Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-24

they made, pose which, initiated by the
woman from Ohio, would have been hor-
ribly wooden and awkward-and in one
hand, the fingers beautifully tapering, she
carried spread fiat against the white of
her gown, small dead-black fan. The
piercing contrasts of her toilet We're clear
~ intended to follow the color scheme of
her face, which, artistically abandoned
in it's dropping lines the fall of her
long, straight arms, was mat-lifeless like
her gown in tint, yet brilliant in the con-
trast made by the mass of her reddish
hair, dark, heavy-lidded eyes, and-the
truly Partisan climax-the vivid carmine
of her painted lips. That is the portrait
of the highly esteemed wife of the great
est living French poet and on the whole,
as | have said, admirably typ1fes French
taste in woman.
The fullness of the American woman's
despair over the dress question in Paris is
attained when, clinging still desperately
to her American ideals, she goes to a Paris
tailor. The French tailor-madee gown Is
simple-marvelously so-but ii is far
from being easy, nor does one find in it
that blissful sense of being fit to pursue
anything from social duties to a career, or
the attractions of a bargain counter which
is contained in the gown tailor-made in
New York, Boston or Chicago The French
creation is usually very snugly adjusted,
and for the achievement of its intended
effect, in the putting on it requires time,
study, Infinite patience and the assistance
of skilled maid. At the very foundation
of its charm is another creation indispen-
L
which, in turn, for its success, depends
upon the enactment of something which.
in the United States, we count vice, If
not a crime-tight lacing.
All French women, even poor and honest
ones, have their corsets made to order,
paying from 40 francs tSS), very moder-
ate price, to any sum that their wonder
working economy may arrange to com
pass. For the superior American woman
who comes finally to abandon herself to
their art these corsets are simpl martyr
lO~ey In er1a he
bias, steel-ribbed on the straight, and they
are built to be worn SO tight that they are
practically impossible to enter to perfec-
ton without the help of a maid. With re-
spect to tight lacing the French maid, like
the corsetiere, has a science of health
which is distinctly Partisan. When she
drawing in the laces behind, and she con-
tinues to draw them in with all the vigor
she commands. Then when the American
woman, gasping for breath, manages to
ITEMS! Est-ce que jai trop serre la poi
trine? Oh! Lar. la.-ssCa est. Ca fait du |
NAL de trop serrer la poitrine; de serrer la |
tailIe ca ne faft rfeni' She consents to |
it In still more at the waist, according to |
the law which she has laid down, that it Is |
bad to compress the chest, but 1t makes |
no difference how much one draws in the |
waist.
Paris exactS that woman shall be CO. /
quette. The young woman must be CO. !
quette to please: the old woman must be |
coquette not to displease," the saying goes
but the French understand by eoquetry |
nothing necessarily pertaining to Irritation /
and worse. They speak of coquet man,
imputing praise rather than discredit to
him, and they speak of a coquet garden,
meaning whether of the man, woman or
piece OF ground SO described, manifesto
tion OF taste and purpose to be attrac-
tive and agreeable. Opinions differ as to
taste, and that counts for little or nothing
as compared with the distinct ayowal of a t
desire to please. This it is which makes
the success of the fearfully and wonder
fully contrived old women of Paris; be-
wigged, bepowdered, bepainted and bepen-