Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-28
BY THE BOULEVARDIER.


hautboy.
For the first time in many and
many year the American of dressy in
clnation and evening clothes mania will
be able 70 crafty his desires in evening
dress without being mistaken for the
head waiter or disguised and repented
burglar. The plate Of fashion and the
glass of form have at last shown signs
of stepping out of their separate states
of coma. Hence the sartorial American
will this winter be able to wear his dress
clothes more frequently and with more
effect than at any time in the previous
ten years.
The Boulevardier has talked with a
number of tailors this year. Many OF
them declare that they will find this q
record year in the sale OF the dress
clothes. They assert that dress clothes
have become more and more vital and
the present crusade for separate evening
dress among the great mass of smart
dressers is demanding universal atten-
ton.
As nearly as can be learned the move
for evening clothes is more psychic than
physical Washington is still far behind
the Great White Way or any street of
eastern town. Essentially it has been a
city where the dress clothes popuia-
ton dimes at home returns from the
theater in a cab and leaps into bed early
that it may be prepared for the long
grind of government loutine beginning
al = o'clock the next morning.
J: =
The stroliinS cafe visitor-tlle sightseer
who dons mis- evening clothes simply be-
cause he doesn't feel natural after dark
without then-has not been much of a
factor
AS far as styles in dress suits 60 there
will not be a decided change in fam
this year. The W cut vest still has
precedent over the old style that looks
as it it had been scalloped around !.
barrel. The coat will be cut a generous
length with the tails hanging almost to
the knees. The wing collar-one of the
type of collar with the very small points
that appears to be made almost like a
plain standing collar-will be the prevail
ing dress type. This collar Is generally
favored by the evening dress expert, and
with good reason. IT combines the COM
fort of the wing collar with the appear
ance of the standing collar; indeed, 1t
has better appearance than the straight
high collar. which generally gives a thin
man the appearance Of having been pill
.oried.
The introduction of this wing collar,
seen infrequently for the last two sea-
ons and now becoming more popular
than ever, decoys the timid dress Clothes
man into his evening garb. For while
he doesn't look any the less dressed up
in the new style collar, it gives him a
feeling OF informality which is impossible
when the two points of his high straight
collar are ramming his tonsils every time
he moves his head
That is one thing that will help to dis
tinguish the earnest wearer of the dress
suit from the humble waiter. The other
feature is the remarkable sliding shirt
of modern fame. The writer can cheer
fully recommend this shirt to all wearers
of dress clothes, and they will find that
they have gained much In dress by its
use. Sliding is the one word which
best describes this dress shirt. Instead
of being sheet-iron front which bulges
ike a steel-ribbed balloon when the
wearer sits down, 1t remains fiat as 4
board no matter what position he takes.
And the secret is that the bottom Of the
shirt front is detached. Thus the whole
shirt front may slide downward with
out bulging when the wearer seats him
self. 1t moves quietly ana respectfully
beneath the vest.
There is an elderly man to whom the
iress suit has always been sort of in
uuisitorial horror. Several times each
year convention demands that he attend
public dinner and wear his evening
year convention demands that he attend
clothes His Is the magnificent head and
shoulders of a Gladstone or a Webster.
But there he ceases to be heroic. When
he seats himself at dinner there is the
crunching sound of rumplng shirt
front. You hear him sigh sorrrowfully
Out and out comes his shirt front like
the mainsail of yacht in a breeze.
Every time he moves his shirt takes an
other lump BY the time coffee is
reached he appears to be hiding behind a
,imitless expanse Of white.
He came to the writer this year with
appeal in his eyes.
1--WE gained four pounds" he informed
me. despondentiy.
There was no use commenting on this
fact. His appearance made one suspect
that he had rather underestimate.
-Four pounds during the summer" he
said, land l have trained carefully in
anticipation of the banqueting season.
IT is horrible. / am barely able to wear
my vests now. What shall / do?'
CuIiouSly enough, none of the haber-
dashers he had visited had recommended
to him the sliding type of dress shirt
Haberdashers have notions in the sale
of their goods. The young man who
doesn't need TO know the little tricks
of dressing gets all of their advice and
profits thereby. But the elderly profess