Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-13
FROM ACROSS THE SEA
HINTS ON MEMS DRESS FROM THE
ENGLISH METROPOLIS
Hats and the Origin of the "Billycock"
and of It's Name-Evening
Dress.


| London Cor. Haberdasher.
| That the brown suit will have some sort
| of a revival in the latter part Of this spring
/ l have no sort OF doubt and have already
/ predicted; but the suit of the present mo-
ment seems to be the green suit. Not that
| 1t Is very fashionable, you read too much
/ about It in the so-called mems notes of the
| little weekly papers for that. but 1t has
| picked up a popular demand which VIII
| carry it far, though not 50 far as. say. Sa-
| vile row 1t is dank ugly brute OF thing.
| suggestive of pond weed gone rusty. and the
material of it is sort of cheviot trying TO
| look like homespun. while the dye is Of
character which offers the confident expec-
| tation that IT will fade in the exposed parts
and present d correspondingiy unpleasant
contrast in the creases to which its weaving
lends itself. before ii has been worn many
times STILL there it is. and the young men
| who seek the counselS of the gentry who
conduct these mems modes columns, in
the which one discovers so regularly the
praise OF the cheap tailors who advertise in
the papers publishing them, ask what sort
Of tie you ought to wear with a green suit
and whether white slip should simulta-
neously be inserted into the waistcoat open
ing. They are told that It should!
The Jacket Suit.
Now in reality of course, slip should not
be worn with any kind of jacket suit, and
only in special circumstances In the waist
coat belonging to a tailed-coat sult-the
said waistcoat being ditto one to the coat,
and never a fancy one. The right Jacket
suit-by which l mean the kind that IS
worn by men of fashion, who do not use the
penny papers their guide, philosopher
and sartorial advisers a heavy dark suit
of the sort which I described last month:
and the custom OF varying these suits with
q fancy waistcoat seems TO be on the wane,
though very gradually. L expected that the
4 ,,7Hsar fiSiYo ~ altrf,o do
fancy waistcoats would lead to their desue-
tude in fashionable circles. and this change
in public taste shows signs OF developing.
A dirge has been sung over the fancy waist
coat for years but Ii Will doubtless survive
for years to come for the reason that II
affords the only contrast In mems dress
outside of the cravat.
Walking sticks (Which we never call canes
here have for some little time been rather
out of fashion. There was never season
when it was in the least a solectsm TO carry
one; but used to notice that the men whom
you would never see with stick were al
ways men of the best set; and by degrees,
although the fact never obtruded Itself upon
public attention sufficiently to be the sub
ject of paragraphs. one recognized the sticks
were under a cloud. The umbrella is never.
10 my mind a smart thing. The men who
compose the smart set do not walk about In
the mud and rain; they drive when they go
out in bad weather, and the footman holds
umbrella over them when they make
call and have to pass from their carriages
to the doors of the great. (At least | sup
pose he does; he brings out one TO hold over
me when l leave to get into my cab; but l
have to put up with the drops when I ar
rive at these stately mansiOns).
A Revival in Sticks.
Well, there is a revival In sticks; men
carry them more than they used to, and the
trade in expensive ones is deyeIopng-a
pretty sure sign of fashionable acceptance.
I cannot say that l am much enamored OF
the stick with broad gold band to IT. with
a precious stone or big chunk of lapis
lazuli imbedded in the same. II this dec
grafton is a little way down the stick Ii
looks DESTINATIONS. and II las is more ac-
ceptable) 1t decorates the handle, 1 don't see
the use of II, unless one is supposed TO hold
the stick in the middle or twirl II after the
fashion OF Donnybrook fair-neither Of
which customs appears to me consonant
with the manner which (as Tennyson neatly
put TT stamps the cast of We're de We're"
The umbrella at one time had sort OF re-
Iigious flavor. 1t was. II not sanity in its
implication at least serious. A friend OF
mine an artist IN black and white, drew
picture for reproduction in a monthly mag
azine of a somewhat pietistic flavor. 1t rep
resented street scene, with young man
walking In the foreground. My friend de-
ptcted him as carrying walking stick, and
the sketch was promptly returned by the
editor who said that he liked 1t very much,
but would Mr.. Mahlstick be so good as TO
alter the walking stick into an umbrella, as
ne had evidently overlooked the TACT tlak
the incident depicted was supposed to occur
on a Sunday!
The right kind of hat 10 wear with
Jacket suit whether covered by an overcoat
or not because the double collar will fndt-
cate the suit and 1t is Incompatible with
silk hsO Is what you would call a derby or,
perhaps. a pull-over." while we call It
bowler or Bilycock The latter term has
an interesting history. round-top felt
hat was first made by very weil-known
and fashionable halter in st. James street.
over against the Pieeadilly end of Bond
street for the Honorable William Coke,
who probably invented the idSa. Anyhow.
whoever invented 1t. the shape caught on,
and grew to be called Billy Coke hat
whence, by process of corruption. the name
'Billycock" now superseded, as q rule, by
the far less interesting name of bowler.
But / am told that round-top felt hat 10
always billed as a Coke hat We are
quaint people and I don't know that you
need like any the less for our habit OF
| clingfng to traditional words and ideas.
The Fold Collar.
The fold collar. though no one has good
word TO say for 1t. and although its disap-
pearance is always being predicted-by my
| SELF | doubt not. among other seif-censti-
L t. th,.,