Evening star., 1915-11-21
BY THE BoULEvARDIER.

WV one of the smartest mems
shops in Washington, ARE
the most notable features about the
new fall fashions?"
hesitation:
THE return of the double breasted
coat and cravatsn
There was a faint hint of the coming
back of the double-breasted coat with
the first touch of autumnal chill. a cou-
pie of weeks agone. But since then the
mode has increased in favor literally
by leaps and bounds. Not only are coats
double breasted. indeed, but even waist
coats follow the style. The SINGLE
breasted, high-cut waistcoat, either en-
tirely minus lapels. Or with lapels so
tiny as to be almost more suggestive
than actual, is fast giving away before
a garment sufficiently 1ow-cut to dis
play a generous amount of shirt bosom,
and fitted with rather wide lapels, deep
ly notched.
The deep notch, in fact, is to be evil
dent everywhere during the next few
months in coats, vests, and even over
coats. They are strikingiy noticeable
In all the newer displays of ready-to-
order garments they are extreme. The
old-time "streamline," extending from
the collar to the first buttonhole OF the
coat. brought over from London. has
gone, along with most of the other
purely English modes Collar and lapels
are now separate and distinct.
All of which should oe generally well
coined, for there Is no doubt that the
new American style is far and away
more neat and trim. There probably
will. of course. always be those who
will maintain that the only garments
really At for gentleman to wear must
come out of Bond street: or that at
least, the patterns must have been
born there. But most of the designers
say that for most men the purely Eng
lish style is. to say the least. rather
trying.
"As a matter of fact" said one we'll
known haberdasher. in discussing this
same thing couple of days back. the
purely English cut has always seemed
to me to be-well-a bit sloppy. You
should remember. too, that the mode
entirely by the main physical charac-
teristics of the people Of that nation.
In Germany. for instance. where mill
tarism reigns supreme. mems clothes
nave tor years peen mlntary IN cut.
Now. in England the men are tall
rangy and rather loose-jointed. etc
Understand me, English clothes suit
Englishmen; there is no denying that.
But the American, taken by and
large, Is essentially trim. Nifty is
about the best word. I guess. His fig
ure Is a happy combination of that of
the West Pointer and the athlete. As
a result, to produce his best possible
appearance, an American should wear
A <,-I
a Londoner trying to dress like a
Washingtonian or New Yorker. did
you? Why, then, should we try to
dress like Londoners?"
But to get back to the double breast
it must not be confused for an in
slant with the coat so generally worn
nearly a decade since. First, you'll
remember, the coats were extremely
short and boxed until they resembled
sublimated cornucopias. With them
went trousers which were almost skin
tight. Then. you'll recall. came the
opposite extreme-peg-top trousers and
coat SO long that, at quick glance.
it might have been mistaken for a bad
ly fitting Prince Albert.
The double-breasted coat of today
strikes happy medium between the
two styles just described. 1t is what
is known military length"-some-
how everything is more or less military
these war days-and is neither too
tight nor too loose. 1t is, of course,
considerably baggier than the SINGLE
breasted sack suit; nevertheless it re-
tains sufficient lines to suggest the fig
ure. 1t is not exactly semi-form fit
ting, the newest wrinkle in the SINGLE
breasted line. but 1t Is more nearly that
than anything else.
And. aside from all its other features,
1t has one striking advantage. which.
mayhap, will serve to account for some
of it's popularity. 1t tends to give it's
wearer an appearance of athletic ro-
business. The extreme English cut can
somehow give even foot ball player
the look Of a narrow -shouldered, hol-
low -chested victim of the great white
plague. This new coat does exactly
the opposite.
After all, though. the final test for
the popularity of any style or mode
lies in the way it is handled in the
ready-to-wear shops. Let the mode be
ultra exclusive, popular with only a
few OF the more extreme dressers, and
though the haberdashers will have 1t
they are apt to have 1t only at a price
beyond the reach of the moderate pock-
etbook. And, of course. the thing
works out In the same ratio inversely.