The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-03-02
FASHION NOTES.
New Wrinkles in Dress Invented by
Gothamites.

been so unusual at the north that it has
been very difficult to arrange outdoor dress
in accordance with it. The very cold
weather came early and late, the mid ca
son recalling the loveliest part of May.
These changes and uncertainties have been
had for the merchants and those sangulne
women who consider winter over when
February is well uuder way, and persist in
dressing up to poetic aud traditional
spring. Indeed. dress, as we'll as tue sea-
sons, is getting vey much mixed. We
have been accustomed to laugh at
Fnglishwomen for wearing fur over a light
dress in summer-that is upon the damp,
chilly days common to July in the British
Isles-but we have displayed straw bonnets
here. in our coolest regions, duri G the past
winter, and black lace dress has been seen
upon the street, in New York, in compa y
with muff and boa. Verify, there is moth
ing in the world that we can afford to ridi-
chile. for we never know how close an &C
ouaintanca we may make with it.
There is every opportunity for latitude in
regard to dress, for nothing is any more re-
msrkable. The 'street shows as a gem
tleman remarked the other day, who walks
the length of Broadway to Fifty-second
street every day from his Office, are "better
than a circus" and worth all they cos, he
thinks, for their spectacular effect alone.
The directoire styles are, Of course, pre-
dominant, but they are by no means uni
versal. There are long princesse coats,
with trailing sleeves, the points of which
nearly touch the ground, the interior show
ing the satin lining in contrasting color.
There are round, full cloaks in Connemara
STYLE. or made with a yoke, one Of which
displayed itself recently in bright, apple
green, the hood lined with red sa in, and a
red bonnet, with green paroquet dn minia-
ture), forming the principal decorative
feature.
Pretty Jacket costumes are still seen and
are neat and appropriate for young girls
and small slender figures, but the long gar
ments are newer and more swell" as the
phrase goes, and they are made in mate
iassie. always a stiff, ugly fabric, and in
the big, hideous, raised and detached fig
ured velvets, which have been compare
lively che p this season, and render stout
woman positively appalling.
OF course they are not now used by the
exclusives; they never ought to be used at
ALL Large detached, fixed figures are
always difficult to manage, to make up,
and ould be reserved for the character
costumes which dema them.
Stripes are apparently In great vogue
now, but they are too common to be fash
ionable during the incoming season, that is,
to lead fashion; or as efore ard frequently
remarked, everything is worn, but every
thing is not high fashion, which indeed, is
rarely seen upon the street at all. These
astonishing cloaks and costumes in loud and
contrasting colors which parade up and
down part of Broadway every fine after
noon are not worn by the 'four hundred"
nor even by the Que thousand who are
striving to be ad rittad to the ranks Of the
four hundred. They are actre ses in variety
shows, or third-ra5e opera companies or
women who have money, but not culture or
the experience of society, who are attracted
and excited by color as by wine, and have
nowhere to display it but upon the street.
There is a great deal Of happiness to be
obtained from color, and each individual
woman is at liberty, in these days and in
this country, to adapt it to her own taste,
but the way she uses it, is to experienced
eyes, very clear indication of her social
habits and status The tailor-made dress
has been accepted as the stand I'd for walk
ing attire, and the tendency is constantly
toward making it darker, more simple,
more unobtrusiVe, freer from noisy decora-
ton.
This does not render it less expensive. On
the contrary, the cost, which is put as much
upon the inside as the outside, is perhaps in
creased. But it is triumph of dress maxi &
skill and comfort The tailor-made dress
has passed through many vicissitudeS. 1t
has to adapt itself to the varying aud some
times vulgarizing tastes of the wearers and
also to the desire of the makers to offer
novelties" to their patrons. But the efforts
to graft upon them the bunchiness, the over
laying draperieS, the eccentric cut, the con-
trasts in material and color, the obtrusive
trimmings of the usual show room walking
dress, b ve been conspicuous failures; while
the best and most authoritative taste settles
down more and more upon those elements
which constitute quiet and absolutely in
conspicuous street costume.
The only external decoration permitted
upon really refined, tailOr-inade dress is
fine braiding or embroidery upon the ma
terial; the latter term including the stitched
edges, which are so simple, vet always ele-
giant as finish. A great deal of expense
may be put into this work if it is done by
hand. But this is exceptional. The cost Of
the best class of tailor made work is in the
quality of the cloths and s arge of which
the garments are made, in the specially
manufactured silk Innings, buttons, braids,
bindings and facings with which they are
finished.
The fit absolutely molds the figure and
never cha ges; and now that the skirts
hang straight, that the clumsy "mattrassesn
and overhanging draperles have been
abandoned, they are as near perfection as
anything can be made at this stage in
human development.
One who has experienced the untold mis-
cries involved in the whims and caprices of
fashion and the ignorance of the average
dressmaker. for any number of years, can
FULLY S mpathiZe with the last wish ex-
pressed by dying WON a short time
ago, when friend, trying to Chez her,
told her to get well and she should have
anything she wanted. do you know what
1t would ben she asked; a sudden, half
laughing Light re urning to her eyes; at
would be 'tailor-made' dress. OH I've
always wanted one. Not a make believe,
but real one; soft, fine, hand-stitched,
tailor-fitted, lined with silk and beautifully
made, such as cost 800 to $125.n "Well,
dear, you shall have one,n asserted her
friend. mo, shall never have one now"
and the light went out, for she had already
entered the valley.
Let no one curl scornful lip, or consider
tnis wish, uttered at such time, an evil
oence OF mind given over to frivolity. On
the contrary, 1t was little buried desire
brought to the surface by an accidental ex-
preston, and it only exhibited the inherent
iove which had never been gratifed for that
which is finest and best, in opposition to
mat to which most Of us are conference.-the
coarse and snowy, for the cheap is nearly
always made snowy in order to attract the
uneducated taste, while the educated taste
must either be able to minister TO itself, or
approximate as nearly as time and means
will permit.
Every woman of intelligence knows what
an eternally recurring struggle it is, not to
Eatny, but to find clothing that does not