Evening star., 1901-12-14
STYLES IN MEMS DRESS
HOMEsPUN NOyELEIEs FOR OVER
COATS AND SPORTING SUITS.
Red Waistcoat Slips - Whence They
Came, Why They Will Go and
the Way to Wear Them.

London Correspondents OF the HaberIasher
The most noteworthy innovation is the
red waistcoat slip. and I do not think 1t
is going to stay, with us very long. The
history of this thing Is of course, very OBJ
vious. Several years ago, when those enor-
NOUS puff ties which Anthony Hope liken-
ed to a bed quilt came into vogue for the
first time, some men, particularly business
men, disliled the entire obliteration of the
proud and lordly shirt front, and invented
accordingly a sort Of horse collar made Of
| starched pique and worn just inside the
waistcoat opening. This has never been a
very smart West-End kind of thing, but 1t
had considerable vogue on the stock ex-
change. The piQue waistcoat slip, how
ever, received a certain limited amount of
fashionable recognition, but before it had
a chance to really catch on smart people
West End had the fortunate idea of having
cloth ones made, which, of course would
sit" good deal better than pique and IL
made at the same time as the waistcoat
with button and buttonhole arrangement
to fit the latter, they naturally presented q
much better and neater appearance than
pique slips, too often bought ready-made,
and fastened with a pin. AS a matter Of
| fact, no cloth slip ever came into any
vogue except the red one, but red is SO
decidedly in the air just now-perhaps
marking revival OF our martial spirit
that the red slip Is good deal seen at the
West End. Curiously enough, just as the
West End wouldn't have the stock ex-
changes white pique, so the stock ex-
| change won't have the West Ends robin
redbreast waistcoat slips.
l do not think that the idea will have
very much permanence, however, because
there is just now in the demi-season,
which always sets in for a week or two in
November, considerable tendency to chro-
| natic temerity in cravats, and a bright
scarlet line, almost the color Of a soldiers
tunic, s round sl.,,ti, the waistcoat opening, is
enough to "kfll' any color in the cravat
But there are enough of them being made
| just now to create a considerable trade,
and you will no doubt hear of them. If
| these things. whether in red or white, are
| not allowed with any cravat that does not
| wholly hide the shirt.
For Sporting Clothes.
| The sporting tailors have supplied them
selves since I last wrote, with a remark
able range of homespun cloths, and as, in
these mixed days. anything which has any
considerable sporting vogue is sure to be
good deal In evidence generally, think
they will be seen elsewhere. They are in
texture of the ordinary kind of thing we
call homespun; the pattern is the novelty
Upon groundwork of black and white or
black and gray mixture, with rather
coarse line or check-there is imposed
either stripe or a square of dead black
lines at least a quarter of an inch wide and
about an inch and three-quarters apart, or
IN squares Of two inches and a quarter
Ihis does not look SO distressing as might
be conceived, even when made into a plain
raglan overcoat. OF course, as a suitins
1t would need the right kind of man to
wear 1t, and in point of fact I haven't ac-
new is it. Except this particular notion,
which is not, when actually seen, nearly
as aWIul as 1t sounds when / describe It,
the only kind Of homespun which is at ali
oelng made up Is In brown and white mix
lures. These are exclusively for suitings;
no one wears ovefcoats made of them.
IN regard to oyercoats generally, the
latest things have a shaped yoke back and
front, with three-quarter-inch, double
sewn, Tapped seams and point, or two
chevron-shaped points, behind and before
one over each side Of the chest and one
| over each shoulderblade, the color most in
vogue with smart men being a blush
slatey-gray. The cuffs are turn-back ones
generally. and the shoulders may or may
not be raglan the sleeve. of course, cor
responding); but they must not be padded
Fur-lined overcoats are not so much
worn here as in your severer cline, but
there are enough of them made for a cor
rect mode to exist Frogs and barrel fast
enings made Of braid are entirely improper
and are thought ostentatious and in bad
taste nowadays; only the likes of Mr.
Mantalini "be-frogged and wonderfully be-
| lUIISu WOu1u wear CneH. zone, TOO. are
the wonderful fur cuffs, beloved Of the
theatrical advance agent and the circus
manager. Instead, the coat (Which is made
OF black melton) has ordinary f1y-fronts
s1ngie-breasted and bone buttons; and the
fur is kept well out of sight. except at the
collar, which Is usually of black astrakhan
The cuffs are rarely turn-back ones. need
hardly say that raglan shoulders are never
put In fur-lined coat
New Sleeveless Cloak.
would not be surprised, as I see we'll
known writer on English fashions has an
tfcipated me by saying In print, IL new
sleeveless cloak-what we call a military
cloak-should come into fashion with the
ultra-smart sent in the West End of London
very soon. exclusively as an evening dress
oyercoat. Beerbohm Trees production at
Her Majesty's Theater of ''The Last of the
Dandies' Gin which he impersonates Count
DOrsay, the lover of Lady Blessington)
brings this very old and convenient gar
ment into general attention, and nothin,: Is
commoner than for plays which attain great
popularity to exercise an influence upon
fashion. The absurd idea that velvet cuffs
will be worn on dress coats is again being
talked up. I warn all American readers
against paying the slightest attention to It;
1t Is certain that these cuffs will not be
worn. TWfce-round evening ties are like
wise again heard Of, but unlike the good
little boy of nursery admonition who was
to be seen and not heard, these things ore
at present only heard of-not seen.
The splendid slunlbers of the affluent are
conducted just now-as the weather grows
colder-in beautiful pale cream-colored Cey-
lon flannel pajamas, striped with palest and
glistening pink silk.
One-button gloves, made as long as or
longer than two o-button ones, are the last
word OF Arcadia and Bond streets; also
gloves with no button at all, fastening in
stead with a buckle and strap, which seems
to me rather silly idea Yellow chamois