Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-19
Special Correspondence of The Star.

PARIS. September 5. 1913.
n FTER the American buyers de-
~ parted some of the houses got
"a out a special line of clothes
Il which they said were modified
from what had gone before, and
which were intended for individual pat
ronage. saw these gowns the day they
were offered, but there was no change in
silhoutte, material or coloring. They
were merely the same thing expressed in
a slightly different way from what had
gone before.
The French women insist upon telling
us that an entire change of clothes taxes
place after all the Americans have gone
and that the woman who wishes to dress
differently from her neighbor IN Amer
lea should wait until late autumn to or
der her clothes. No American will bother
about this plan unless she is remaining
here until November.
The average woman finds 1t difficult
enough to get home whatever gowns she
has ordered this month. and one cannot
blame the French dressmakers.
One would have to be a mathematician
TO arrive at correct result through null
tiplication of the gowns ordered py the
American trade from the French houses.
1t is true that few OF the Dig houses
have not done their usual business, ana
no one knows the reason, unless one TAXES
the casual explanation OF the american
buyers, that these houses contain notn-
ing new-and by nothing new" the
American often means nothing eccentric.
The American buyer has become d1f-
ficuIt propose ton To deal with, and so mas
the American woman. This does not seem
to lessen the outpouring OF American
dollars that helps to support the FRENCH
dressmkakers, but it is likely to concen-
trate the money in few houses. When
these houses cater to the American de-
sire for something eccentric they get
the trade, although the American buyer
definitely says, at the time OF buying,
that all these ideas must be modlhed
before the American woman will accept
them.
ing into fashion is star IllnS statement
that can easily be proved untrue. rms
cannot be asserted on the basis OF any
lack of trade in the houses that are
famous for inelegant and eccentric
gowns, for they have all they can at
tend to, but one hears on every side
that the best dressed American women
over here are showing preference Tor
such houses at Cherult and Doucet.
This means much.
While both of these places have cat
cred to an expensive trade, and botn
have adopted the silhouette of the hour
and invented some new movements in
clothes, they do not lend themselves to
the bizarre or the indecent Cheruit is
especially conservative in the line of in
novatIons that expose the figure and tend
to undress woman instead or dressing
her.
Il
Is IT general move in the right di-
rection? Who can tell VIII it affect
America in general. or only in, part. The
sad state OF affairs is that the French
houses have learned they must be con-
stantly original if they would keep the
stupendous American trade, and neither
a firm nor an individual can be con-
stantly original without frequently over
stepping the bounds of good taste.
The best evidence of dignity in clothes
is the quick suppr ession of the fantastic
color schemes tina. were fathered by the
Balkans and mothered by the futurists
last spring. Sucn things may do for in
terror house decoration, but not for eX
terror personal decoration.
Brilliant colors are used this autumn,
but they are smoky. That seems to be
the only word TO describe the dull haze
that has been impaired 10 their surface
W TIC ny yellow. req anu
bright blue have softening of tone that
is remarkably Well done and CARRIES con-
viction that colors can be worn and bril-
laintly combined ii one imparts a certain
look of age to them.
This smoky tone is especially true of
the new blues and puppies / cannot give
you a name for them, for Paris Is par
ucularly obstinate in not naming its new
colors. America delights in it's Alice blue
and Nell pink, Vatican purple and Ele-
plant gray. but when you speak of these
colors TO the French couturiere she looks
at you as If you We're speaking Russian
No one can give an uncomprehending
stare like a Frenchwoman-no one-and it
has nothing TO do with your bad French!
4 X
Quite a number of women went to Pa
GUMS the first of the week to see a half
dozen or more new gowns which she did
not show to the early buyers. They may
have been models built for American
women and copied to be shown for the
late September season, but as far as orig
1nality was concerned there was nothing
there. Some of the gowns were not even
good looking
Paquin. fortunately, was less dominated
by Leon .Bakst than she was last spring