Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1914-04-15
'FUTUR|sT IS
STILL A POWER
Partisan Costumers, at Least,
Seem Inclined to Cling to
Last Years Styles.
VILE NOT BE INFLUENCED
American Desire for Quieter Garments
Not Likely to Be Considered
Spriqs, Vines and Tiny Flow
ers Are Again Feature
Of the Coming Modes.

VxT0MEN are not so impatiently
wv awaiting TIE new styles as the
merchants and dressmakers
are, who always approach the begin
ming of March and September with
some trepidatiop 1t is all gamble,
this question of exploited gowns for
a vast aumber of women with varied
tastes. There are many sources OF
supply for new gowns, although Paris
is an inspiration for al OF them. Every
dressmaker does not offer to the pub
lie original French gowns or exact
copies of French models, and the bulk
of the materials that are offered Is,
with few exceptions, American made.
The wholesale houses which dress
the average American woman send
buyers to Paris well before the buy
ers for the retail houses go over. 1t
is necessary for them to have styles
that can be modified, adapted, and
made available for the average woman
who wants something new, from Mon
treal to Mexico.
The models must be ready at the
time when the women are going shop
ping for reduced winter clothes, and
they are usually founded on French
ideas that were brought out in No
vember. They do not always differ In
marked manner from the gowns that
are shown to the retail buyers during
February, because Paris is not az rev.
dictionary as one would think Its
ideas connected with its fashions de-
velop and do not reach fulfillment I'M
I'll the second season with them has
been launched.
Promises for the Future.
There is a great deal of talk go
ing to ana fro over there anent the
fact that Paris is wearying of fantas-
tic clothes and that it is seeking to
regain prestige by seriously returning
to simpler fashions. This may be a
happy philosophy worked out by the
onlookers, but not seriously with any
such intention on the part of France,
or any conviction that her fashions
are fantastic.
The many designers over there are
paid to follow out their own plans
without regard to the rest of the
world. although the American buyers
feel that the visits of Worth, Poiret,
Georgette and Jouda, who is the head
of the house of Bernard, signified the
spring movement toward finding out
what American women were produc-
ing In modern fashions.
The probability is that each of these
famous designers came over here at
the urgent invitation of certain heads
of American firms, and each was ex-
plotted and managed in clever way
that gave us reason to believe that
America was at the bottom of the
whole thing, and not Paris.
Want Quiet Costumes.
Those who have seen the gowns OF
Worth and Poiret since their visit
here see that America has certainly
not given them any ideas, but it may
have conventionalized their future
product for two reasons; the first is
that they saw the reproduction of
their creations on every side which
have been produced at eight or ten
dollars and worn by the wrong woman
at the wrong hour; the second is that
they discovered the quiet manner of
dressing which the best placed Ameri-
can woman adopts.
Whether or not America subdued
Poiret one cannot tell, but the fact
remains that the new gowns which
he designed for Richepin's new play,
THE Tango" were qiuet and conven-
tiona1.
One fact is assured, which is that
the French are not making any prom
ises for the future about their clothes;
the speculation comes from the Amer
leans, who find much to analyze and
philosophize over in French clothes.
We have adopted many footlight
clothes for the street and worn many
things that should have been kept for
the glare of the calcium and not ex-
posed to the glare of the sun, but,
after all, we are not ready for the i'm
practicable dreams of artists. The
clothes made by Bakst are impossible
except Tor the stage, and one would
take issue with them surely unless
they retained some line or period.
So far the world of dress owes moth
ing to artists who are not practical
workers. Even cur best colorists are
among the designers who have given
their lives to the task of dressing
women.
So whatever America may promise
for Paris in the future. let it be un-
derstood that Paris itself is promising
nothing. She is shrewd and fantas-
tic child, and one never knows which
quality win go uppermost from season
to season.
Figured Fabrics In Fashion.
The trail of the I, turist is over with
the materials of this spring. There Is
no denying that Last year we looked
aghast at the red and blue flowers
we we're asked to wear in the name of
Bulgaria and at the way the so-called
futurist craze died out as quickly as
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British Books of Year.
The statistics OF the publishing
+rada for 1912 &C cornpilpd bv the