The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-08-24
NOTES ON THE FASHIONS.

Some Fresh Fancies in Feminine Apparel
Women have given attention to
dress, it is true, and have been accused
of beStOwing n great deal too much
thought on it, but this attention has
been not so much to originate AM
wise adaptable things as to fit and
form and asSinilate ready-madesE
utilize the things on hand. 1t
though instead of using the produ
the garden to make a meal OF. wo
are gradually arriving at that sta
mind and intelligence where they
pose to raise the garden stuff and
precisely what they want, instea
taking it, as it were, from the ma
gardeners hand to the table.
woman wants a special sort of "a
for a particular use, she has leara
how to go to work to get it. If the
design of her dress does not please her,
she locks herself into her room and,
with lap-board and table, sets her wits
to work to make one that will. If the
ready-mades are unbecoming, she sits
or stands before n mirror and works
and cuts and tries and manipulates
until she finds what pleaseS her. And
she does not do this without method
and excellent reasons for every pinch
and plat and every bow and loop and
bias.
For a good many years, dress has
been run on exceedingly narrow lines.
"A woman bought al alpaca, a CASH
mere, Henrietta broadcloth, cambria
Or organdie and made it up according
to the occasion on which she was to
wear it. If she wanted her cashmere
in an evening dress, there it went; if
she wanted a street costume, all the
same, the street costume it was. Her
broadcloth was cut and trimmed for a
dressy suit or it made a severely plain
tailor costume. Gradually certain
fabrics are coming to be used for GER
tain purposes, and there is good reason
to suppos that the lines will be more
strictly drawn in the future than they
have been in the past.
The French woman is an artist in
this respect. and always has her cos
tunes made to suit the occasion on
which they are worn.
Exceedingly dressy out-of-door cos
tunes are made from glace silk and all
moderately thin materials with change
able effects. An attractive dress is made
of canvas-woven silk fabric worn over
any bright color. The canvas is made of
the natural silk fiber, and is therefore a
sort of pongee color or in paler shades
to an ecru. 1t is not generally known
hat some silk fiber is of a yellowish
cast, while other sorts are of the most
pearly white. From these extremes of
color there is every variation. This is
said to depend largely on what the silk
worm feeds on, and this being the case,
the question naturally arises: Why not
feed the worms on some harmless col
ored food and produce silks in the vary
ing tints of the rainbow?
Among the favorite colors of the sea-
son are brown of all shades, yellow,
gray-which, by the way, is for the
moment simply a rage in ONE of the
ultra fashionable circles Of London
heliotrope, blue and light shades Of
green. There is a green, with a sug-
gestion of rose, that is exceedingly
effective when well handled. Red is
used to some extent, and is very popu-
for fancy waists, provided it is be-
coming to the wearer.
Black, frightened with any of the
popular colors, is in the height of
fashion, and thin black made up over
color is among the most becoming and
stylish of combinations.
A great deal of exceedingly fine jet
is used, and embroidery and lace enter
into the makeup of nine-tenths OF the
most popular dresses of the wear.
Batiste and organdie dresses are made
with skirts gored at the front, the
| breadths slightly sloped off and
back breadths plain. Many of
these dresses are worn over Innings of
the color of the figure; for example, a
white Organdie, with pink spots. is
made over a pink cambria or sateea
slip. Pl white dresses of thin ma
terial are trimmed with c~ream-colorcd
laces and worn over color. With all
they are not so much liked, al
though they are occasionally SEEN
N, Y. Ledger