Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-07

ing originally of wicker work. and then 81,
wire for elegance OF form and lightness Of
weight. Little by little they decreased and
went out, as the '.vertusadins" hade DONE IS
hundred years before.
If we look back We see that one period 10
each century developed this skirt-swelline
craze. Thus IT came along again In 1850
reigning tyranscally from the height OF the
second empire down to the year 1875. ~
If statistics mean anything You may sugs
gest that hoopskirts ought not to be due
again until somewhere between the yeare
1880 and 1860. But note the century-pertod
idea will not have been found IN default II
the low rumbhngs now heard Ia the capitals
proclaim the coming OF o modified hoopskiyt
half-period. because between times-i. e5
between painters and hoopskirts-ther4
was a distinctly marked half-period IA
which the great ladies' CT Paris. London and
Vienna pulled their skirts out by meanS OF
petticoats of tarred linen or tarred canvaA
In the memoirs OF those times we hear the
extraordinary frou-froIr the noisy rustlin8
of those packing-canvas petticoats, called.
crfaroes' by the men, who learned to thor
oughly detest them. At every step the
'criarde" Numbered its protest.
Hoopskirts of Our Grandmothera
Then came the hoopskirts of our mothers
and grandmothers. Women will always
find good precedent for their fancies: and
they found one for the artifcIality OF the
crinoline itself Where. do you think? In
classical creek literature II was SalQ TO
have been Cora Pearl, the famous American
professional beauty OF that Paris who un-
earthed 1t; and every Par!senne learned to
quote it. Cora Pearl had at her feet a dis
tinguiShed acaderncian -
Find for me- she said to him, "a pre-
text for hoopshirts in your classical Greek
period =
But it can't be done replied the rn-
happy savant. The Greeks would have
looked on hoopskirts with horror"
Hunt, all the same.' replied Cora PEARL
And such Is the tyranny of beauty. The
poor academician went to work, and after
a few weeks he actually returned to her IN
triumph, with the quotation in his hands.
True. true!' he exclaimed, 1.-The crinolins
was actually a complement of the classic
Greek beauty, because Alexis wrote effect
lively In his Isostarion,' If she have not
enough hips we sew her garniture""
The celebrated crinoline was indeed, orig.
fnal1y only petticoat of the stiff material
that had been employed under Louis Phil.
ippe to puff out the extravagant 'leg-ofs
mutton" sleeves that have returned once
again in modified form this year. From
sleeves the stiffening material passed to
skirts. Then they sustained the stiff petit.
coats by means OF steel wires, and finally
they introduced a system of springs constiA
stituting veritable cages.
Practical Inconvenience.
Jeanne Sauiier and Cecile Thevenet, N
the "Chauve-Souris," have recently presenfs
ed US with samples. Saulfers crinoline
copied an early FORM. when the bottom
flounces OF the skirt described veritabie
bell. the skirt itself decreasing harmonious
ly to the waist. The true balloon form
reached in later years was worn by Mile.
Thevenet, and how the wearer could enter
a simple cab seems a mystery.
Practical inconvenience of this kind were
patent to all In those days. as now, Paris
parlors were heated by open crate fires.
In winter. when they approach the chimy
ney, the crinoline Is dangerous True II
spreads the skirt out, and any disordered
movement precipitates II into the famesp
observes philosopher in 1868. ION the
other hand, when lady falls into the river
the crinoline sustains her like Iife-beit
Bad for the fire. Excellent for the water"
The directors of theaters trembled to see
more than two women enter the narrow
Paris boxes. They were lighted by gaH.
In 1869 the director of the opera forbade
crnolines to all chorus girls, and strike
that is historical resulted. French comb
merce profited very much. They exported
Sa4,ooo,oC0 worth of crinolines per year,
whose wires and springs weighed 100000
kilogranls-t1e kilogram being two pounds.
Is the crinoline to come back? One new
practical question presents itself. How wilt
a girl in hoopskirts enter a summer street
car? STERLING HEIIJG,