The herald., 1898-01-16

FASCINATING
FTNERY
FOR
FASHIONABLE
FOLK

NEW YORK, Jan. 10.-(Special Cor
respondence to The Herald.) Summer
shirt waists displayed in January and
bought by fashionable women as eager
ly as If the dog days were upon us and
shirt waists an absolute necessity! This
Is mystery, only to be understood by
the feminine mind, for when did man
ever rush to buy his summer outfit
when snow and Ice reigned supreme and
furs were the only desirable wear? No!
woman alone understands this, and II
you ask her why, she will exclaim with
scornful surprise at your Ignorance. The
shops have their shirt waist openings
In January, and II 1 don't secure the
new models and the novelties now, they
cannot be bought later, and her state
ment Is correct, strange to say.
In the first place, my readers. you
must give away your lovely transparent
organdie waist of last year, for while
there is little, II any, change in the cut,
opauue materials are de rigeur for wash
waists. Piques, white shirting, linens,
canvas cloth, ginghams, sateens so fine
and lustrous that they look like silk, are
made up and shown at the openings as
the only correct thing. There are many
white waists, the handsomest in pique,
made with attached cuffs and detach-
able collars. These details remain the
same as last year. The full fronts are
gathered to the short yoke, and the ef-
feet gained by the material and cut only;
as a contrast to these are waists Of
white, short bosom linen made in the
same way, but the full fronts are orna-
mented by clusters of fine tucks slanting
to the center. There are other white
waists shown. lawns and lappets. Pique
in checks, with pinhead dots of color,
and plain pink lavender and blue are
charming and new. Gingham is in high
favor; complicated red plaids, two-toned
checks, and dainty lines Of white on
colored grounds are displayed. These
have detachable collars to match. but
white may be correctly worn in place
of these.
In sateens perhaps the prettiest de-
signs are those with white stripes, like
the ginghams, on colored grounds, spot
ted with pinhead dots in black.
In the canvas cloth waists we find pale
green plaids artistically mingled with
red rose and blue, yellow and green COM
binations. In the cambrics and per-
Gales are lovely CneChS OIl Willie 6iOuI0
The bars forming these checks are near
ly an inch wide, and are in floral designs,
exquisite lavender and pale blues. Cross
ing these are other floral bars, mingled
with stripes of black.
The rage for gray has reached and
claimed the shirt waist at last, and
some of the prettiest and most becom-
ing are plaids of all tones Of gray.
have written "becomipg% but let the
blonde and the pale womap, beware of
them. They are for pink cheeks only or
faces with dark, rich colorings.
The latest in jewelry is the tendency
to render jewelry something more than
the mere accessory of a woman's attire.
This tendency is very marked, and much
of the stock of every fashionable jew
eler consists of articles of daily use,
having an artistic as well as intrinsic
value. Foremost among these stand
buckles, which the universal fashion for
belts has rendered the almost neces-
sary complement of every elegant cos
tune. Serpents twisted into an endless
variety Of forms continue to provide
many Of the designs, executed either in
dull gold only or with polished stones
let in here and there; but the greater
novelties are the buckles whose shape
and decoration appear to have been cop
led from the Louis XIV and Louis XVI
picture frames in carved gilded wood
that connoisseurs now value so highly.
They are square, oblong, oval, round,
now decorated at the top, now at the
corners, or Of such complicated shapes
as the shell and rococo styles suggest,
and are generally In metal only-Oxy-
died silver or gold.
Parasol and umbrella handles pro-
vide another favorite object for the
exercise of the jewelers. art Here
fancy has full play both in design and
in the choice of material. The heads of
parrots, cockatoos, and all manner of
strange wildfowl, besides the more IA
miliar duck, cock and swan are CHS
eled out of rock-crystal, jade, jasper,
onyx, carnelian. bloodstone, lapis-lazuli,
and the like, two or more of them being
combined to represent the different COL
ors of the beak and the plumage. The
slender neck of the swan, twisted into
loop, makes a conventional handle, and
the heads of long -beaked birds are also
singled out for the same reason. A
swans head in black steel-eclat being
given TO IL Dy tne duultlOn OI QldmOn0
eyes-is particularly suitable for an UNI
brella. But the jeweler does not con-
fine himself to ornithology, he goes in
for the strictly conventional and the
fanciful by turns. For knobs the ovoid
forms prevails. whether in smoothly
polished crystal or stone, or in frosted
gold speckled with small diamonds or
pearls. Handles of this sort generally
form part of set, including it and
twelve points for the parasol ribs. A
pretty conceit is imagined for the point
of lady's tall cane. 1t is made in the
form of pine cone, and is clustered
over with diamonds, each half-opened
scale showing bright gold within.
Clasps for cloaks are being restored to
favor. Vever edits some new and beaut-
iful designs, borrowed from natural
forms, such as the horse chestnut, the
mistletoe, and the thistle, the stalks
twisted into frame for an unstudied
arrangement of leaves, berries or flow
ers, the whole executed in gold, bur-
nished and enameled. Among the
small kniclS- knacks that gain impor-
tance from being produced In the pre-
cious metals and jeweled, are gold rings
for the house wife's bunch of keys set
with a carbuncle or cats eye.
There Is sudden furOre for turouoise