Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-03

Duchess-Rare Night Robes.
rcoRREsPoNpENcE OF THE DIsPATcB.l
LONDON, July 26.-In nothing has there
been such radical and complete change of
late as in the ideas of Englishwomen on the
subject of undergarments. There are, in
deed, plenty of British matrons who still
consider it quite shocking and immoral to
wear pretty underclothes, who still main
tain that good stout linen and longcloth,
with;a bit of strong crochet trimming, is
the only "wear" for wife and mother.
But the woman of fashion has changed all
that-her lingerie holds quite as important
a place in her wardrobe as her dresses, re-
quires nearly as much thought and fancy
expended upon it, and very often quite as
much money.
There is no end to the "ideas" and
novelties" in this line now, and the under
garments in the trousseau of fashionable
London girl are indeed lovely and wonder
full to behold. Here are some items which
were included the other day in the trousseau
of young lady of aristocratic family, who
married the young and wealthy heir of one
of our great houses. 1t would take too long
to describe all the marvels that were here
prepared: Chemises made of the finest, al
most transparent, white cambria, trimmed
round the hem, as well as the neck and
sleeves, with real valenciennes, and wide
insertion of the same lace let In about three
inches above the hem at the bottom, as we'll
as round the neck and down the front. with
numbers of tiny tucks in between running
lengthwise on the body and across on the
skirt of the chemise; chemises made of white
cambric, spotted with tiny blue or pink or
red flowers or round spots, and these edged
with very narrow Jorchon lace; others of
pale pink or pale blue cambria and edged
with the finest English embroidery, and
many OF cream-colored surah silk of the
sofUest and lIghtest texture possible and
trimmed with cream lace of various kinds.
DAINTINEss THE OBJECT.
The combinations which are much worn
again, now that everything must be ''colant,
colant, colant." that is, as tIght-6tting as
YOUR skin, or tighter, are made of the same
materials as the chemises, but tiny stripes
are oftener used than spots or flowers in the
colored cambrics. Large patterns should
never be used on either of these dainty gar
ments; they are not intime enough, and
suggest the outer world. Daintiness cannot
be carried too far in underclothing; fneness
and delicacy of texture are essential; there
must be nothing that is not soft and tender
to the touch; nothing that does not suggest
the most delicate and refined skin that even
a crumpled rose leaf would hurt
The nightgowns in the trousseau we are
describing were perfect dreams of poetic
daintiness-cobwebs would seem coarse and
clouds hard beside the exquisite delicacy of
these wondrous garments. Many of them
were made Of the thinnest and finest silk in
cream color, with ribbon let in at the collar
and sleeves and in rows of lace insertion at
intervals down the whole length OF the
front, and long rows down the sleeves,
which are loose, with frill of lace around
the edge, so as to fall back to the elbows
easily il the arm is,raised. Blue and pink
silks or cambrics are not used in the best
trousseaux for nightgowns-but there we're
here q dozen made of the most marvelously
fine black surah silk, edged with real black
Chantilly lace, and wide light insertion of
the same lace running down each side of
the front, which was buttoned the whole
way down from the throat to the feet
BLACK ISN'T VERY POPULAR.
These black silk underclothes are "quite
French" but have not really caught on
tion among their pretty underclothes, and
more to show that they are s'kuow-
ing" in French fashions than because they
really like to wear them. Nevertheless,
thin, very soft black silk night chemise.
trimmed with narrow black lace, is no un-
becoming garment and English wives are
beginning to find out that it is not alto
gether unwise to cultivate the habit of wear
ing pretty and fascinating things at all
times, at home as well as abroad. There is
nothing SO hattering to a husband as to see
that his wife cares to look pretty for him
and him alone, and this is perhaps the best
reason for all the pretty, fancy and wild ex-
travagance that is now being lsvished on
these airy nothings.
After the lovely and fantastic night gar
ments, chemises and combinations, we come
to the corsets. Some of the grandes danes
in Paris were very wroth with M. Paul
Bourget because, in his famous novel of
"Mensonges," be makes a famous lady talk
of her black satin corset. Now, though
black is very ''chouette" for nightgowns, it
is not admissible for corsets-these must be
white and only white-no pink, or red, blue
or black, pure white here and that of satin.
Transparent net corsets may indeed be worn
at the seaside or while yachting in very hot
weather, but the great lady who respects
herself" never admits anything but the neat
white satin corset into her wardrobe when
she is In town and in full dress.
MEASURE FOR coRsETs.
Nor does any good dresser ever buy a
corset ready made; she must be measured
for 1t carefully, and would as soon think of
wearing resdy-made dress as ready
made corset; and in this she is wise, if she
wants to set off her figure to the best adyan-
tage. Figures, like faces, vary with each
individual, and there is no such thing as a
real fit without special measurement This
is q hard saying for women who are not |
wealthy.
Before leaving this part of the subject I |
must mention the variety OF charming little |
vests that were to be worn underneath the |
corsets. Some for warm weather were made |
of perfect gosssmer like spun silk; others for
the colder months were of ribbed silk and |
fine wool mixed. They are made in delicate
shades of pink, salmon, cream and blue and |
are so clinging as to add almost nothing to |
the slender forms they are meant TO protect, |
They are made either with or without sleeves
to suit morning and evening dress, and are
low-necked, but can also be worn
with high dresses. Il Is better not to have
them much trimmed, az the lace would take |