, 1892-02-28
WOMAN AND HER DRESS.
A Terribly Cynical View of the Fashions
for the Coming Spring.

animal, ana now snOulu ner patron sam
be other? And whittier, having achieved
a certain measure of elegance, oh,
whittier will she hurry us? Toward
what slough, what quag of ugliness will
pit please her to turn our all too willing
feet Will she revive the old horrors OF
Ipannier and "draped" skirt and the
hated birdcage? Who can tell? Hen
,irresponsibility is devoid of sequence as
of reason; It's ~iutractable as a mule and
hs Tightly as Miss Broughton's heroines
kold stylel
At the present moment there is much
TO rejoice in. The long, foundationless
skirts, with their graceful, fanlike folds,
bare both attractive and comfortable; and
BIO p~etticoats were ever much prettieT
this side of Eden. Built in many colored
brocades after the same slim fashion as
the skirts above them; frilled with lace
or fiounced with their own silken fabric;
lined, too, sometimes Out imperceptibly)
with the finest of fine woolens; albeit
most untempestuous, they are worthy Of
Immortal verse.
Unhappily, the tartan denominations,
most odious of p~atternings, are always
well nigh irrepressible, especially in
respect Of understands and stockings; for
there is nothing SO tasteless as I'M
save only man-man, whom (she avers)
she lives to please. Both petticoat and
stockings should carry out the enhar-
monies of whatever color chord may be
struck in the outer toilet, in vest, garni-
ture or headgear. If the costume be I'M
mitigated black, why, then its brocaded
supplement must shine i~ntrinsically fair
in black and white or black and cream.
One such radiant example parades a
woven design of conventionalized elder
flowers and berries, and is bordered with
several rows Of foamy lace. Again, with
a chestnut brown gown, broidered in
eucalyptus green and faint pink (Which
colors haunt the bonnet, and Herewith
the lapels, collar and cuffs of the Louis
XVI mantle(, the petticoat is overclus-
tered with pale pink chestnut blossoms
and leaves upon n delicate cream with
coffee ground.
Here the shoes, sufficiently stout for
outdoor wear. are in dark chestnut brown
leather, with plain gold buckles, while
the silk hose, in a little thicker silk than
common, are broidered in dim green and
pink. Again. you may ruffle it in violet
hemmed and violet vested black; your
broad velvet hat shall be n parterre of
pale violets, black ostrich and empurpled
bows; your flowing mantle, in black vel
vet shot with dim CLEANS of violet, shall
be ostrich bordered; the long, straight
falling folds of your skirt, gathered in
your left hand. shall give but n glimpse
of YOU pale lilac petticoat literally
strewn with lark violets and violet buds;
when the browning satisfaction, the mems
conscia recti, shall be yours, for you will
know that the completeness of your tot
let is as grundlich as all real works of art
must be and are.
For walking wear o mornings there
are fabrics agreeably rough, touched
with, as it were, a pleasing affectation of
savagery. Soft, fuzzy surfaced cloths,
patterned or plain plain for choice, yet
not Objectionable though p~atterned), in
duh browns, fawns, heathers, grays, etc.
But here, too, is the trail of the tartan;
howbeit you would, alasl it were not SO
forever and forever"
Of the unpatterned cloths, n gull gray
gown, very plain and trim, with a long
ish coat worn over a frilled China silk
shirt, mistily printed with japanese ane-
mones in gray, amber I'M white-this,
we say, is charming, as is another, a kind
of dull n shirted in likewise with an
ashes of roses silk, bearing a dim device
of scattered purple violets. Both have
fiat, down pointing girdles clasping in
visibly to left. the first of old Flemish
silver work. the second of hammered cop
per.
For the freaked woolens, arabesoues.
neither o large nor too distinct, are the
only possible decoration. Flowers or
leaf shapes are obviously inappropriate;
stripes are n WEAKNESS, spots an irrita-
ton, while chequers delight not any hu-
man thing. The ideal enlightenment is
vague in outline, harmonious of tone and
in size avoiding bed curtainless on the
one hand and any impression of poverty
OF the UNCONSTITUTIONAL Observer.