Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1913-10-18
PASSING OF THE SILK DRESS.
More Are Worn Today Than Ever
Before But Not The Old Time
Kind.

our IaSnl0n columns, always time
~ in their topics and always attrac-
tive in the manner of their presen-
tation, tell US and this will be a
surprise to men who remember the
crinoline period-that more silk
dresses are worn today than ever
before. An explanation quickly fol-
lows.
1t appears that while silks from
old-fashioned looms brought from 81
to SO yard, they were only from 20
to % inches wide, and the average
number of yards required in the max
ing Of gown was from Is to IS !;
for in those days the folds of the
skirts were voluminous As women
began 10 realize that wide goods cut
to much better advantage, we are
further informed, the demand began
to run in that dire ction with the re-
suit that today with silks from Sc
to 40 inches wide, the cost is much
less for the four and half yards re-
quired for dress even though SO or
81 yard is paid for it,"
But the silks in general wear to-
day are not quite what they used to
be. They are not so thick or so
heavy. A silk dress of, say the '70's
was something tangible and substan-
tial. 1t could by no possibility be
taken for anything else. 1t could be
heard fustling around the corner be-
fore it came into view. 1t COM
pletely occupied the width of the
church aisle on Sunday morning and
usually needed pew all to itself II
was frequently green. blue, purple,
brown or MORE antique, but it was
generally-blsck with guipure and jet
trimmings.
Like the dwelling with brownstone
front and mansard roof, the buggy
and son at college, the silk dress
represented the standing, and stood
for the dignity of the family. But
as a matter of fact the silk dress that
could stand alone after the wearer
had taken it off, was the kind of a
silk dress that every woman was
proud to own. The great test and
demonstration of its quality and its
cost lay in the ability of its texture
to support itself from skirt hem TO
neckband, independently ofsdummy or
human form, in an upright position.
Mrs. Freeman, who was Mary
wilkins, with her usual Ike en- insight
irto the social conditions of the per-
iod in question, touches in one of
her charming New England stories
upon the black silk dress as an en-
blem of unquestionable responsibility
in the small town. 1t went even
farther than that. Time was when
every family of consequence in the
city as well as in the country, felt
compe lied by social usage to have
one. AS il came back from the dress
makers, carefully handkerchief, so
that its widths and folds should not
be crushed, and ready to be hung up
in and to fully occupy the largest
clothes closet in the house, it repre-
sented an outlay of about $150-a
large sum in those days for a single
gown, but as the lady for whom it
was intended would say, ooh, my!
1t will last me forever.
This is the kind of a silk dress we
mean when we say the silk dress is
past or passing-the kind that lasted
from the wedding year until the
children were all grown up, and tn IN
supplied material for waists, jackets,
neckties and handbags through the
progress of another generation
Christian Science Monitor.