The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-12
WHENCE FASHIONS wH1Ms2
Not Always Set by Parisians But Ere
Quently by American Danes.

| Not Always Set by Parisians But Ere
Quently by American Danes.
From the New York Graphic.
"Who sets our fashionsY' 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 yester-
day.
why, the French, don't theyl And
some actresses, suppose
"Not altogether" said No /, with an ac-
cent OF condescending superiority. Very
few people-outside of the swell set-know
how much some of our American social
leaders have to do with the fashions"
WHO, for instancep asked No. 2, skepti-
cally.
MRS. Secretary Whitney for one" Both
were in a measure right There is nobody
IN America or abroad that exercises any
| controlling influence on fashion. There is
no single Iountainhead Of fashion such as
was the Empress Eugene in her day. The
| Princess OF Wales might exercise a great
deal more power than she does, but she is
shy, not In any way self-assertive, and pre-
fers, unless it be in some small details, fol
lowing to leading Queen Marguerite has
some Influenza great deal In Italy, but
she has no effect on the world in general,
unless it be by chance. In the same local
way the C2arina sets minor fashions in
Russia. The big effects, the main features,
are settled by the Partisan designers. They
are influenced by the stage, but only in a
limited way. Society people won't put up
with STACEY" things, no matter how
| pretty. When Bernhard inveuts
pretty conventional thing like the
| Tosca straw hat, society condesconds to
take hint from her, but even there it can
hardly be said to follow her. Bernhard
wears her Tosca hat back on her head, with
the wide brim as sort of a background for
her face, Society wears its Tosca hat tipped
down so as to shade Its eyes. In the details
that are anywhere influenced now by per-
sonal example we follow to a 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 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 even
ing wrap. She is particularly fond, you see,
OF beautiful and graceful wraps, and is not
content with the inventions of others in that
line
The vivid yellow that New York bios
somed out in a couple of years ago was due
| to Mrs Marshall o. Roberts Worth lined
the court train of a magnificent brocade
gown with it for her, aud she fell in love
with the shade and introduced it into all
her bonnets for awhile, until it became too
popular with the general public
| The hehOtrope craze of last spring came
originally from Queen Marguerite, 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 Wilcox as
leader of fashion, but she has had pro-
nounced effect iii several circles in popular
izing white for underwear. Outside of her
own personal acquaintance, 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 a great deal in her ways of
doing her hair Probably, too, she has
lengthened the reign of the lace gown. She
wears lace-draped skirts constantly herself.
She was one Of the first to wear the Direc-
| toire hat.
Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt is generally
| content TO follow the fashions as they APP
pear, but the Vanderbilt children have been
the example of simplicity and inexpensive
ness in dress that all the children OF swell
dom have finally followed.
| Before Mrs. Potter was lost to sight in
her transforming tour in the wilds of
| Texas she had lost much influence in dress
| through trying to do too much and being
too original, but several pretty little things
we owe TO her taste before she went on the
| stage. Shesrevived the pretty silk or velvet
bags that are so convenient on shopping and
visiting tours and which had not been seen
since the days of our short-waisted young
QrandmOthers