Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-22
Full Sway to Opera Dress Show Season

TTH Horse show week past. the
VAY opera season In full swing ana
social functions multiplying at
- q tremendous rate, the season,
IS4(<E4I Insofar as fashions are con-
- eerned' no longer has It's re-
serves. One might write reams In descrip-
tion Of stunning toilets seen here. there and
everywhere; but when It comes TO the
generalization there is little left to say.
Even the Horse show display held no
revelations. though fashion played a more
important part In the week than It has in
several seasons past. There were smart
clothes galore I'm evidence at the Garden
and at the restaurants where Horse show
luncheons, dinners and suppers were le-
gion, but those clothes were altogether in
line with what The Bee has been telling
It's readers for months past. and in every
point OF the exhibit there was but fulfill
ment of prophecy. Long ago we foretold
the sombreness Of the afternoon ~toilettes
Tor the show. the preponderance Of black,
the popularity of the dark grays, especi-
ally the taupe and smoke tones, the rivalry
twlxt rough and smooth woolens, the black
and white effects in millinery, the rise Of
the turban 90 Cossack. hussar. mameluke,
what you will, so long as 1t is large, soft,
- = "a NAN SAAAN AAA6 NtN1
skirt frock with furs. or with coat ensuita
or separate.
Well, the afternoon crowd at the show
demonstrated the accuracy of the fore
casting. 1t demonstrated, too, very fully
the truth OF the theory that never was
there a time when skill and understanding
on the pare OF a dressmaker were more
emphat cally necessary than now.
The display OF lamentable costumes built
up after approved rules which was to be
seen at the garden on any afternoon of
horse show week was really distressing
Pretentious failures were innumerable and
the really successful ~toilettes Of extreme
type were few.
Not all Of these successes were TO be
seen in the boxes or associated with we'll
known women. A slim, pretty girl in a
blond-cloth directoire costume, with big
revers Of MORE bFoadtail and a black
scarf girdle and wearing a big black hat
covered with white plumes, attracted gem
eral attention one afternoon because of her
excessive smartness. but no one seemed to
know who she was, and on an afternoon
later In the week an unknown woman of
amazing slend srness and suppleness wore
a black frock, rat and furs that set a
ripple of approval running through the
boxes.
And, by he way. among the black and
white hats which were so numerous there
were some models which were of black
velvet or fur and had for their only trim
ming big ornaments composed of q large
cabochon and looped strings of enormou
pearls. The effect was excessively chic,
but should be seen to be appreciated.
Fur turbans in great variety flourished
despite the warm, muggy weather Of the
first few days of the week and swansdown
was conspicuous In turhan and hat crowns.
Some Of the young girls looked partieu-
larry charming in turbans and collars Of
white swansdown and carried huge flat
muffs of the same fluffy material.
In the evening the clothes show was bet
ter worth seeing than that of the after
noon. Apparently 1t Is easier to make a
fairly modish frock for evening wear than
to achieve the same standard in an after
noon costume, and the evening gown 10
more likely to be becoming when 1t Is
done. The range Of colors suitable for
evening wear is, Of course, wider and the
colors themselves are lovelier. The appro-