The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-06-04
GOWN GOSSIP.
Black Taffetas Are Very POpu-
lar This Season.
They Are in Special Demand fol
Street Wear.
ABOUT SUMMER WRAPS
The Two Piece Suit is Popular
ON Coast.
Killed Skirts Are to Be Seen
Everywhere.

OF all the many and varied styles
and colors of silk shirt waist and
Jacket suits for street wear, the black
taffetas have the advantage of fash
ionable favor Every other color and
every other kind of silk are seen and
all are good and have the approval OF
fashion, but there is something so
chic and modish about the well-made
black suit that many women and all
men prefer it to any of the other
coIors practical for ordinary street
wear. And while the pongees, the
louisines. the gIorias and the Shang-
hais are beautiful for dressier gowns
nothing lends itself so readily to
stunning tailored effects as the new
taffetas. One of the best dressed Wo-
men of Topeka is wearing a new black
taffeta shirt waist suit which is the
admiration and envy of all her friends
The skirt is a trOtteur in length and Is
plated solidly in small box plalts
stitched fatty over the hips in a grad
uated line The bottom of the skirt
is faced with a heavy silk and mas
several rows of stitching to lend
support to its chic f1aring fullness- The
bodice foundation is of taffeta like the
skirt, on a full shirt waist model, and
has an overwaist of very coarse black
silk net crossed by narrow bands OF
the taffeta applied in large squares
over the entire surface of the waist
Another stunning black taffeta worn
by a tall and very handsome young
woman is one of the fashionable two
piece suits. The skirt is laid in solid
two-inch box plaits stitched to the
! hips and f1aring unanimously below
/ The skirt like all the new skirts for
| street wear, is short. The jacket is
! plated to match the skirt, and blOuseS
all around over a wide stitched gird1e.
| The skirt of the jacket is hip length,
and is laid in box plaits to match the
rest of the suit
On the coast and in the northern
! ATTITUDES where a wrap of some sort
| is necessary all summer long, the two
| piece suit is the most popular form
! of street garment this season. A New
! York woman writes a Topeka friend
that the taffetas, linens and similar
| summer materials are being made up
| almost exclusively in skirts and jack
| cts there to he worn with dressy or
! palmer blOuSeS according to circum-
stances. The jackets take the form
| of the blouse with or without a skirt
or the jaunty bolero, and the skirts
are in every instance short. Although
it is true that the fashionable coutu-
rieres still show long trailing skirts
for evening and house wear the
signs all point Enthusiastically to the
/ RELOCATION of the long skirt and the
supremacy for all occasions of the
/ short one. Everything intended for
| the street is now made very short all
| around. and many of the prettiest
/ dancing frOckS follow the same COM
! Portable fashion Short skirts seem
! somehow to go with the voluminous
frills. the big Powered patterns an
the plain part and low couture which
! prevails more and more in hair dress
/ ing. The modes of the moment all
tend to picturesqueness. and a gala
gathering nowadays looks a good bit
like an old-fashioned picture or a
scene from some of those deliberately
staged modern plays of ante-bellum
days.
japanese and Chinese fabrics and
especially Chinese grass cloths are
fashionable for separate bodices.
Killed skirts are seen every
where in all materials, the.
pleats falling free or stitched
fiat to suit the figure or the
taste of the Wearer. These skirts re-
I quire an enormous amount Of material.
One new pattern which is plated all
/ around with two-inch box and inverted
plaits. alternating. calls for nine yards
of material forty-fve inches wide The
new sleeves also use up surprising
amount Of stuff and women who are
| trying to get suits out of eight-yard
patterns purchased early in the spring
/ before the new modes We're established
I are finding themselves short. At least
ten yards of forty-dve inch goods are