The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-04-02
. IL 10 ssss-es~ AisSssEa.- skssza -
GOWNS FOR MOURNING. :
Many of Them Beautiful Creations
Widows May Wear Hats.

|
We sill know that everything, wheth-
er good or bad, has it's compensation.
and therefore we are prepared to find
a sort of subdued comfort in elegant
~ cut and fashioned garments, even
though they are designed to express
sorrow and mourning for the dead.
One might even say that the fashion
able mourning gowns are made more
carefully and BEAUTIFULLY than those
for ordinary occasions. The skirts are
! made to conform with the most stylish
of the modes of the day. Haircloth
and featherbone give them the fash
| ionable flare at the base and cause
! them to fall in rich folds at the bot
| tom. The materials used vary to q
great extent, according to the age OF
the Wearor and the degree Of relation
ship. The silk warp endOra still re-
mains the one thing for elegant first
mourning, but after that come soft tex
lures of silk and wool mingled or OF
I silk alone in some clever Grape weave.
Fine dull cashmere and a Grape cloth
made of mohair and Australian wool,
woven in form of heavy Grape, are also
shown.
There is kind of armure cloth
which makes up into very pretty
mourning gowns when developed with
all the care used in making other hand
some garments One dress of this kind
| is shown at one Of the stores. The
skirt, which is just allowed to touch
the floor in the back. has a twelve inch
shaped founce around the bottom.
This is little deeper at the back and
is stiffened in the approved fashion
with black taffeta ruftie beneath as
protector. On the iounce is one
band of English Grape four inches deep
and above that three rolls Of the same
Grape, as small as they can be made.
The skirt is cut in many cores, every
one Of them piped down with the Grape.
Where the founce joins the skirt there
is a fat band one inch wide. There is
short half fitting coat to wear with
this of the same material. The reverS,
cuffs and pocket lids are Of the Grape.
There is vest of dull armure silk, and
this is buttoned to the c..in with Grape
covered buttons. The outside coat,
which is fastened to the vest, is 50
made that the fiat collar and revers
render some such arrangement neces-
sary. Like the poor, the high collars
are always with US. The mode of faS-
tening the outside coat to the vest OBJ
tains in many of the new spring suits.
Even widows are now allowed by
fashion to wear hats instead of uncom-
Portable little bonnets. 1t is not I'M
common to see a lady with large
flat hat made, it is true, of Grape, but
tucked and puffed and ruched into
something like grace and beauty.
There are many vest effects in mourn
ing attire. Perhaps the wish to have
something little less somber has some
thing to do with it. 1t is and always
was pretty fashion. Blouse bodices
are often seen. Under those circum-
stances the waist is made ornamental
with tucks and folds of Grape andssome-
times with little dull chenille en-
broidery. A home gown for a young
widow is made of voile. set over a
taffeta slip. Around the shaped iounce
are narrow rolled bands Of Grape, two
at the bottom and two at the top.
Around the hips the skirt is trimmed