The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-05-08

CLOTHES SHOCK
HER AT FIRST;
THEN--BEHOLD!

formation to the onlooker; the process
that is, as it takes place in the person
Of an American woman.
She arrives in Paris from America MOI
from the vortex Of a smart set IN
smart city, where one gets clothes oy
wireless, where one knows and observes
the vagaries of fashion, where the rue
de la Paix and the Place Vendome are
familiar names: Of from such circles does
the lady Of the transformation come
She arrives from some town. where
sartorial ambitions are simpler anu
where one does not wish to draw at
tention to oneself by being different from
ones neighbor.
Or she may come from one OF the
huge centers where smart dress Is pien-
tiful, but where her role was not along
these lines: where one was content 10
wear the hair as one always has worn
it. and adopted from afar off the fan
tastes of fashion.
And when she arrives in Paris IN the
happy springtime, when the world OF
women is absorbed in the one thing
dress-and finds herself so different
from her surroundings then she is
shocked. Not at first, mind you, and
that is what makes the transformation
interesting.
She begins with a sensation Of mere
duced nowhere, but in France. She
usually derides them. The women who
wear them are unlike average human
beings She wonders what treatment her
friends would give a woman who dressed
thus.
She frankly stares with unhushed curl
osity at the passing show at the races,
- the restaurants, the play. She asks ex-
citedly what the great couturiers are
Trs2
fully, If they would wear such clothes
She insists that she will not have long
tight sleeves for summer, that she will
not catch her skirt up in the back, that
she will refuse to observe the law con-
corning skirts six inches from the hoor
And she goes on her way gazing at
the shop windows between visits to the
Louvre TO see the restored Mona Lisa,
to the Bon Marche TO buy silk stockings
and gloves. to the spring salon. ana
one day you meet her again. and. whoop-
la, YOU gaze and again you gaze. Let
me describe her.
Girl of the rrnnrfornRtiOn.
She wears a petticoat skirt of black
satin with a tunic to the shoe tops OF
blue gaberdine with Roman striped
border. Her transparent blouse has a
fiaring Gladstone collar and about her
a
a single colored pearl
Her half shoes have uppers of cafe au
lait cloth tied with vanished ribbon. Her
gloves are of yellow kid, heavily stitched
with black. From the short coat with
its spatulate postelion back there energies
yellow muslin handkerchief, jauntily
placed in the hip pocket.
And her hair. You must look again at
this before a glimmer of recognition
=, ~ mar
The couture as a la mode Temples show,
the ear is half covered by frills of hair
that fall on the cheek, there is no knot
at the back. and the hat crosses fringe
OF tiny curles on the forehead.
And the hat. 1t is a turban Of split
Belgian straw with three burnt ostrich
feathers. rising to the, sky and waving
in a close embrace at the top like closely |
planted trees meeting a storm.
She has eaten of the tree of knowledge
in the garden of dress. She knows.
And she knows that she knows And
she is not ashamed of the fact. but
rather proud of il. She may confess to
you in a moment Of panic that she is
nervous when she thinks what the family |
at home will say. but the apple is eaten. |
There is no going back.
You remember the poem by Mrs. !
Browning of the reed that never more |
and you liken it to the work of the great |
god Pan (Poiret), who plucked the reed !
from the river to make an instrument
of music.
launching at CirO's.
For some reason these transformations !
take place at Ciros where one is quite |
content to have dejeuner, as well as sup !
per. For tea it is not as smart or as in |
terestinE as the Sans SOuCi or the Palais !
PERSIAN. where one dances or watches the |
dancing of others; for why not be amused |
when one is in an amusement town? 1t |
is bit more expensive at these places, |
for the exclusive Palais PERSIAN asks 5 |
francs. 81 of our money, for entrance, and |
gives one all tho tea and sandwiches and |
little cakes that one wishes for 2 francs. |
At Sans Souci one pays francs entrance
and francs for the afternoon meal
At Ciro's, at Rumpelmayer's where
there is no entrance fee. the tea is ;
francs at the one, and each cake or sand
witch is counted up against you at the
other
There is no doubt that the smartest
clothes are worn where there is dancing,
if one excerpts the Ritz and a few other
hotels So II one does not wish to be
bothered with music and a crowd one
goes to Ciro's for lunch II is typically |