The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1890-10-26
TRUE ART In DRESS DESIGNS
How Women Are Suffering from Reac-
ton After the Late Artistic Activity.
Value of Artistic Designs-Practical Points for
Purchasers of Fabrics for the Adorn-
ment Of the Person or the Home.
Written for tho sunday Journal.

Written for the sunday Journal.
The faultless design which leads descrip-
ton this week merits its name of princesse
dress by its grace and simplicity of ele-
gance. II may be royale or my of the soft.
thick silks. with front of madelasse. or the
newer damask OF rich cut work upon vel
vet.
The feather borders for autumn will soon
be replaced by winter fur trimmings,
which will be worn to an extent seldom
attempted.
The idea is not unwelcome to delicate
people; fur at wrists and throat adds o
comfortable c~osiness to the clothing and
keeps off the chills where they strike most
dangerously. Fur cuffs hooked close about
the wrist keep the pulse warm. and borders
in front give the warmth that is most CRATE
full over the chest.
Many a woman, we'll clad, In a liberal
house. gets her death by going about chilly.
with a slight GOODNESS in the back and front
of the c~hest-siRn that the vitality is low
and needs care to deep the fires of life
from going lower. 1t is held in contempt
to coddle ones self, as vigorous friends call
it, and so she runs close risk of pneumonia
rather than make herself comfortable in
her Owl way. In q velvet and fur season
one can hardly help being warmly dressed,
The second dress is also an ideal one
such as. We can fancy Ouida's heroines of
sumptuOus tastes wearing on terrace and
In hail. A plain velvet skirt, with cross
over waist, open low on the breast to show
a guipure or point-lace chemisette, Is worn
with broad girdle, Oriental jacket and
front panel or Bulgarian embroidery in
Annn orb Df col ..l .vrH IN Oly
toned they seem like shaded silks.
The dress would be prettier with the
belt, chemisette and small ruff only, leav-
off the jacket and frontal. However rich,
the embroidered sleeves rarely look well.
They have a harlequin effect. Without
this gypsy sort of jacket the gown is of q
style that one would be content to see a
woman appear in every autumn of her life
without change.
TOILETS.
Two comfortable-looking outdoor toilets
are of the dashIng design dear to women
who study dress for itself rather than its
fitness for the wearer. The fur or velvet
toque will be everyday wear, and the
hybrid vestment which tries to be jacket
and cape in one will he chosen by girls who
need to make the most of every good line
in their figure. and don't do it. The plump
and winning maiden of six or eight in the
frilled Overdress' of serge or smooth cloth
has much the best of it as to becoming
costume. She even wears her BOBBY cap
with a humorous grace, but, then, her
mamma had the taste to omit the visor,
which gives a very foolish or very hard look
to juvenile faces.
4, But the fancy cOunters-with their sets
of embroidered velvet sleeves ready to sew
in last years sacQue, the pink. canary and
pale blue ostrich collars and the Bulgarian
ing to most readers than the home comforts
in hosiery and inside wear. Scarlet knit
vests and drawers, soft as zephyr wool, are
elastic enough to draw Over white body
wear for snowy or muddy days. Sensible
women arc making knlckerbockers of the
up for morning gowns. In their way these
are better han most things made for us of
late y~eers-fine as the expensive French
f~iannels. in very pretty narrow stripes, and
being mixed cotton anu WOOL. neither
shrink nor fade.
One is grateful to find such satisfactory
material for gowns n petticOats, chill
dren's dresses and winter drawers at the
moderate price of 81 cents. a yard wide.
The cameps hair serges and cheviots at s.
and Sc a yard do not offer nearly as good
qualities for their price. They are coarse,
shay, attractive as SO much bed blanket
ing. and the worst is they wear three or
four years without changes, which is no
CCOUuIuCuodtiOus
Figured materials are in high fashion.
not only in the expensive silks. chinee and
printed, but in cashmeres and French
twilled ~fannels for street wear and de-
LANES or alpacas for house. The tiresome
wafer and half-mOOn figures give way to
the beautiful, old-fashiOned bouquets in
colOrs more or less natural and floral
stripes. Of course nothing like paniers or
overdrapery is to be thought of. and the
simple. gathered gowns with full fiounce
nm III tH nr0 80 vrAft nnA fhny,
lasting favor. The snowy silks for evening
I'm white or cream grounds, with gorgeous
pattern, partly chinee and partly in velvet
relief, are not good choice even for the
stage.
Such a dress seen once Is never forgotten,
and grows commonplace in three times
wearing. The flowers mt the bouquet de-
signs must be modest in size hot to be af-
~f1ictive. Well studied. of just that size
which gives impression of their beautiful
color, without stamping on 1t the eye, q
bouquet gown is a pleasure forever.
POVERTY OF RES DESIGNS.
1t is a sin to make or print an inferior
pattern when a good one is so long valued.
With all the fuss over schools of design. the
work sent out from the best ones is doubtful
ly desirable. A window of brocades is q
sight to turn ones eyes from. The exhibit
ton OF last year seems followed by a re-
action of design which sinks into dreari-
ness. Those spring acanthus and prickly
poppy leaf patterns up and down n rich
silk remind one of horned frogs and dragon
fins, or singing. illmannered and worse
scented coarse weeds. which possibly do for
the border of q Flemish tapestry. but are
not the ideas to associate with women's
gowns.
1t is a very plain law of taste. that moth
ing disagreeable should ever be figured In
human surroundings. Such infections are
the accidents of rude growth, but il is our
privilege to Danish the most distant hint of
them from our houses. our wallpaper, and
cushions. and carpets. or our women's and
children's dress.
If crude OF debased Gothic or Florentine
taste chose for its patterns the dock and
thistle leaves, which grew rank at the foot
of castle walls, when gardens were scarcely
known, it is not for us to follow their pow
erty of design. 1t is our fortune to select
what was best in the work of earlier art
without accepting its mistakes and propa-
eating its blunders. So every Daisy and
of the prettiest figure and fashion does her
part for encouraging good designs and bet
ter art. The lowered dresses preserve the
garden charm for us.
When Della comes down in her French
flannel house dress of material firm and
finished like Amazon cloth in those rich
colored stripes which repeat the hues of
dahlIas and BrOmpton stocks and choice
asters. she brings q hint of pleasure with
her which all eyes gratefully acknowledge.
Or when she goes tripping out in visiting
dress of fine Henrietta cloth. whose print
ing is one of the choice effects of the trade,