The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-22

From all corners come tales of eigh- teenth century fetes. Also the early nineteenth century is not excluded. and Berlin lately has had a wonderful ex- hihition of silhouettes of which Prince August Wilhelm is an ardent collector
 August Wilhelm's wife. who halls from Schleswig- Holstein. is a leading roeoco-ite. Lately she gave an enter tainment at which everyone appeared as a Watteau or Lancret character. Crown Princess Cecilie, usually mod ern person given to weedy petticoats and cabbagey hats. this time turned up as a shepherdess. and flapped a s3,001 fan painted by Monsieur Watteau him. self
 Nation costumes play a great role in this new rococo. Sometimes they are eighteenth century and sometimes modern Germany is the paradise of types She has no single national cos tune. but a dozen different local garbs. Prussia alone has costumes for Silesia. for east Friesland. for Pomerania. in fact for every section. To look like Friesland peasant girl in a chemisette and twenty petticoats is the new ideal of the rococo princesses.
 The most national costumey of all is Grand Duchess Alexandra of Meek klen- burg -Schweren. second daughter of
 
 tender to the throne of Hanover. Han over ceased to have a throne in 1888 and the Duke now spends his vacant days trying to avoid Kaiser Wilhelm. But the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg' sister Is Crown Princess Ceeilie and this makes complications. The Cum berland children were all carefully trained to hate Prussia and the Hohen- zollerns and Grand Duchess Alexandra is expected by her papa zealously to hate the Crown Prince. This fact is connected with the Grand Duchess craze for dressing as a Mecklenburg peasant maid.
 Mecklenburgers hate Prussians. They their Grand Duke to hold Prussia at q distance and to bring out when possible the difference between the two peoples. One difference Is that Mecklenburg has a very effective national dress. Grand Duchess Alexandra wears 1t almost daily. The Mecklenburg peasants call ordinary European garb "Prussian clothes" and now that the princess forswears Prussian clothes they are Outside Germany the new rococo craze is strongest in Roumania. The creator there is the heirs wife "Prin- cipesa" Maria. Prlncipesa Maria and her still prettier daughters. Elisa vetta and Maria, and her pretty son. 'Prlntul' carol, all WdIk aDOut the 1 Roumanian earth in weirdly primitive robes Crown "Principesa" appears in 1 a robe, carrying a pitcher of water. l and "Printul" Carol appears as potato digger, while "Principesa" Maria Junior appears sometimes an angel
 l Rumor says that only "Principesa' | Maria Senior really likes this, and that she forces the weirdly primitive robes on her offspring "Printuls" and "Prin- | oipesas." who would much prefer to l look like blase Parisians.
 1 Pelesch Chateau. near Sinia, in north Roumania, a little while ago saw a gor- | geous festival, organized by Crown 1 "Principesa" Maria, at which men and
 women turned up garbed in almost every known national costume save l that of Adam. Adams costume was for bidden because Grown "Printul' Ferdi- nand, heir to the throne, Is a very rigid and decorous man. He made trouble last summer when "Principesa" Maria with several maidens tripped to the Black Sea near KustendJe and went clam collecting without bots or stock | ings. The eternal photographers snap shotted the "Principesas," and trouble l ensued
 New rococo is better than eighteenth century rococo, for 1t has more variety But the two are united by their insis- tence on divine simplicity.