The San Francisco call., 1898-01-09

iisse velvet looked very lovely if heavy, and was edged nicely about with sable.
 The Russian blouse" was out in strong evidence. In Paris the finest bcdices are bloused but very slightly, while the jackets are given full swing. In England the blouse just blouses all over, especially at the sides. However, it is in England that one sees the per lection of the tailor-made and street gowns. In Paris the dressmaker will
 put chiffon on heavy cloth that you distinctly explain you want solely for street wear. It is in the light and airy that the Parisians excel. At the Maison ! Worth I don't think I beheld a single solitary plain skirt. There was always a something or other either just below the waist line or at the hem. Often ] there were trimmings covering nearly all of the skirt, and I naturally asked
 M. Jean if Overskirts were coming in again. He shook his head and denied the soft impeachment, saying the peo- pie would have none of them, and then he had shown me the very latest thing in skirts It was made in two pieces, the upper part fitting extremely tight ", the lower part in very much after the IldHlltE Ol d oAdlllSl l1OAlCCS OIily that it had no heading and was gored to flare instead of ruffied.
 When the figure is very slender and it is desirable to have some fullness right at the back, the apron" part is restricted to the front of the skirt. In either case this represents the very newest wrinkles in Paris, and though I cannot find it in my heart to alto gether like it, yet the skirt has its re- deeming features of grace.
 At Paquin's, still in the Rue de la Paix, the difference from Worth's is very marked. Here there is talk and laughter and dress crowded rooms, and much bustling to and fro. On the whole, though, I don't think one sees as much, and the only clear impression that I carried away with me is that to be fashionable one must wear gray combined with pink or with violet, and be sure to have some chinchilla fur for trimming. Last year it was grebe; this year it is chinchilla which rules Paris, and very pretty it is, though perish able. For a fur, and speaking after the manner of furs, it may really be said not to wear at all. Now, l don't know the actual price of anything at these establishments. I never ask, be- cause I do not care about too, too violent jar to my impecuniousness. Besides, in Paris there are always two or three prices possible; it all depends whether syou are a stranger or native. As you are foreign so you are bound to pay tribute to French genius.
 At the French theaters the pretty custom obtains of wearing toques with low-cut evening dress As photograph CTS have found out this is an ar engagement that is most becoming. like the French hats because they are modest as to size and artistic as to colors. In England Pinero remarked despondently long ago that "all good women wear big hats." But in Paris almost every ones hat is a size worthy of honor because it is so self-re- specting. It does not flop and wave about and get askew because it is big and unwieldy and i'll balanced. It sits trimly and neatly on the head and is always dainty. Just now ostrich feath- CTS are unusually expensive, and ac- cordingly ostrich feathers are the fa- vorite trimming. A popular shape is turned up on both sides, something like boat, and two feathers start right from the very front, encircle their re- spective sides and droop gracefully to- gether from the back.
 I saw Sarah Bernhardt wearing this this style of hat the other day, and looking awfully well in it. Only it seems to require tall person with deli