The Washington times., 1914-04-12
Lure Of Illusion Fascinates
Both Old and Young in Civ
ing Fancy's Freedom in Cos.
tune and Conduct.
Some Remarkably Clever Ideas
Worked Out by Washington
Women in Social Affairs of
the Season.
By MARY EDNA MOVES.

| TIE ''make-beIieve' fancies Of child
hood leave deep impressions. In most
cases they are, never entirely outgrown.
even after one passes into the great
world of srown-ups. Unless this is so
what reason can there be for the pop
ularity of the bal masque, carnivals the
bal-en-tete. Pierrot and Pierrette
parties. the colonial tea, and the most
modern OF all-the wig party?
! When you were a little child, did
you like to play ''make-believe?" Did
you like 10 hide behind the door and
jump at the family and make believe
| Eou were a bandit? Did you hide your
self and roar at the cook and pretend
.rou were 4 lion, or did You like to
| dress up in mothers clothes and al
most convince yourself that you were
a real grown-up person?
few years later. when you began
to think about things, did you BEGIN
| to day dream and wonder how it
would seem to oe n rabbit or q dog
or horse. and then, sometimes, did
your fancy make you wonder how 1t
would seem to be a person OF some
former or some future age?
Then. years later. when you began
to study things and you read up on
reincarnation and kindred subjects, did
You begin to really wonder IL some
time maybe you were a tadpole and
your best beloved vas a fish, and SO
on until you even now have a little
suspicion that maybe some time you
might come back great big beautI-
ful butterfly or rabbit or, perhaps,
after your spirit has gone into the
great beyond for ages, Il will come
BACK and exist again in some aviator
or soldier?
The Lure of Illusion.
Washington society has been making
believe" all season. Never in years
have mask parties been So popular
Whenever an entertainment for charity
is afoot, all the leading spirits have
to do is to announce that IL was to be
some sort Of a costume affair, and not
only do people clamor to take part,
but to attend as well. and that is the
real test. People love to imagine that
they are some one else or something
else. The lure Of Illusion fascinates
the old and young.
When dances, card parties, teas, din
ner and luncheons fall flat, the same
people can attend a mask party of some
nature and have rollicking good time
and vote the entertainment a large
success. 1t is the one chance people
have to give up to their imagination.
One woman said to me recently that
she had always longed to wear the cos
tune of gypsy dancer. She said she
was certain 1t would accentuate her
beauty more than any other mode OF
dress. 1t is safe to say that she never
masked as anything else other women
have told me that they longed to wear
mems clothing. Did you ever hear of
a mask party when half of the women
guests did not come as men?
Others have told me that they hated
the color of their hair. and knew they
would be more beautiful in some other
sort. Think of your friends with un-
attractive tresses and see II they did
not go to mask parties wearing the
most fetching wigs that ever were
woven. 1t is just simply human ma
tuTe.
Fad For Colored Wigs.
And then the latest fad for colored
wigs. What is it, but the idea OF
''nls king believe" A woman told nc
that she was sure that at one time, in
another rxistance perhaps, she must
have had white curly hair, for, from |
the time she was a little child. she loved |
to powder her hair and arrange it high |
with clusters of curls. Whether it was an |
idea she had gained from seeing pic |
tures, she does not know, but she ad- |
mires herself with that sort of a head |
dress and never misses a chance to |
wear ii.
Other women long for other shades Of |
hair and now with the fad for colored |
wigs there is not a reason why they |
should not indulge their fancy.
There never were two more sucC essful |
pa arties than the wig parties Miss Marga-
ret Cameron gave for Prince Munster. |
of Germany. and the one Mrs. E. II. G. |
Slater gave recently. All the women |
came in wigs TO match their gowns.
Mrs. Franklin X. Lane wife of the |
Secretary of the Interior, wore a wig |
OF stone blue and a gown OF the same |
shade contrasting beautifully with Mrs. |
Chandler Hale in her white brocade |
gown and white wig, while Nine. Vas
silieff wife Of the naval attache OF the |
Russian embassy, was a study IN royal |
purple. Miss Margaret Perrin was en-
tracing in a scarlet gown with a white |
wig and her mother. Mrs. George How
ard was beautiful In Gobelin blue with /
a wig matching exactly.