Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-26

Al
IVA F icled that during the
Nk French Revolution
everything pertain
ing to monarchical styles was abolished,
and later came the craze for Republican
simplicity, which, under the Directory, be-
came greatly modified, and that when Ma
poleon invested himself with the imperial
purple, the court ladies renounced the mex
pens1ve % attire, and blossomed out in
those graceful creations known as Empire,
Josephine and Recamier toilets, which the
wheels of time have so lately brought round
again for our inspection and wise adoption,
since they are more or less becoming to
every style.
How frequently it happens, and how pain
full the observation, that when one of our
beauties adopts style particularly suited to
her, her caprice is at once recklessly and,
alasl lavishly appropriated by other sisters,
to whom the gods were less kind in their
distribution Of flesh and blood favors-and
the result is a caricature. This need never
happen. Fashions there are in plenty, and
suitable to every style of perfection and i'm
perfection of face and figure. I do not re-
member time when there was so much lati-
tude in dress allowable as during the pres
ent season; and it is pleasure to say, 1
think, our women are becoming too pro-
gressive in matters of dress to abjectly fol-
low mode because someone else finds it be-
coming.
TO HIDE PERSONAL DEFECTS.
Time was when women dressed as nearly
alike as was possible, blindly following q
leader, with no consideration for length
breadth or thickness So that when Queen
Victoria adopted crinoline, straightway the
thick the thin, the tall and the short, rushed
to crinoline, and with what shocking effect!
Nor is this the only style inaugurated to
hide a personal defect. Very many Of
fashions vagaries can be accounted for in
this way. We are told the handkerchief
would have remained in our pockets to be
used only in strictest privacy, had it not
been for the catarrhal ailment of q queen
and that we are indebted to an English
sovereign, who had scrofula on her neck,
for the ruff or ruch.
But probably more of our fashions have
had their origin before the footlights than
upon the throne, actresses and prima
donnas having always been prominent in
introducing new fashions. Sara Bernhardt
has been called the patron saint of thin
women, since by making a study of her
physical defects she has help us discover
our own, and more or less adopt her artistic
and effective remedies.
To the erratic Sara we mu be grateful
for most of the loose and unfettled in STYLES
the Fedora vest, mother hubbard wraps,
wrinkled gloves, Grecian draperies, flowing
scarfs, etc.-but 1 think Madam Bernhardt,
with all her love of the "loose" drapery,
must be self-satisfed with not having intro
ducing thing so unbecoming and deserved
" unpopular as the Hading veil, which, by
the way, "pretty Jane" declines the honor
Of having created.
THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
To the charming Princess of Wales, I
think, we are indebted for more that is SEN
sible as well as beautiful, than to any other
person. In the styles of her adoption we
have an example of the ladylike-aQ
absence of the clash" or vulgar street dis
play, denoted by loud bonnets, glittering
jewels and elaborate dresses and wraps.
(Pittsburg women who do their own market
ing please take notice.l I am under the i'm
preston it was the Princess of Wales who
introduced thatqueen of street and travelling
gowns-the tailor-made-which simplicity
OF costume it is gratifying to notice remains
in popular favor.
In the dresses of the present season we no.
tice no senseless 'gimcracks' at the expense
Of yards of material; no over-done draperies,
but everything for out-of-door wear has an
air of cultured simplicity. The untidy long
skirt, which was heraIded so long ahead Of
the season, must have been still-born, since
it has not been publicly paraded. That bug
bear to the masculine mind, the "horrid
bustle," is reduced almost to normal lines;
sleeves are cut with view to free circula-
tion of the blood, thereby giving the men a
monopoly of red noses; draperies were never
more literally within the confines of good
taste; lacing is deemed too vulgar for men-
=, ~, g. - L.
last, as largely studied as effect.
BAD MILLINERY SELECTIONS.
I think more mistakes are made in the
selection of suitable and becoming millinery
than in matters OF dress. There is something
of an excuse for this the present season since
there never was less new and taking in
this line on the market. 1t is supposable
that the acme of perfection is thought to
have been reached, since we have this season
been given a rehash of last summers styles,
which include the capote, the turban, the
Alpine and the Gainsborough, any one of
which may be rendered almost new in style,
and certainly becoming in appearance, by
the placing Of decorations adjusted to suit
the shape Of the wearer's face.
Why so many of US continue to 90
masquerading about in a bonnet or hat,
which by virtue of the eternal fitness Of the
thlnR ngnUy Delongs 70 another is
mystery. Why will the thin and wrinkled
face continue to play hide and seek under
the wide spreading Gainsborough, and the
full round face keep on smiling in blissful
inconsistencies of the who-kiIled-cock-
robin air, the turbsn or cspote, several
times too small for her head, has given
her.
Surely we could avoid much Of this
freakish appearance by q little timely
thought and the cultivation OF,
Good sense which only is the gift of Heaven,
And though no science is worth the other
seven.
MEG MCGIETY