Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-04

@ONSTRUCTIVE criticism Of cos
I tunes, while 1t may not bear d.
rectly on the cost Of clothes, is one
of the essentials. of wardrobe economy
One may purchase. certain shirts. vests
and the like. SO variegated and striking IL
their designs that they must be divided
into combinations" One may in this
manner. wear certain shirts with certain
ties and certain vests with certain suits.
But the wardrobe as a whole Is not in
harmony, and the cost of replenishing the
different portions of different combiIia-
tons results in greater expense than a
quarterly addition of clothing which will
harmonic with everything else.
This thought struck the writer. with
particular force as he watched some of
the ao-calied ~ ell dressed young msl
when they We're airing their Christmas
presents. Occasioaali:- Il Christmas pres
ent will prove TO be the root OF all evil.
For if 4 man once violates his sense of
harmonies Ii dressing in order to please
a girl who sent him L holiday necktie he
will find that he has strayed from the
path and unconscioiisly will continue his
violations. each one being easier than its
predecessor.
BY harmonies is meant the elimination
OF the blue necltfes and the green
striped shirt. Also the brown-striped vest
combinations which clothiers will tell of,
and they make study Of that in this city.
SO that no man has an excuse for not
knowing what colors to wear with other
colors, even If he is color blind.
The value of harmonies in. coloring is
particularly valuable now since there have
arrived from London, via New York, the
new striped shirts which dealers say
will be popular throughout the winter.
These shirts are made mostly in heavy
materials and can be laundered to a
stiffness. that. rivals the pleated dress
shirt. With them has come the striped
vest. Indications, are that January and
February will be a .zebra-like season.
In the stripes themselves there is moth
ing wrong. The only man who must shy
at them is the individual who Is six feet
four inches tall and tips the scales at
1JO pounds. They do not enhance his
beauty. He looks like BARRIERS pole.
But the stripes should have their feel
ings respected by their wearers. =. There
was a man whose idea Of sartorial glory
was founded on the principle of a circus
parade A few days ago he had on a
purplish gray suit struck, through with
one of those pin stripes Of dark blue.
And he exposed to the world yellow
and brown striped vest. the stripes be-
ing as wide as the intervals In Cen
trail American flag. His tie was neutral,
but not of the neutrality that blends.
It fought audiblyS with everything else
he wore. He was happy and nobody In
jured him. 1t is supposed 'i1e will go on
in the belief that he. was we'll dressed.
And he was, In the sense of expense
His clothing was costly. but to any dis
eliminating eye, those colors jolted. =.
Now, by all the. rules Of DRESSING.
there was no need for this. A plain
gray vest-gray Is always safe-would
have saved much. and plain blue tie.
with light stripe running through it.
would have made him noticeably well
dressed Here you can see the force of
the first proposition mentioned. II he
had worn the gray vest and the blue