Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-28
BY ANNE RITTENHOUSE.

| What are the vagaries of skirts this
spring? They are sleight-of-hand artists
these lower garments-and they change
| their appearance while you are looking
at Them Around them usually wages a
war They attract more attention than
any other part Of women's apparel. Some
| of this is due to advertising and some of
1t to the provincialism Of our mind, which
gets in a rut on A certain subject and
can't get away from it.
| Glance over the history of skirts for
the last three years and remember the
storm of comment that swept over two
continents al every change made in IT.
Even the cables carried the news OF
changes as they did that of wars and
| revolutions.
Wide segmcnts of people who hadn't
the faintest idea of what they were talk
ing about rallied at this part OF woman
| fashions, and 1t is to be seriously doubted
whether they ever saw the thing they
criticised.
| Contrast all this fuss and Juror with
the amazing silence gwen to changes IN
the bodice. Tire latter have been start
| ling but unnoticed. They have become
more transparent than the f1imsiest skirt
and have grown more decollete every
! half season. Sleeves have almost d'sap-
peared from evening gowns and Innings
have become mere ribbon above the
waist.
The reason that the public. including
men. who follow what the newspa pers
say about eccentric fashions more than
women do, paid so much attention to the
vagaries of the skirt is because these
| We're suggested.
| This is one Of the most interesting
| phases OF the psychology of clothes. Caus-
| tic comment and open abuse are more fire.
| quently INDUCED in by people who have
only read or heard of new fashion
| rather than by those who know all about
| them.
| n some one had started rolling crit
| ic;sm Of the bodice it would have been
a colossal stone by this time However.
| sufficient to the garment is the evil there
of. and the skirt has borne the brunt of
the present abuse.
The Skirts of Spring.
As far as narrowness is concerned.
there is no change in the new skirts
from what has been. They seem to be
| narrower at the hem than they ever
| were. but this may easily be due to the
fact that their width has increased so
| much at the hips. The important
| dressmakers say that the slash in
| evening gowns has been out of fashion
| among smart women for three months.
!. and they do not expect return of 1t
| in the near future no matter how mar
! Possibly it would be better to say
that there is no evident slash-for
| whatever opening there is is filed in
| with a f1ounce of lace or chiffon. The
| opening in walking skirts has been SO
wrongfully exploited that it has been
| withdrawn from all dignified costumes.
! and the only approach to 1T is the
/ tiniest slit at two of the seams in order
/ to give bit more grace to the hem.
| IT is argued that women have learned
to walk in the narrow skirt and they
| manage it with grace and deXterity,
| and. therefore. the slash is unneces
| sary. After all, it was the tightness
| around the knees whic hmade the So
called hobble skirt dificuh to walk in.
and the loosening of the line there
gave one freedom of knee movement
and incidentally added to the appear
ance of the figure.
| The curved line At the back of the
skirt was always a hideous feature. and
its disappearance was argued from the
beginning. II went out of fashion last
summer and has not returned 1t would
be impossible to-use II in the modern
skirt. which already looks old fash
| Toned II tight at the knees.
Skirts Are Longer.
| There seems to be growing ten
dency toward longer skirts. which is
unusual at the beginning of warm
weather. Then is the time. il any. that
that the wearers may be more COM
Portable and that light skirts may be
kept cleaner.
Whether this new fashion will take
hold on the majority until next Sep