The Opelousas courier., 1905-04-22
DRESSES.
Latest Stage Scheme Was a Fashion
in Japan Years Ace,

IGkSSI SbGAC SSliSIttS a S'ifS'
in Japan Years Age.
The subject Of emotion dresses has
recently attracted so much interest in
connection with the production OF
Mrs. Brown-Potter's lll-starred play
that it may be of interest to note that
the new cult, far from being merely
a modern absurdity, was fashioned
in old Japan 1000 years ago. The
lovely Daisy dress, for example, IN
the second act, with its shimmering
faint rose, and gold and silver, might
well have been among the costume
poems exhibited at the great court
fete given by the Emperor Shiraka-
wara in lit. Emotion dress, the
WORKING out of some poetic motif in
subtle and shifting color harmonies,
was then a passion among the great
ladies of Japan, and the motifs select
ed were even more ambitious than
those which Mrs. Brown-Potter es-
sayed to represent, says the London
Chronicle.
A contemporary Japanese writer OF
the 18th century tells us that at this
celebrated fete many Of the dresses
were veritable costume poms on sucn
themes as water, the mirror OK ma
ture," the color possibilities Of which
would seem to be infinite; or love
lurking in summer haze" or tine
spring sun dispensing doubt and
care" with others hardly less imagi-
native. The method adopted in work
ing out these conceptions is n ia
miliar to the emotion dressmakers OF
today. Transparent robe was worn
over transparent robe, one elusive
shade melting into another, till the
sense of solid fabric was lost i'll the
play of q~uivering light. A somewhat
different method of combining materl-
ais of different colors is described by
Captain Brinkley, the historian OF ia
pan, with a lucidity and a technical
precision not often to be found in the
male person approaching the intrica-
cies of female rainent. "Ihe ground
color, ne writes, that is to say, the
color of the outer garment-seemed
at first to be all pervading, but clos
er inspection showed that where these
multitudinous robes lay folded across
the bosom, and where the pendant
sleeves telescoped into enc another,
each ply receded by a fraction OF an
inch from the ply below it, SO that the
whole produce,' the effect of a slight
ly numerous sdperimposed layers OF
differently tinted silks.
The number of dlaphanOus robes
worn by a Japanese grande dame OF
the 11th or 18th century was sell
dom less than twenty, while on great
occasions even more might be neces-
sary. Thus, at the great palace fete
already referred to, We are told that
some wore as many as twenty-five
suits, showing glimpses of purple, OF
crimson, of grass green, of wild rose
yellow, and of sapanwood brown,
their sleeves and skirts decorated
with golden designs; while others, by
subtle commingling of willow sprays
and cherry blossoms, and by embrold-
cred patterns picked out with gems,
represented the poem of the jewels
and the flowers" And this, which
might have been written of the most
costly and artistic dress of London OF
today, was eight centuries ago, when
our w forefathers knew little Of
the comforts and nothing of the re-
finements of today. One thing is
clear: if emotion dressing and color
poems should come from being the ca
price of the few to be the fashion OF
the many, our war correspondents
who are forbidden to proceed to the
front, will not have had their journey
to Japan in vain. They will be able
to look up the chronicles of this Gull
tured period, and 7os furnish u ele-
gantes with poem motifs of mystic
loneliness and with schemes OF color
beside which Mrs. Brown-Potter's iri-
descent chiffons shall seem but RESET
brown and holden gray.