The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-24
DECoLLETE DISPENSED WITH.
New Rules to Govern in the Court
 of King Edward.

New York Commercial Advertiser.
 The land of low-necked dresses (also culosls) is to have a good exammple of ways sL.Isible and comfortable set by its new and beautiful Queen of England, Alexandra; This lovely lady, has an n rounced that "dispensattonS' will be granted to those ladies who attend court functions. and for and good reason do not wish to wAar the almost bodtceless dress insisted upon by Queen Victoria.
 The late queen was not above her little vanities, it seems. When a young wo- man her shoulders and arms were of singular beauty, and even when she grew old and dumpy in figure her little hands remained so soft and shapely that they made one forget that the queen was not pretty or regal-looking woman,
 Out of the young queens natural van ity for her best points grew the regula- tion sleeveless and very decollete court dress. Many were the protests against 1t, especially among the thin and rheumatic old dowagers and the newly~iledged de- bu'antes But no exception was ever m lde. Health, age and bones all had to give way before decree. The result was that the irreproachable Queen Victoria had the most decollete court of Europe, and the dress of her daughters was revelation to visiting princes, who have recorded their amusement (and amaze menD in their notes of travel.
 Sweet Alexandra has other ideas: Even at the coronation no one, is to be un- comfortable or unhappy if she can pre- vent it. The coronation bids fair to be a fearful affair, as far as comfort goes. It will be in June, and ermine and vel vet cloaxs are to be as common as peers
 There is still much uncertainty, how ever, as to how far the tradition will be followed. and if the king and qyeen, who are practical, kind hearted and very much in touch with the world and its ways, can have their way (which being a king and queen, they rarely can), the poor peers won't die of sunstroke or be smothered by their splendid robes. and the pretty peeresseS won't have head aches from wearing their coronets for seventeen hours at a stretch.
 Many women of the smart world do not care for low cut dresses. When the Elm press Eugene set the fashions of Flu rope she drowned upon decollete old ladies, and her mother, Mime. de Mon tijo, never wore low cut bodice.
 The beautiful Countess de kessler of lovely, did not wear decollete for many years, because she had delicate chest and preferred caution to fashion. Mme BIoislt ot the Comedla Franchise never wore low cut gowns, no matter what the play was she appeared in. Mime Pan Duchess de Doudeauville, Mime. Paul Poirsono, all women of the elegant Mu4lu in Paris seldom appear decollete for reason of health or beauty.
 1t is to be hoped that the fashion Of low necked gowns will never become ex- tinct. for many women otherwise plain have lovely necks and shoulders, and a pretty woman with pretty shoulders is more of a delight to the eye than beau ty with d thick neck or painfully visible collar bones Nevertheless. the court of St. James will seem a strange place when the poor, thin dowagers or the shy de- butantas come yelled in chiffon instead of bare necked and bare armed,