Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-22
COMM0N-SENSE CHAT.
Shirley Dare Discusses Some Of the
Latest Fashions for Women.
MARY ANDERSON'S STREET DRESS.
Good Society Has Bidden Farewell to the
Big Bustle.
MRS. BERNARD BEEREs ARTISTIC GOWN
WRITTEN FOR TILE D1srArcH.l

You all have the fashions before you il
papers and magazines. Suppose, instead o.
rehearsing all the hackneyed items. we q
over them to criticise and select what will
suit really artistic taste. That includes
convenience, sound wear and comfort, a.
well as becoming effects. 1t does not in
clude the pretended antique, studied by am
bilious damsels, for Greek and medieval
dresses are as inartistic for the society of to-
day as freedom cap and gown of the stal
spangled banners. Fitness for its time anG
purpose is the keynote OF taste anywhere.
Take the fashion plates in the popular
sheets, and the artist quickly discrim
mates the points which recommend the
present style. The waists are well pro
portioned, sleeves capable of being made
convenient, the skirts full enough for be.
coming drapery and clear the ground
True, dressmakers cut skirts to brush the
street, but there is general protest on the
part OF wearers, which wins the day. When
the trailing skirt last made its advent 20
years ago, women meekly swept quarter
yard Of demi-train over the pavement, for
through, without trying to evade the fash
ion. But now, fine dressmakers acknowl-
edge that sweeping skirts are in style, yet
advise against them, and fine women follow
their advice. The hands on the dial have
moved forward. Nobody pretends to wear a
hustle now, in good society. Two springs in
the petticoaty and full back breadth in the
dress give elegant relief to the figure, but
even the little silk pad is discarded by mod
ish dressers, though second-rate women cling
to the relic of the big, bouffant hustle. Stiff
underskirts keep the dress from clinging
or the cheap MANILA skirting, which retains
its wiry quality without starch after wash
ing, give that bouyant air to draperies
which big tournures never have.
SOME FASHIONS.
The coat-shaped polonaise in velvet or
matelasse over a skirt of soft WOOL is the
stylish street dress for autumn, varied by
the much braided jacket for shopping or
running about. and the Cossack capes, or
coachman's capes in three to five over
tapping folds, for those who can wear them.
The artistic woman will strike these capes
from use at once, as they are the most try
ing thing in the fashion. As commonly
give a parti-colored effect and cut up the
figure intolerably. Of the same color as
the coat they might be admitted for warmth,
but only for slender, fine figures. A we'll
drawn. clean lined pair of shoulders in a
cape looks absolutely clumsy. The only
cape that suits general style is the military,
cut precisely like that on soldiers over
coat. This is useful as an additional pro-
lection, and lends grace to the close coat,
especially with that silk lining to suit the
cloth.
The fabrics of the season are many, but
strict style chooses fer coats among velvet,
corduroy, camel's hair cloth, serge and
smooth-faced cloth, light, thick and plant.
A lady who dresses well, but with careful
outlay, does we'll to choose camel's hair
nut or Eiffel red, the new terra cotta-prune
or nut-brown being most stylish. The coat
has short directoire front, with plaitsN in
the back covering the skirt. Or it is a
polonaise, simply fitting, enveloping the en-
tire figure, and might be as we'll worn with
out any dress for all that is seen of the lat
ter. An economical woman will have coat
of this style and wear out her old dresses
under it for the street. repeat the caution
of careful women never to wear the waist of
good dress with cloak, which rubs and
defaces the bodice, but keep plain wool
jersey to wear under wraps The coat is
made handsome, with velvet collar and
trimmings, and long front of velvet Is
sensible addition, laid over the cloth, which
it keeps from wearing. A velvet point COW
ering the back to the waist also gives
warmth, but the velvet breadth under the
coat skirts open in the back is out of taste.
The open skirt looks and is chilly In windy
autumn, and appears as if lady had made
a mistake in dressing, while rich fabric is
sure to be crushed in sitting and show it.
Country dressmakers show very poor taste
in making cloth coats open back and front
over wool goods Of contrasting color, and the
effect is not much better in moire and velvet.
MRS. BEERE's NEW GOWNS.
Full velvet sleeves on a cloth coat are
inartistic, unless worn with a velvet skirt,
as sleeveless cloth overdress upon a velvet
gown. They are in fashion, it is true,
young woman, but you don't want to wear
them, as they make the cloth look poor be-
side them, and you can spend your money to
better advantage. It is we'll enough if you
can afford to dress as Mrs. Bernard Beere
does, who is, or whose dressmaker is, the most
admirable designer on the English stage.
Her costume will be close overdress of
India camels hair, in indistinct cheyron
and shawl weaving, of one color, or two
shades almost alike, sleeveless and open
over full velvet robe, with rich metallic
embroidered girdle, and border at throat
and hem. She looks like picture in it
and sumptuous enough for a countess,
while New York girl will spend enough
on her commonplace street dress to have
such gown twice over. What will she
spend it in? Why, in the coarse braiding
and applied trimming which disfgure every
other dress one sees, trimmings only fit for
upholstery, not for women's figures, that do
not add one idea of refinement or pleasure
to address,. Passementerie,t to be worth wear
ing. costs like lace, real lace, mind, and
these detestable woolen gimps and soutaches
have the stamp of Berlin and machine work
all over. Different as day from dusk are
the narrow borders and ribbons embroidered
in small Arabic lettering of gold or strong
color, to which all the rich confused shades
of the grounding converge. This is the
finest of machine work when machine at all,
and meant for the harmonious bordering of
mellow-hued velvets and camel hair, more
silken and supple than velvet.
IF one can't afford camePs hair, Eastern
embroideries ands velvet underdresses, a
suit of chestnut corduroy is as durable and
chic as anything in the way of inexpensive
dress. just as gentleman who can t afford
frock coats and dress coats keeps to gray
cheviot, a lady compelled to count cost
chooses between serge and corduroy. A
studied plainness lends style; the skirt in
box pleats, a round waist with slashed tabs
below the belt, as seen in old pictures, an
easy coat sleeve, longer than usual, fit
like a riding habit Jacket of the plainest