Evening star., 1916-12-10
ny ANNE RITTENHousE.

E0HE government OF France has
I'll a. issued an edict against women
III wearing evening clothes i'll
*e public 1t is no mere rhetorical
eSfression of disapproval at the ap-
pearance of public gayety. 1t is an
official document, carrying with 1t
fnes and arrests.
This is an exceedingly interesting
episode of the war. 1t is a rare oc-
currence in the history of women's ap-
parel that government takes formal
potiee of what women are doing. 1t
has opened up such new and vital
chapter of dress quickly that 1t Is
not possible to get data on the subject
In a short time. but this we know
that the last important expression of
a government against fashion was
papal bull threatening excommunica-
tion to women who wore the hennin in
public. This was in the middle ages.
and the women promptly disobeyed the
ball. and it is rumored that very few
ef them, even among the lower social
strata. were accommodated. 1t was
said by the chroniC.e.s that tie church
would have had to send out enormous
fsb nets and gather in women by the
thousands If the decree was to be car
ried out with impartiality.
Women have always been insurgents.
really. and they have never taken any
Attempt to interfere with their apparel
IN spirit OF courtesy and acquiescence.
They liked the hennin and they wore
Il; although it was probably the ugliest
piece OF headdress ever invented a
Gornicopia that stood out from the
,ola Of
20 degrees. from the apex of which
foated an enormous tulle veil that
swept to the knees was d thing of neither
Joy nor beauty: but the papal bull
was not directed against the hennin
because of lack of these qualities.
but because it nterfered seriously with
Worship in the churches and cathedral
lit is strange that the French gov
eminent has been compelled to say
anything on the subject of evening at
1re among the women in France, for
the prevailing feeling among the peo-
P1e themselves during the first year
OF the war was that of antagonism
against any man or woman who took
Oh the appearance of social gayety.
1T may be a reiterated story to say
that the American who tried to play
billiards one night was driven out of
the cafe: that an Englishwoman who
wore red gown on the street was al
most mobbed; that woman who or
dsred anything but a mourning gown
from q uFeSSEldhtHS mouse W DIS tfedteu
With contempt; but these things hap
pened~ and they terrified the foreign
population into observing the ways of
the Frenchwoman in choosing clothes
during war time
-In-EHg gland there was no such sharp
departure from the ordinary routine of
Dressing. In Berlin and Vienna clothes
were much the same. as they had al
ways been, but France. with that pas
stonate zeal for whatever it is doing,
resented to its very heart the idea that
any one could smile after the first of
August.
This spirit continued during the first
Two years of the war. but there was a
perceptible difference in the attitude
OF all the women soon as France
was assured that its motto of Verdun,
-sfhey shall not pass" had come true.
Smart Frenchwomen began ordering
good looking clothes and foregather-
ing at Eyian, BiarritZ and San Sebas-
tan. The opera house opened. so did
the theaters and Frenchwomen began