The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-12-20
One woman,s Dress Album.

a dress album is now the popular
fad. l saw most interesting one
lately, one that had been kept for years
long before they became fashionable.
The owner is young bookkeeper, with
an artistic faculty, who is always ex-
quisitely dressed on most moderate
salary.
Her album contains scraps of nearly
every gown she has worn, from the
dainty baby dresses TO her latest tailor
made gown.
.'My grandmother taught me when l
was q little thing to string pieces of my
dresses together with thread and needle"
she said, "and had always kept up the
custom till few years ago, when the
idea of lacking the scraps into an album
came into my mind, though had never
heard of any ones doing So" and she
opened large scrap album to the first
page, where are pieces of the white baby
dresses, with scraps of delicate lace and
embroidery.
.sOf course l cannot remember these"
she said. my recollection begins with
this, which was.a favorite dress when
child" pointing to a pretty pink sprigged
lawn.
By an odd blue and white plaid is
written: '',My first silk Eighth birth
day" Then follows an array of school
girl dresses, each labeled with some
brief "reminiscences or date.
One page is given up to scraps from
her wardrobe when she first went to
boarding school. Under light sum-
mer silk are the words, 'sFirst trained
dress" In a pale blue wool she had her
"First proposal. Declined" These sim
pie and pretty gowns eliminate in scraps
of india null and lace, which bear the
momentous date of Graduation"
The explanatory notes grow in inter-
est after this. There are ball dresses
with initials of senders of bouquets; a
scrap from a riding habit with initials. of
escort; street and house dresses with
some piquant suggestion of adventure or
interesting occurrence.
The dresses for particular season
are grouped together under a heading,
Summer Tor winter) of 1S-." Then fol
low the scraps with more elaborate notes.
Bits of the trimming accompany each
gown, with brief descriptions of the style
in which it is fashioned and name of
modiste.
A violet strewn lawn has the simple
line: "June Is, -. HI. l.. accepted. .
Under a soft golden brown wool is writ
ten, Dearest of dresses, because H
loved it,
Then comes page of mourning gar
ments worn for the man whose wifessht
was to have been, and for the father
whose dearest pleasure had been the
qualification of her every wish.
The dresses became less costly after
this, for she had been thrown upon. he
own resources, like many a petted Child
of luxury, and by plain blue. flame
is written, First dress / bought witt
money had earned myself" The gowns
begin TO be made over now. A seal brow
wool trimmed with velvet appears ol
the next winters page in combination
with harmoniZing stripe, while the vel
vet is used as collar, cuffs and revers OF
lavender cashmere tea gown; but tn
dresses are as tasteful and dainty a
when hundreds of dollars were invested
in them.
A cheviot dress dates from the frs
trip to the seashore; pale green evening
gown bears date. of a grand reception
while here and there are noted names
"Wore this when introduced to- Mrs
-" s'This to Sorosis dinner" 9TH
when G, P. R. called"
There is more than one gown by whic
is written the initials of some unfortu
nate man with the terse legend, ere
jected."
.ssAnd when will you add the weddin
dresst'' 1 asked.
Never" she answered sadly, turnin
back ten years to ''The dearest of dTessei
because H loved it,
JESSIE F. O'DoNNELL