The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-07
FOR FEMININE READERS
WOMEN OF TASTE AND SMALL MEANS
CAN MAKE DRESS A FINE ART.
Newly Married People Make Ideal
Guests - Announcing the Engnge-
ment-Advance Christmas Shopping.

Whatever may be said of the frivolities
of fashion, says a writer in the New York
Ledger, it is a fact admitted by every one,
whether openly or not Is immaterial, that
the tastefully dressed woman is better
liked, more agreeable to have about and
passes muster in the ranks of the world S
great army far better than she who is I'M
tidy-looking, careless and has the reputa-
ton of being forever out at the elbows.
Fine feathers, while they may not really
make fine birds, surely do improve their
looks very materially, and the pretty bird
will be chosen on appearance alone. when
the plain or ugly one might never get a
moments attention. A handsome face and
figure well set off with tasteful apparel is
a pleasant object for contemplation
While it is a great mistake to imagine
that all fine dress is necessarily expensive,
it certainly does follow that really good
things cost quite a bit of money, and one
cannot dress upon nothing a year and keep
within the pale of fashions requirements
ingenuity, mother wit and the faculty to
making little go a long ways helps, but
this is by no means all of the battle
1t is discouraging work to try to keep up
appearance upon a very limited income
but the worst of all this is to try to do more
t..
little to dress on the attempt to appear in
really elegent toilettes would be not only
failure in itself, but would. in addition
nave an element of absurdity, and subject
the aspirant to fashionable laurels to criti-
elsh non on the score of bad taste than which
hoInlng can be more unpleasant.
Small means is no reflection upon any
person, the attempt to parade as. what one
Is not IS a reproach, and one that no self
respecting woman will subject herself to
once she mas a realizing sense of what she
is about S-'
An India silk, tastefully made and worn
WIN appropriate accessories, will be tolera-
Die, when rich brocade or a velvet without
everything corresponding would look de-
niagoig ga OUT Oh place; very wealthy wo-
match. woman with a few hundred dol
lars year could not wear a Worth cos
tune without exciting remark The KEYNOTE
of good dressing is fitness. and upon this
rests fashions lot and profits. With the
present prices of materials and the fashions
that now prevail, dressing well on limited
means Is IN no sense out of the question.
Inc point is what one shall choose and
what must go with it. The woman who
nVeS quietly and removed from great bust
ness and fashion centers does not require
such elaborate costuming as she who is ex-
pected TO meet and entertain celebrities of
all nations Therefore, simple costuming
answers her purposes very much better A
woman of experience, one who has lived in
most of the capitals of the world and who
is perfectly posted on the necessities of
such living, is authority for the statement
that five dresses are enough for any one
woman to own at one time: With the ex-
ception of a rather swell toilette for un-
usual events and a good tailor costume
these need be neither expensive nor in any
way out of the common. They should be
distinguished by good taste and simplicity
rather than by even the fantest suggestion
of elaborateness. One of them may be a
black satin or silk and so planned as to be
capable Of evolution by means of dainty ac-
cessories of various sorts. Possibly a white
or cream-colored silk of any of the, popular
kinds may be most desirable for the even
ing dress. Over this can be arranged laces,
embroideries and effective garnitures, as
may suit the occasion. OF course black and
white form the basis of more handsome cos
tunes than any other colors and the in
genous, deft-fngered woman may so adj
just her trimmings that the dress has all
the effect of newness. 1t is well to have
on hand number of sets of trimming that
may be put on and off at pleasure. The
older they are, provided they are good, the
better the effect is likely to be. because they
will surely be more or less out of the COM
mon, and will have the merit of exclusive
ness which more than any other popularity
the fashionable woman appreciates and de-
SireS.