popu-
lar with the general public.
The heliotrope craze of last spring
came originally from Queen Marguer-
lite, whose delicate fair beauty it well
became, but Miss Winslow introduced
it here and wore it for month or so
before it was seen in the shops at all.
Then everybody, dark and light alike,
plunged into heliotrope.
Mrs. Coleman Drayton introduced
the covert coats first in New York,
and the whole family of top coats and
jackets have gained much of their
prestige from her.
Nobody looks to Ella Wheeler Will
cox as leader of fashion, but she
has had pronounced effect in several
circles in popularizing white for in.
door wear. Outside of her own per.
sonal acauaintances there are hun.
dreds of girls who think it perfectly
lovely to dress as they have heard she
does.
Mrs. Cleveland, popular as she is, has
had but little effect on styles in dress,
but she has been copied great deal
in her ways of doing her hair. Prob
ably, too, she has heightened the
reign of the lace gown. She wears
lace-draped skirts constantly herself
She was one of the first to wear the
Directoire hat.
Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt is gener.
ally content to follow the fashions as
they appear, but the Vanderbilt chill
dren have been the example of sim
plicity and ineXpensiveness in dres!
that all the children of swelldom have
finally followed.
Before Mrs. Potter was lost TO sight
in her barn storming tour In the wildf
of Texas she had lost much infiuenc,
in dress through trying to do to-
much and being too original, but sev
,'--'' fsfsI1lsA little things we owe to he
taste before she went on the stage
She revived the pretty silk or velve
bags that are so convenient on shop
= ing and visiting tours and which ha
not been seen since the days OF on
short-waisted young grandmothers.
.----