Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-07-16
BY ANNE RITTENHoUSE.


NEW YORK. July 15.-Tiny hats.
round and oval, and stiff sailors and
military models may be decreed, but
we persist in the picturesque, which in
this connection means the large. round
hat Women like to surround them
selves with provocative mystery. The
Sphinx died when one guessed her
riddle; and all literature Is filled with
the charm of the incomprehensible In
woman Some one says when woman
ceases to be an enigma she will cease
to be interesting; and no French
salon is ever opened without several
painted and sculptured representations
of La Question. Eternelie" as
woman.
charm, let us increase it as much as
possible by any means, mechanical or
otherwise. Shakespeare tells us to as
sumo a virtue If we have it not. and
one of the best means of assuming an
air of mystery is to surround the coun-
tenance with a becoming shade The
droop-brim of a wide hat, and the
luminous shadow Of parasol are hrst
fore the fashion arbiters can never in
duce women to relinquish them en-
tirely.
Might Be the Sphinx.
Tho real ago of this mechanically
produced mysterious effect was the age
Of the poke bonnet. Her head safely
incased in that woman might pass
for the Sphinx herself from any view
point but the one directly in front of
her nose. Perhaps when the next great
Interpreter of our sex makes us an
answered riddle to all the world we
shall retire again into the depths OF
coal-scuttle headgear to re-create nc
titious air of secrecy in a manner to
rival the ostrich in the proverb. We
have been a little ostrichlike for some
time. Is 1t because they are already
beginning to find us out before We
have even got the ballot? The fact re-
mains that we have posed our hats SO
as to hide one side of our profile al
most completely for several seasons.
1t excites curiosity and keeps interest
alive to see only the tip of chin and
the curve of red lips from one side.
The broad sailor shape. which has
outdistanced its rivals in popular af-
lection this season, is worn in this pro-
vocation way. 1t Is still of moderate
proportions for the most part, and
there is no threatened return of the
enormous cartwheels which caused
women to stick fast in street cars and
Pullman doorways. This summers hat,
however. is distinctly wider than it has
been lately. We thought, at first, that
the tiny head was the necessary COM
PIGMENT OF narfng skirts This conclu-
sion proves to have been a mistake
They look equally well with a wide
brim. The low-crowned. wide-brimmed
shape has found a tentative rival in
the fower-pot hat, with a high crown
and no brim to speak of. since the lat
ter's Introduction at the races by the
New York dancer who has become
known as q launcher of new ideas in
clothes.
Won't Do for All.
This new shape is undoubtedly be-
coming to some women. but 1t will not
do for universal adoption. 1t demands
a profile" No one can lay down an
invartable rule. because the very doing
SO seems to breed exceptions in a re-
Variable way. Just so. there may be
q woman who reads this dictum to
whom the top-hat shape will prove
very becoming, even though the lines
of her profile should be most unes-
thetic- But in general this rule Is q
safe one. The hat Is becoming to
French women, because good profile
10 . common possession In France. But
American women cannot all lay claim
to II Language has something to do
with II. The French language trains
the lips and brings them forward in a
way which. after generations, has re-
suited in well formed mouth being
a typical French attribute. Our own
slipshod habits of poor enuncia ton
are rapidly having the opposite effect.
Watch tho difference in tho way the