Evening star., 1915-04-04

| Lucille throws her influence toward less
width, and one wonders II the other
| houses in Paris will follow their lead
and suggest to the American designers
| by June that they put reefs into the
| billowing sails that spread from waist
| to shoetop.
The American women en- masse have
| taken up the overwide skirt, but there
who often establish a fashion, although
| they are in the minority. However,
| there was a stronger protest against
| the incoming narrow skirt, but all the
| insurgency against 1t had no effect on
| it's ultimate acceptance. Today. in the
| face of the accepted wide skirt, some Of
| the very smart women are clinglng TO
| short. narrow ones; not SO narrow as
| to hobble the walk, but hanging In
straight lines from the hips without a
semblance of flare.
These skirts have slight gathers
across the back at the waist line in
order to avoid that ugly pulling across
| the end Of the spine which destroys the
the side are Tapped and stitched and the
hem clears the ankles.
AS opposed to this skirt is the six
yard one that swirls like an umbrella
with its several slight points around
the shoe tops, and there is yet another
skirt which is cut with an even hem
that is so short that, for decency's
sake, a narrow underskirt shows for
three inches between it and the shoe
top.
Evening skirts vary. The best de-
signers refuse to lay stress upon one
style, and therefore a great variety OF
each is sent out; which is a good thing
for the American woman. She Is then
allowed to dress as she pleases. and
considers herself in the fashion, al
though she has on none of the clothes
that her neighbor wears: this is an ex-
cellent condition for all concerned.
There is a sharp division between the
two styles Of evening skirts, but both
are worn. One has the narrow underskirt
with a voluminous tulle top, and the
other is a one-piece wide skirt that
swirls above the ankles. After one
divides the fashionable skirts into these
two parts. then comes the separate
ways of managing each.
Jenny, for instance, is the mother of
the orientalized combination of a sheath
skirt of satin that fits the fgure-far
too closely for beauty's sake-covered
by full, straight skirt that drops to
the hem of the lower one. The under
skirt is plain: the outer skirt Is usu-
ally trimmed with bands Of jet, or Sc
quins. or ruffles of itself. From this
same house have come other models
that are not made OF tnls cOInplHAtloH,
but they are usually intended for morn
ing and afternoon, not for evening.
Paquin uses the narrow. lower skirt
in model that will be popular this
summer. and she covers it with an
unusually full skirt of tulle which is
cut into four deep points and finished
with ruffies at the hem and held in by
bands of glittering beads at the hips.
Worth has set the fashion for other
American gowns in full skirt Of
taffeta that is looped up on Its hem
with roses. This is a graceful way OF
breaking the ugliness Of straight
line and smacks strongly OF the second
empire.
1t is only natural that the elder
Worth should go back to the tradi-
tions of his house during the years of
the Franco-Prussian war while the
two grandsons of its founder should
be fighting at the front in the new
Franco-Prussian war. 1t was this
house that dressed the Empires Eu-
genie and therefore established the