Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1912-03-31
Epcnins Dress OF White
Lace over Pink


summer fashions of seventy years
ago. What did our grandmothers and great-grand-
mothers wear way back, long before the civil war.
when Nebraska asn't,Nebraska at all, but only
prairie with Indians and buffalo in complete pos
session and with millinery shops, dressmaking es-
adjustments and department stores a part Of the
unborn future?
In the Byron Reed collection in the public Ii
brary there is copy of "Godey's Lady's Book"
dated 1S40-a quaint little old volume, dry and
yellow with age-which tells in picture and de-
scrptions what was the very last word in fashions
for the women Of that day Very queer in 1919
seem these fashions of the past with their enor-
nous round skirts tiny waists, dropping shoulders.
puffed sleeves, bonnets and caps and elaborate
head-dresses.
In this day Of clinging materials and as little as
possible Of them, 1t seems II our feminine pro-
genitors wasted goods most extravagantly with
their fuckers flounces and festoons, their bows
and sashes. They even had pockets on the outside
of their dresses-not the mannish tailored kind.
but pockets put on with flounce all round
And how they loved artificial flowers! Their
hats were covered with them and their dresses had
elaborate garnitures of roses These flower access
series do not seem so queer, though, as the black
netting mittens. the hair chains and the feron-
nieres which crossed the brow and encircled the
head
In the column in the "Ladys Book" for March
of 1870 headed "Chlt Chat of Fashions" We read
that shawls are an important factor of the spring
styles:
Those Of China Grape are expected to be the
most in favor this summer; they are without dis
pute the most elegant of all the fancy shawls that
have appeared for some years. They are embrod-
cred in superb patterns of quite novel kind; in
stead of being figured in the loom, they are en-
broidered in silk and without any wrong side"
And OF the new parasols for carriages the
reader assured that they are perfectly calcu-
lated for that purpose; Of very small sze and
with folding sticks, so they may be used to shade
the face a fan; they are composed of pou de
sole. Some are trimmed with fringes; others have
an embroidered border"
The riding habits described In the fashion mag
szine seventy-two years ago this month was as
follows:
1.-The corsages differ, for though they are al
ways tight. some made buttoned from top to
bottom and others with large lapels the jackets
are short and not very full; the skirt is of the
usual width and length and the sleeves are tight
The cloth that these habits are composed Of must
be of very light kind. either black or blue.
front have it fastened and buttons placed at regu-
lar distances through which the high shirt is seen;
it is plated like that of mans and trimmed with
Lace the sleeve is tight and the jacket very long
These habits may be made in casimier or in double
merino. Some also made with the skirt
posed of either Of these materials and the corsage
of velvet.
The April number has a paragraph on that
ever-important subject. hair
"The present fashion of dressing the front hair
is either long ringets in very full tufts plain bands
or bands with the ends braided and turned up
again The back hair is worn so low behind that
it touches the back of the neck, being coiled up in
brads at the very roots OF the hair. Sometimes it
forms a figure of eight placed the cross way; at
others the braids are twisted over each other,
forming one large mass: pearls a gold chain
frequently twisted into these braids, and the
droop towards the left Feronnieres are still
fashionable"
The April number also gives the last word in
caps: The present fashion for caps is very pretty;
Athe eaus are very small and sit almost close to the
head The borders are very full and deep at the
sides; they come very low and are interRingled
with small bouquets of velvet flowers; those called
the bell borders are amongst the most fashionable
the ribands for caps are of satin"
The May number announces something new"
From a ring on the little finger of the right
hand depends chain. to which is attached either
an eyegIass or smelling bottle. whichever may be
the most useful"
This number also brought the tidings that