El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-12-11
EVENING DRESS FOR MEN.
Authorities Say We are Now Ready to
Return to KnickerbOckers.

Authorities Say We are Now Ready to
Return to KnickerbOckers.
Just about this s asOn every year the
optimistic tsi ors launch little boom
| for knee bre eches, to be worn wi b
evening d esq. Heretofore the move
ment has be. fostered by custom
tailors solely, but this fall thu matter
has been taken up by some of the large
clothing houses, who believe
they have the real thing in booms at
| last.
One claim advanced for the adoption
of kuick erbockers "a dress garments
has the Ell ,me:lt f being novel. The
Chief objection tt them heretofore has
been that w have been such an Hide
velOped race tn t to show our legs to
the public g.ze would be too severe q
| shock. But EOw the advocates of koee
breeches declare we have grown to be
such an athletic race that our legs may
be disp aged with impunity.
OF course, the adoption OF the style
would effectually prevent guests from
being COMPOUNDED with the servants,
sir ce the knee-bre eched 'Jeems" is not
&C mmon article in this country as yet
And the element of cheapness suggest
Ell by the dealer adds considerably to
he attractivepess of the schems. This
s the way he put it:
''Of course, you know the merchant
tailors have made desperate attempts
to induce their customers to wear
something besides the funeral waiter
suit for evening dress There is very
little for tailOrs in dress suits, for Gus
toners wear them so long that the ave-
rage man orders one only once in two
or.three ears. and the fashion in dress
suits has not changed appreciably in
| ten or fifteen years. But the clientage
of the merchant tailnrs has not been
| large enough to enable them to make
any i'm re -sion on the general public
standard dress suit. The only innova-
| tion in thi linesuccessfully introduced
| has beAn he dinner coat
''Tenni-. golf a bicycling have,
however in the last three or four years
m ade III wea~in9 'kpickerbockers'
so com ION t. at thy 20 longer occa-
sion l. III rl1. Men who would not for
any In Iunt have appeared on the
street in bicycle 'knickers' few years
ego, now wear them as matter Of
course, in the most public way, and it
wi IL require no more hardiSood to wear
knee breeches in a ball room than on
the street.
"As to the old-t'me attire being
suitable for ball room, TIE can be
no question. Dancing is much more
Violent exercise than whee ling, and
sensi' lie man does not wish trousers
Tapping around his ANGLES when dane
ing. Again. kn. bucles and silk
st "ckipgs give a man an air of distinc-
tion he never can have when wearing
trousers. and reneer it impossible to
mistake him for wafer.
"Ope reason VIII men would not
take up the fashion Of wearing knee
breeches was that Americans were
formerly thin and scrawny and had
poorly developed lezs. Athletics and
wheeling lpged all that. The average
man now mas legs he need not be
asham I'd OF, and, more over, the man
who wears dress suit, is usually
man who is we'll fed and tOlerahly pros
porous, and who has some flesh on his
bones.
'Of course, we have looked out for
the question of eXpsnse. Formerly
knee brooches for men were made only
to order, and were expensive. Now
there are thousands of expert makers
of these garments, and the knee
breaches can be made for So. Suitable
stockings can be sold for 50, and patent
leather pumps for So. So it would cost
the average man only So to change
from trousers to the costume Of Wash
ington.
sOh, you will see the new-old fashion
'catchon,' and what's more, when
swallows-tail coats wear out, you will
that by 1900 evening dress will consist
of dinner coat, waistcoat, kne7
breeches, silk stockings and pumps. y
N. Y. Press.
The exports of silver coin ard bull
lion for October are valued at SIS, 225, 342,
an increase of over $4OO, 600 as compar-
ed with October last year.