Evening star., 1916-11-12
BY ANNE RITTENHoUSE.

00 0HENENER the wealthy Wom~
NAX an goes out to shop the pur-
Y\V chases usually include Il top
coat of more or less gran
sieur and one or more frocks to suit
the social opportunities that are sure
10 present themselves. The woman of
average income is faced. in her shop
ping tour. by quite another problem;
OF. rather, the problem is the same, but
it -deepens and perpleXes.
Shall she use her shopping money to
buy a coat suit or the two garments.
and, if she does one or the other. will
she regret either decision? That prob
lem is as old as clothes. and may have
confronted Eve when she went shop
ping in the Garden of Eden to choose
fig leaf from the thousand offered.
There is a crying need in most wom-
ems lives, no matter how simply they
live. for all three garments, the top
coat, the suit, the one-piece frock,
have learned to call ii. although
there are many of these garments that
are built in two separate pieces and
attach at the waist in the old way.
NOW. "nen the question pl iiit ptSl
choice is brought up to an expert, there
is no answer that gives satisfaction
unless the outsider knows all the vary
ing phases of the life, habits, social
activities and dress allowance of the
questioner. as well as the climate in
which she spends the most months of
1hc year.
The latter is help or a barrier to Il
2coG choice. when the Southerner
shops she realizes that the warm ma
terialS of this season are not for her
usage. unless she can afford To buy
different suit for each of the changing
spells of weather that slightly vary
moderate temperature. The woman of
the west. used to living in long and
cold winters. wants another style of
clothing, and it goes.
When the French designing houses
send out the styles for each season TO
this country they are not coSnizant of
the vast assortment of climates and
temperatures over which the consttu-
tion rules. We may adopt all styles
in measure that is the despair of
those who wish individuality, but 1T is
not possible for US to adopt the same
kind of fabrics. Possibly in that diff
fculty lies the hope of different dress
ing.
The French, whose houses are bitter
1y and drearily chilling during eight
months of the year. have led the way,
notwithstanding this fact in the wear
ing of the most diaphanous clothes
during the winter, depending on masses
of peltry TO keep them warm when they
saunter out.
The American women who have suf-
fered from the paralyzing dampness
within their massive walls of stone,
temporarily and insufficiently heated
by CRATE fires. have often wondered why
they did not wear the furS in the
house from sunrise TO sunset. The air
outside is always more tempered than
the air within.
Over here, We have exactly the op
posite condition Even the poor have
houses that are far too warm for their
health. Furnace heat spread its dry
ing influence over the country. and
nothing tempers the extreme cold that
spreads itself over the landscape above
the line of palms.
And yet. as Il race, We have been
SLOW 10 drop the long-sleeved flannel
shirt, the flannel petticoat and the
gova made of worsted threads. Even
after the continent was tempered by
the radiator the custom of our an
.estors was continued Women were
.tijuTed to cease wearing the clothing ,
that Kept them in constant state of
moisture and exposed them TO the most
serious colds when they entered the
outside atmosphere, but tradition is
stronger than caution.
To-day we have arrived. in the main,