Evening star., 1914-10-04

M ONE tfne." once said 6
plump, red-cheeked, litt1.
woman. II am going to livs
~ for q whole season on q
desert island where nobod,
oan see me-" She smoothed her plain
and becoming dark blue suit with her
black-gloved hand. gave a toss to hel
black velvet toque with its waving
black plume. and tapped the floor with
her little black shoe. I'm going to
wear just what I please-crimson vel
vets in the evening; bright, stif plaid
silks In the afternoon, and green, yell
low, pink and purple muslins, with
great big staring designs, in the morn
ing. And my hats,-every color of the
rainbow. and loaded with all the gaudy
trimming I like. The greatest hard
ship of my life is dressing in good
taste"
Some say that dressing well is a
natural gift; and to a certain extent
that is true. But even those of Us
who are born without that quality
elusive and hard to define, which we
call TASTE" need not despair. With
care and patience, like the little wom-
an in the sober blue dress, we may
gain a pretty good substitute for 1t.
It is almost trite to say that French
women, which is another way of say
ing well dressed women, can teach ue
great deal in the matter of taste.
But generally. when we say this, we
think only of the part of French dress
ing called creations" and "confec-
tions," the miracles of lace and velvet
oh; 4
with envy in the shop windows and
read about with wonder in the fashion
magazines.
We forget the French working girl.
Not so pretty as the English girl, with
figure no better than the Americans,
and without the sturdy charm Of her
Dutch and German sisters-she is in
variably well dressed. Wearing a hat
she has trimmed herself with scrap
of silk and a. bright quill or flower. a
coarse cotton shirt waist which cost
at the most three francs, generally
black cotton gloves, a plain skirt. and
TO our American eyes fiimsy and rather
shapeless; cheap black shoes, there Is
nevertheless about her a certain charm
and attractiveness. And she can give
lesson of the greatest practical value
to any woman who wants to dress well
and has not endless resources to
And this is the lesson; she is always
neat; her clothes are always clean;
but above all else everything she has
on looks If it had been bought with
an idea of its relation to everything
else she has on. If her skirt Is black
she wears black gloves and belt and a
bit of black ribbon at her neck and In
her hair. If she wears blue nat she
wears a blue skirt and perhaps blue
lkrooch at her collar.
There were once two schoolgirls who
looked very much alike. They were
the same size and had the same color
ing and general outline of feature.
4
'I don't know why Alice never looks
as well dressed as Louise one day
said the mother of the prettier and
richer of the two girls to the mother
of the other. Every one always says
Louise looks so well. I wish you'd
let me copy her school dress this spring
for Alice. I'll change the color, so that
the girls won't look too much alike"
Louise looked very we'll that spring
In . striped brown suit, with white
blouses. tan belt. gloves and shoes and
a cream-white straw hat trimmed with
plicated the suit in blue, bought q
brown hat and trimmed it with red
poppies, made two or three shirt waists
of vari-colored wash silks. And wear
ing this costume. supplanted with gray
gloves and brown belt. poor Alice went
forth as unbecomingly dressed as ever.
Yet the things she wore were pretty
and of good material: they just lacked
q definite scheme of harmony.
In the failure of the one girl to look
well as the other lies the whole
secret Of dressing becomingly on a
little You must have some definite
hafnra hJ1v ciD % Ia
article of your wardrobe, and then. no
matter how inexpensive or how plain
your clothes are, you will have an air
of individuality and well-being.
II you have a brown idea keep to it.
II you have plan for fluffy clothes
keep to that. or If for smart. severe
clothes keep to that-unless you have
q big clothes allowance.
Proba bly, you know some people who
dress from year to year in practically
the same colors. Their friends never
give them anything to wear made in
any other colors, and therefore when
they have bought a blue street dress
they do not have to face the difflculty
Of the mauve handbag and the green
suede belt some one gave them for
Christmas.
But although this choosing of the
same colors does give certain indi-
viduality to the wearer, it Is rather
tiresome for most Of US. and we can get
along very well If each season we
choose a definite color scheme.
-
Now, when dark blue and black are
in great popularity 1t Is not very diff
hcult to look tastefully dressed. But
if we of moderate incomes indulge in
stripes and plaids and gay colors we
soon meet our doom.
Take q dark blue color scheme for
this winter. There could be a dark
blue coat suit, black velvet hat trim :
med with big white flower or with
gold or silver. white gloves and black
shoes. The same black velvet hat
would look kell with an afternoon
frock of almost any color and, as any
sort of furs look well with blue. they
could be chosen especially to harmonize
with the afternoon frock. A brown
color scheme is little more difficult to
handle. The brown coat suit can be
worn with the ever-useful black hat
but brown one looks better. II the
same brown hat is to serve with other
clothes there might be a black after
aoon gown. with which the brown hat
could be worn. II the hat were trim
med with a gold rose, and the black
frock had a bit of gold about 1t. the
harmony would be established. top
coat of brown and black checks could
be worn.
Evening frocks of totally different
car ha tn