St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-06

HARM1NG and grace
~NIM full, the Directoire dress
HD y seems destined pres
A5/C2o emily to become the
no I'll rage in fashionable So
w --ssgSg 4 ciety. 1t was to two
Iii @---'s persons of very oppo-
iii II ~ site tendencies and
M\C/[ characters that France
~ owed the astonishing
change in dress, from
utmost Iuxurv and folly to simplicity.
Which signaiizedOthe latter portion of
+ha last century. Powder, pyramids OF
hair, and ridiculous hoops gave place to
simnle muslin dresses and straw
hats, when Bernardin St. Pierre
clothed the heroine of his sue
ressful story. paul and Vir-
ginia." in such simple raiment. And
BENJAMIN Franklin, the bookseller OF
Phiiadelphia. coming to Paris as an
american deputy, turned the heads of
the ladies for awhile by the quaint sim
nIicity of his dress. They at once dis
carded their gold lace and embroidery,
and flew to classic models Tor lnSplra-
fion. After the revolution had eX-
pended its fury, society, exhausted py
the horrors it had gone through, re-
turned to home life and general beauty
of adornment with increased avioity,
and perhaps no age has handed GOWN 10
NC So many ornaments of undoubted
heantv as the so-called Directorie
neriod saws a writer in Oscar Wilde'S
Women's World.
The naste made in those days has
never as vet been rivaled; women were
wont to replace their real gems by these
admirable limitations in order to pay
their gambling debts without discovery.
RuckIeS. oval, square, harp-Shaped-
they all boast some special perfection OF
form or material, and are now applied
to shoes, waist-belts, and to ribbon bows
placed on the shoulder or on the front
of the bodice, and frequently at the SIDE
the skirt.
MANY beautiful buckles have been
handed down to us from earlier PERIODS,
but the watch pendants are more as
tinctive; diamonds and pearls, as well
as other gems, were otten ntroouceu
into the fine workmanship which char
acteriZed them, and most of the per-
sonaI ornaments of the Directolre pc
riod bear evidence of the dominant
craze for all that was classic. POM
peian designs, together with those OF
ancient Greece, found special favor
among women who barely con-
cealed the form of their limbs be-
meath gossamer drapery, through which
ieweled zones and carriers were
too clearly visible. Happy should be the
possessor of any of the enamel of that
date, for at the present moment nothing
is more fashionable, as indeed are the
styles of the jewelry which were worn
III France in 1895 and thereabout. The
long-handled eyeglasses, the many pins,
the clasps, the diadems and bands, OF
diamonds which were fashionable then
are fashionable now, and many of the
best jewellers both here and I'D Paris are
busy reproducing modern wares from
old designs.
Perhaps this may lead to the resusci-
tation to canoes once more. for they
ttke most important position among
thu Directolre ornaments; and glrdles
will. doubtless come back to us, not
merely made of cork, for these are be-
ginning to be considered an indispenSa--
Bile portion of a tea gown, but jeweledl
,girdles, gold studded with gems and
Canoes. At all events, buckles are most
generally worn now, and if you have
ANY family heirlooms of that kind, why,
treasure and make much of them. NO
modern reproduction can touch them