Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-11

world, it is pOWereSS with regard
to Dame Fashion. The latter has always
shown herself rebellious to the crown, and
has manifested a disposition to defy the
sovereign where the mode has been concerned.
Indeed, sumptuary laws and regulations have
always been the most difficult to enforce, and
mankind while slavishly obedient to the de-
crees of Fashion, matter how ridiculous
they may be, reSentS any royal uSurpatlon OF
her authority, or any interference IN her par
tcular domain, just as much to-day as two
centuries ago, when the Russians lnaugurated
a full hedged instruction against Peter the
Great because he endeavored to force them
to shave off their boards and to shorten their
coats His sub jects were perfectly ready to
tolerate all his Western innovations, as long
as these were confined to questions of admins
tration and of military organization; but the
moment he sought to exercise his despotism
in connection with their personal appearance
and dress, they would no longer render him
obedience, but preferred to submit to any form
Of punishment rather than yield.
There are only two SOVere1gnS who can be
said to have exercised any influence upon
fashion, and it is peculiar fact that neither
of them was of royal birth The one was
Empress Josephine, whose styles of dress still
exist to this day in the form of Empire
gowns The other has been Empress Eugene,
whom Napoleon Ill in the public announce
rnent of his marriage described as parvenu.
For seventeen years, throughout the reign of
her husband, this great-granddaughter OF
ScOCCn grocery lTdutl W ilo NdS - lltSu SleitCo
Consul at Malaga, may be said to have dictated
the feminine fashions, not alone OF France.
but likewise of the entire civilized and I'M
civilized universe; for when Eugene visited
the seraglio of the Sultan at Constantinople,
and the harem of the khedive of Egypt, on
the occasion of her trip to the Orient IN con-
nection with the opening of the Suez Canal.
she found to her amazement that the inmates
in lieu of being arrayed either in the fantastic
costumes of the Turkish women of the
Conque. or in the garb of nature, as one mig
tempted to believe from the paintings of Gerom
others who have portrayed the interior of Moha
dan harems from mere hearSay, were attlred
latest creations of the great costumerS of Paris
toilets conforming in every respect to the d.
which she, Eugene herself, had issued.
Whether this supremacy of Eugene in stump
matters was exercised wisely IS a question col
ing which there is much difference of opinion
it is difficult for mere man to write with apI
or commentator of her invention of the erin
which she inaugurated a few months befor
birth of the Prince Imperial, and which was rel
as an indispensable article of feminine apparel
the overthrow of the Empire in $40. In fac
name of Eugene has always been indlssolubly
ciated in the eyes of the feminine world will
of the crinoine; and long after the part whlt
played in bringing about the dlscreditable wa
Mexico and the still more disastrous conflict
Germany, has been forgotten, the memory
steel and whalebone abomination which she lnN
will be treasured up against her by the fair
The Queens Are Powerless
0N the other hand, Queen Alexandra. in spite
~ fact that she always dresses in the most e