The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1888-07-20

FOR YEARS 1T HAS BEEN GETTING SMALL.
ER AND SMALLER.

nave you noJlceu Jne peculiar klnd
of one-two-three step of ladies be-
fore they sit down, followed by q
backward motion, curious jerking of
the skirts and then graceful sinking
down into the seat7 If you have, you
have also noticed how the ladies fire
quently rise suddenly from their seats,
shake themselves with an odd kind of
a little movement and then sit down.
Both of these movements are due to
the bustle
And now the news comes from
Washington that Mrs. Cleveland has
concluded TO discard the hustle. OF
course it is of vital interest to every
woman in the land. Everything con
nected with this important question
has been discussed by the New York
ladies'. Fat and lean, old and young,
rich and poor, they all wear bustles,
and they are all anxious to know
whether they will continue to wear
them.
1t was with the desire of learning
all that there was on this subject that a
reporter visited the leading fashionable
dressmakers yesterday to find out what
was the tendency and drift in bustles.
"Mrs. Cieveland's DEPARTURE said
Redfern, "has attracted profound in
teresst In New York, and may affect
bustles in the fall. You know bustles
are gradually growing smaller and
smaller. This is the tendency abroad,
and we get all our fashions from there.
We use cushion instead of the store
bnstle and it can be made of the same
material as the gown. 1t is made of
silk, usually, and is stuffed with horse
hair and then quilted 1t is sewed in
under the foundation of the skirt.
Two steels are sewed in this founda-
tion also. Over these are 1raped the
dress. The first is sewed in nine inches
below the waist, the second seven
inches. They have strings attached
to the ends which permit of the hustle
being enlarged or decreased. Now, to
show you how the hustle is decreasing
in size, these steels year ago were
twenty.three and twenty seven inches
long respectively. Now they are only
seventeen and twenty-one and they are
constantly growing smaller"
SIS there any difference between
bustes for fat ladies and lean ones?"
"Very much. A very fat lady will
have only slight hint of hustle
You see she does not need much to &C
commodate her form, while very lean
thin lady needs all she can get"
Mrs. Cleveland is probable assisting
| to kill what would be at an end in 9
few more years, if signs mean anything
Bustles have had long run. They
came in about seven years ago, auC
succeeded the Princess robes. Yor
remember them, l supposed They
were skin tight. / have seen them &C
tight lady couldn't step more thar
twelve inches. Bustles were first mere
ly friIled horse hair. Then they grew
larger until two years ago, when they
reached their maximum.
$40 sit down with hustle is an art
You have noticed ladies' sitting dowr
at the theatre, l supposed Now shall
show you how lady ought to 81
down, with a medium sized hustle, SC
as not to attract attention" A younl
lady was called in from an adjoinln
room, she was asked to sit down anc
she sunk into chair without tn
slightest effort.
"How do you manage it so easily,
asked the reporter, lost in admiration
of the simplicity of the motion so un
usual.
at is very simple answered tn
young lady qnietly pushing her dres
around with her hand to properly ocat
the hustle "You see, simply let tn
steels touch the side of the chair as
sink into it, then l give a sharp pus
to one side; the hustle goes over to tn
other and | am all right. Ladies don
sit fiat down, because if they did the
would be on high cushion. Some
times the steels get fastened IN tn
dress and the hustle gets uncomfort
oble. Then the lady has to get u
and adjust it,
There was considerable trouble i
getting any direct expression of OPT
ion from the leading lady dressmakert
The subject was one of too muUh i'm
portance for them to commit then
selves until they had returned fror
Paris in the fall AT Nine. Switzer
they were very guarded. They ma,
heard of Mrs. Ceveland's change.
fact, they had discussed it with som
of their customers. Bustles wer
| growing smaller, there was no doubt @
that, very much smaller; but then tn
hustle had heen in long time.
had its friends and there was no tel
ing. One thing was certain, in hous
dresses the hustle had gone out.
AT Nine. Donovan's the reporte
was told that there would be no mate,
ial change until fall. "We max
dresses for Mrs. Whitney ard fo
nearly all of Mrs. Clevelands friend
in Washington. They have not ordel
ed the bustles out. They are all ge
ting smaller, but they have been fc
some time
do you use the same kink of hustle
as are used in tailor-made gowns?r
''Just the same. We make ther
ourselves and fit them in. Do thin
there will be revolution in bustles o
account of Mrs. Cleveland's departur,
No, l do not. We are asked about
a good deal by ladies', but we tell thel
all there will be no change until tn
fall. My own impression is tn.
bustles will gradually pass away"
At Nine. Connelly's there had bee
no change noticed and nothing coul
be learned detrimental to the bustl,
1t was reported that Mrs. Clevelan
had her dresses made there, but she ha
not had any of her bustleless dress,
made in New York. Miss Rose Elizi
beth Cleveland had some dresses mad
at a downtown store a month ago, br
they were all properly supplied wit
bustles. These, of course, are tn
dresses made for the rich. The poore
classes buy their bustles ready mad
There are probably fifty differer
kinds of busiles, and they range
price from 20 cents TO 81. They al
of every conceivable shape and the
names are legion. There is the "PriI
cess" the "Tapico,' the "Alask