Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-23
Partisan Fashions
Special Correspondence OF The Star.

PARIS, March 9, 1907.
Nothing, 1 have found, is more fatal than
to recommend book to any one else unless
it be to present one friend to another and
expect them to like each other. In the lit
erary experiment the chances are a thou
sand to one that book which profoundly
absorbs you will bore another person to eX-
tinction, while story that possibly shocks
you beyond expression will leave another
reader totally unmoved.
So much, of course, depends upon the
mood in which a book is read, and as often
as not, when We condemn it, it is ones
self who is at fault AS for the friends
of our friend we almost invariably look
upon them with suspicion. and wonder, es
pecially when We have heard a great deal
about them, in what their attraction can
possibly consist This feeling of antipathy
may be one of jealousy. Anyway, the fact
whom our friends care, while it is usually
sufficient for US to have book violently
recommended to us to be horribly bored
with 1t. That our friends should show
such marked preference for dull people and
trashy novels is a thing We cannot always
understand. Yet the reason is obvious. The
stronger the individuality of a person the
more likely they will be to fall back upon
some characterless. colorless friend who
will make call upon their mental or
emotional capabilities. Was it not George
Sand who said there is nothing one APP
preciates more in ones friends than good
honest stupidity? And equally in the mat
ter of books, judging from all one sees
and hears, the most popular among the
wise well the foolish are the ones
that are least exhausting to the brain.
An Old Error Corrected.
There is popular superstition, 1 believe,
that women, when by themselves, never
talk anything but scandal or dress. From
personal experience l have discovered that
there Is no more truth in this old saw than
in the supposed fact that the stronger sex
have no topics of conversation among them
selves than politics and money making. We
women do discuss the dress question-Well,
occasionally, but l have noticed since the
cult for individuality in clothes has ragged
there Is much less of this talk than there
used to be. We are afraid to give away
long sought for novelty and forego the
exquisite pleasure of sprjnging it unawares
upon even our most intimate chum. For
instance, l know a girl who is religiously
working during these Lenten days upon
trimming of filet net, the squares Of which
she Is darning in large sprawling design
in white zephyr. This band for the skirt
of white cotton wolfe frock and the hang
ing square for the bodice are to be kept q
profound secret until they bloom upon the
gaze of her feminine faithful at an after
Easter function. l going to tell tales
out Of school and let you know that the
edges of the leaves in the pattern veinings
and knotted centers are done in heavy
white rope silk.
A Very Popular Fabric.
Doubtless you think cotton wolfe a poor
stuff to waste so much time adjoining, but
it's summer fabric that the best cou-
turieres are expanding some of their most
successful effects upon. In narrow stripes
and in plain colors it makes charming lit
= la
lightful possibilities to home talent, since
the finest voiles can be bought for so and
IS cents yer yard. Just imagine frock of
pale yellow cotton wolfe made with plain
skirt beautifully cut and hung so that the
hips are easily defined and a wide flare at
the bottom to give a smart foot line, which
Is trimmed above the knee with a deep
band of embroidered filet net And the
bodice! Well, that might have a tucker of
white tucked tulle and a hanging souare
empiecement back and front of the filet
The sleeves could be airy CONNECTIONS Of
tulle.
A Widely Discussed Question.
This reminds me that the question of
sleeves is a very agitating one at present
the debatable point being whether or not
the loose, wide oversleeve cut in one with
the bodice. as it were, will gain supremacy.
If 1t Is admitted on sufferance 1t will prob
ably end in copying the example of the
cuckoo in the nest and chucking all other
kinds out Of its way. There Is much to
approve in the new sleeve.
In the first place 1t is entirely different
from anything we have been accustomed
to. and dressmakers welcome complete
change of face like this. which means that
very few of our existing dresses can be
brought into line and, If one Is to be mo-
dish. new ones will have to be ordered
Fashions have for several seasons been
sliding gently along without any violent
changes, and a revolution such as this
would be Is naturally more to the cou-
turier fancy than evolution. In the second
place the contemplated sleeve is quaint
and fits beautifully into the picture as 1t
paints itself in the minds eye for the sum-
mer styles. The dropping shoulder line. by
means Of cape epaulets and shoulder pieces.
Is assured in any case. but the new manche
of which l speak must be seen to be
realized.
There is nothing especially distinctive
about the other new sleeves They are of