Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-15
FROM ACROSS THE SEA
HINTS ON MEMS DRESS FROM
LONDON METROPOLIS.
Frock Coats and Trousers That Go
With Them-Fancy Waistcoats;
Present and Future.

London Correspondence The Haperdasher.
PROFESSIONALLY the most notable novelty
of the present month. and one entirely UNI
foreseen by any critic, has been the new
Chesterfield. This garment follows in one
respect, indeed, a style of which I said
something when ID was first invented, a
long time ago, in that 1t has middle back
seam and no side seams. But in other re-
spects 1t is new The buttons, instead Of
being concealed by a fy-front, are furnished
with buttonholes right through the cloth,
producing a very remarkable effect, after
the long vogue of the other style in all
single-breasted overcoats. There are prac-
tically no double-breasted coats being worn,
and the raglan" sleeve and shoulder have
long since gone the way of all mundane in
situations. The body is cut on the bias. and
this, when herringbone cloth is used, gives
noticeably cross-cut aspect to the gar
ment. In that event it will as likely as not
be made with a cloth collar, and, indeed
velvet collars are somewhat less worn
even on beaver overcoats, than of late.
Tweed overcoats are out of fashionable de-
mand, but plain worStedS are good deal
demanded, especially in black. l noticed
however, that when the king started for his
French trip the other day he wore a dark
blue fulled-beaver Chesterfield with vel
vet collar.
The Double Cuff.
The double cuff Idea seems, from all that
I can observe. to be nearing the end of its
vogue Certainly, whatever may be seen
elsewhere. turned-back cuffs on such things
as evening dress coats and lounge jackets
are no longer worn in fashionable West
End circles; and the double cuff on over
coats has lately shown signs of succumb-
ing to the objections against it which 1
mentioned when 1t was first introduced.
Double cuffed flannel shirts are still the
best wear; but this very fact initiates
against the continuance of the double cuff
on jackets. There is decidedly clumsy
effect when the two doublings come togeth-
er. Even now, single-cuffed flannel shirt
is not at all an unusual thing to see, though
1t Is still not yet In the mode. All this being
the case, the idea of the cuffed trousers leg
becomes the more ridiculous. It is gravely
asserted that trousers will shortly be made
with the ankles turned back and finished
with little break, just like a double coat
cuff. We are not told where this break will
Gomez 1t would look more than comic over
the instep; nor have l been able to ascer-
tain whether it is proposed to fit it out with
buttons. The effect of such an attachment
upon the hang of the trousers is dixie the
language of the sea captain in the story
best left to the Imagination and # will
be a surprise to me if the thing ever gets
beyond the stage of its inception in the
imaginative faculty of some one with more
time on his hands to devise such things
L
absurdity incarnated and enthroned.
Double Collars.
Double collars Gas we call what you much
more elegantly term fold COLLARS are like
other double things, on the down grade.
After such a run as 1t has had, it would
be rash in the extreme to predict a period
for the ending of the fold-collar reign: and,
perhaps, 1t may only be passing under a
cIond and ma a ka hold era{ In will oil re
pristine popularity later on. But the fact
remains that wing collars are to great
extent pushing everything else out, and 1t
is worthy OF remark that the old distinc-
ton between the full-dress, round-pointed
wing and the semi-dress collar with sharp
points. has become almost obliterated. All
wing collars have rounded points now, and
the wings are larger and less sharply in
clined in their slope, SO that the admirable
comfort of the shape rather lost when ex
cessively small openings were in favor, is
restored. The wing is the favorite.
The Boom in Brown.
The loom in brown, long ago predicted,
and mora recently recorded, in this place
has developed In the most complete man.
ner during the last four weeks. 1t is diff
cult to fird anything Of male attire into
which brown does not enter. Even the
writer's of Mems for Men and similar
things in the daily and weekly newspapers
nave D6C0uc dWdT6 Ok anu tESy nave
also got on to the tucked shirt fashion
What they do not appear to have observed
is the enormous growth of the taste for
herrfngbone surfaces on self cloths, for
which marked popularity is establishing
Itself. Indeed, some of the very best suits
are the plain brown worsteds with an al |
most imperceptibie herringbone in the |
looming l want to mention, as thing to |
be carefully observed, that fashionable taste !
does not allow herrlngbone pattern to |
he formed in any other way than that |
which I have Just mentioned-namely, by |
the weav ,r's loom varying the direction of |
yarns A herringbone design marked by |
color is very bad form; and plenty of fab |
RIGS have a herring-bone In them which is |
quite invisible unless the cloth is examined |
closely or unless 1t happens to lie in large |
unbroken surfaces. as in the overcoat re- |
ferred to in my first paragraph above. !
believe that the elasticity possessed by |
worsted with this kind of surface and SUBJ |
stance will explain the great vogue of the |
herringbone style which is now marked |
feature of the dress of men.
Checks on Top.
mentioned some time ago the fact that |
striped cashmere trouserings were about TO |
be superseded by checks. This expectation |
is now abundantly fulfilled. There are so |
many men who cannot wear checked pair |
Of trousers, and who have the sense TO |
know It, that stripes cannot be called obso- |
lete and II is well-marked feature of
tasteful dress that personal characteristic
may necessitate departure from the law OF '