The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-10
COSTUME FOR THE WAVES
Symphonies in White. Red, Blue,
Black, Yellow and Various
Other Shades.
Ellen Osborn Thinks the Bathing
Suit Both Innocent and
Commonplace.
The Tennis Toilet of Amelia Rives-Chan.
ler-A Plea Against Discords in
Afternoon Dresses.

Especial Correspondence of Tn INDEPENDENT
@EW YORK, AUGUST al HAY.
IfJ interested myself to some extent i
TX bathing suits this summer, partl
because the bathing suit seems al
ways of such interest to the general public
and party because of a suspicion that til
bathing suit had been maligned. My aus
picions have been confirmed so fully that
have come to wonder how the general pub
lilo conceived its interest in the bathin
suit in the beginning. and how, having
conceived an interest, it is able to maintai,
it; the bathing suit is, when you come t,
observe and study it, such a mild and inof
fensive and innocent and even common-
place piece of apparel.
The Newport bathing suit, as I observed
it when the tide was coming in and the sky
was gloriously blue and there were boat:
with white SAILS far out to sea, consists of 8
pair of long black stockings and little black
corked-soled shoes. Above this comes some
sort of a combination suit of blouse and
trousers, always trinity cut, but never in
any degree sensational, being dark in color,
high in the neck and with sleeves reaching
at least to the elbow, and provided with a
skirt to the knees. The prettiest suits, and
those which give a certain piquancy to the
prospect, have rolling collars of scarlet o,
orange or light blue, with perhaps a bright
cap and a girdle. / have seen one
woman bathing in pure white, but
for light colors, or any gayety of APP
parel, n has to try Narragansett
Pier, where on Thursday it suited me to
watch for a couple OF hours the kicking and
the splashing and the struggling and the
chattering, and where there were low necks
and short sleeves and red stockings, and yet
where any reasonably pure-minded indi-
vidual could be in all respects entirely COM
Portable.
There was one fine swimmer with dark red
dripping locks, under which looked out a
pair of flashing blue eyes, who wore quite an
elaborate costume of white serge, cut to show
to advantage & full white throat and two
magnificent arms. A blue hat, blue stock
ings and blue girdle of heavy eold-tasseled
cord went to finish a very striking but en-
tirely modest costume. A bit of a blonde who
couldn't swim at all but who was making
desperate efforts to learn, wore a deep red
suit that was worth some attention. Her
stockings were black, her little oilskin cap
was edged with black, a black band Dor
dered her shoulders, setting off their fair
ness, and her arms emerged from short
. black sleeves.
Many of the costumes were of silk, and
these, without doubt. show the figure more
plainly than does one of flannel or serge,
but there is an excellent reason for the sub
stitution, in that the silk is so much lighter
than q wooden fabric and does not hold the
water. The girl who rides, plays tennis,
climbs a mountain or exercises In a gymna-
SUM is privileged to have special and appro-
pirate costumes to do it in, and the girl who
bathes. especially if she is the girl who
swims, must have her arms and legs free and
be as little burdened as possible. Bare arms
and feet are not immodest in the water,
n the old meal bag suits were not only
inconvenient, but dangerous. Nine girls
in every ten take to the friendly shelter of
long bathing cloaks. when in dripping and
clinging garments they emerge from the
water between the long lines of staring
spectators, and SO l did not feel myself
called upon to pretend to any especial hor-
rOr of a pale yellow surah, braided in blue,
even though its wearer was inconsiderate
enough to wear a blue silk kerchief twisted
about her curly locks after the fashion OF a
Creole turban and to wear her back hair in
long Marguerite braids.
There was one suit in striped black and
white surah that was very pretty on the
brown-haired rosy mite of a woman who
had it on. Unde her broad white bathing
hat with its black trimming showed the
black sailor scarf at her throat and the black
ribbons knotting up her short white
sleeves.
1t is four or FIVE days since I was at Long
Branch, but | picked up there, 40 more than
at Newport or the Pier, material for any
bathing suit defamation. There has been
little bathing at the Branch since the tragic
death of young Brokaw. but when the girls
go into the water it is in suits less demure
than at Newport and less bright than at the
1Siar TlnrIy Him o-l h1,nl. $40 d.. ~z--I
ton colors, and the woman who wishes to
enllven them does SO with many rows or
white braid. Brown and yellow was, per-
haps. the most striking combination worn
by a girl with short, tawny locks turning
up in her neck in loose half curls. Her skull
cap of oiled silk had a kerohief of brown
and yellow plaid twisted about it, and with
a brown blouse and yellow neck scarf she
wore a short full brown and yellow skirt
and brown stockings. There were girls in
red and white stripes and girls in white
and yellow; there were girls with bare
necks and no sleeves; there were girls in
broad bathing hats and girls in skull caps,
but there were no girls whom it was not
quite permissible to look upon.
1t Is a pity that girls who play tennis do
not pay more regard to one another's coz
tunes, but persist in dressing themselves
in such disastrous diseords. 1t spoils the
prettiest of lawn pictures to see a girl in a
bright scarlet cap and blazer playing in the
same set with one gowned in buttercup vel
low. People who are to pass afternoons
together ought to dress with some sense OF
collective accord, if we are to have any
pleasure in life unspoiled by pictorial blem-
isles.
Amelie Rives Chanler was induced to play
half an hour the other afternoon, and her
tennis toilet WAS as picturesque as might
have been expected; she is even more beau
tlfui than before she went abroad, for her
face has more sensitiveness and expression,
She wore a white flannel ski.t with a pink
silk blouse and the most bewitchinp of
rustic hats garlanded with pink roses. She
did not play well, however, for in France
one gets out of practice, tennis being too
active a game for the Partisan.
A gathered skirt of blue surah forms part
of the tennis suit shown at the Pier,
The blouse bodice of the same goods il en-
broidered with sweet peas i'll 1859 pink and
white, and edged with a flounce forming
epauiets and skirt frills. The knotted sash
falls in front and long mits of ecru silk
are worn. This costume was finished in
New York this week to the order of Miss
fallie Hargous-about whose clothes one
gets, alas! very tired of w~ritinp-and
sent to Newport for the late summer prac-
tice.
Over the rail of a trim little yacht with
black hnil and white sails there leaned all
day Yesterday groups of girls watching the
oaZZllhg water and tho maneuvers of the
guile. 1T was an ideal day for a Yachting
party, and 1t brought out some ideal water
gowns. There were white ~tlannels with blue
shirts. gray tlanneis with pink shirts, and
brown fannels turned up with hens of gold
prnld5, As n ruip most pf +ba a. o,r.t;vo