Evening star., 1902-03-08
HARMONY OF COLORS
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLOTH ON
COUNTER AND ON BACK.
Why So Many Gowns Of Women Are
Failures From the Point
of Beauty.
From the New York Times,

From the New York Times
Verplanck Birney, the artist, made a sug-
gestion the other day which may give some
woman just the idea for making money
that she is looking for.
The great trouble with many women's
gowns" he said, "is that they can never
tell, when they buy the goods. how it is
going to look when made up. Cloth Of any
sort when lying on a counter In the piece
and when cut and fitted over the figure
looks entirely different. The woman who
dresses well counts probably an entire half
OF her costumes as utter failures. One
hears her complain continually that she is
50 disappointed In a certain gown. It looks
50 different from what she expected. This
Is not because the woman necessarily lacks
judgment about dress. 1t is simply that
she does not possess the foresight or i'm
aglnat1on to picture the goods it will
look In another form, which. indeed is
thing often impossible to do.
THE case becomes more difficult when
one attempts to combine colorS in a gown.
The proper proportioning Of the colors is
most important consideration here, and one
which many overlook entirely. Two cloths
may look beautiful together when lying
side by side on the counter, and may not
set each other off In the least when put to-
gether In a gown. This is because they
have been combined badly Often too
an entire gown is made unbecoming simply
by placing the wrong color next the face,
or the figure is destroyed by placing the
wrong color around the waist.
Know Not Themselves.
Moreover. 1t is a fact that most women
have no idea Of what looks best on them.
Some think they do, and for them there is
little hope. There are others, however,
who recognize their defect and who COM
plain constantly that there are so few
shades they can wear; that they SO seldom
lind anything really becoming to them.
Often this Is merely because they never
think Of the shades they could wear to best
advantage. woman with light hair. par
ticularly when 1t has a red tinge, will cling
to different shades Of dark blue for her
street gowns. She imagines' that blue is
her color Sometimes 1t is the very one
she should avoid. 1t sets off any defect in
her coloring by sharp contrast, whereas
many t1nts in tans and light browns would
them.
Now all these facts should open a broad
field to woman artist. 1 say a woman,
Tor women are in general much better col
orists than men. And colorist is what is
needed here. A woman with a good eye
for color values and effects could build up
quite a business, simply telling other Wo-
men what their best colors are showing
them how cloths will look when made Up,
and demonstrating how an unba acoming
piece Of goods may be made to suit one by
adding touch of another color
Should Be a Colorist.
Il do not mean that this artist shall be
q dressmaker, or even a designer of gowns.
There are plenty in both these fields. She
is to be simply a colorist, and a good one.
In her studio she should have mirrors in
all positions, so that her patrons could see
themselves in every light and from every
side. Here women could send the goods
which they proposed to have made Up. The
artist could drape it over their figures. and
give them a good Idea Of how it will ap-
pear on them. She could explain to them
why goods figured in certain ways made
them look too stout too tall and what
colors should be avoided for the same ~ea-
son. She could show them how to make
an unbecoming gown attractive by wear
ing another color around the neck. She
could suggest what trimming would look
well with any cloth, or when these have
been chosen, might suggest how it should
be used to set the gown off to best advan-
tage.
The woman Of moderate means would
find one interview with such an artist in
valuable. In it she could learn all the
shades she could wear and how 10 wear
them For instance, white is very becom-
ing to some women when worn as a collar.
and is just the reverse when worn above
the face In hat. These are things which
1t is not safe to leave to the dressmaker :.
for good dressmakers are not necessarily
good coloriSts.