Evening star., 1916-10-15

do frst-class duty this winter. unless
one is skillful at alteration.
This argument may seem to prove
untrue according to the shop windows
and the gowns that hang in glass cases
in dressmaking places. There are
skirts that are punched at the waist,
frlls standing out from waist to hem,
but these are not in first fashion. and
if they survive it will be due to the
obstinacy of an individual in wearing
what she chooses.
If Louis Quinze is dead. what king
do greet? No one can answer that.
Napoleon is the one ruler who again
has the leading influence on clothes.
Fashion never quite gets away from
that superb figure of a little man.
No one fail to see the trail of the
Empress Josephine in the gowns. that
are made by every great designer in
France. But the first empire gowns of
today are not what our fancy pictured
them. The straight satin widths tight
ly girdled under the bust and tiny.
puffed sleeve are conspicuouSly absent
III these splendid creations of supple
metal brocades that hang in a straight
line from bust to instep.
The empire idea is worked out in
that peculiarly elongated silhouette
that Josephine emphasized and in the
clinging way in which the fabric out
lines every curve of the body. although
it has no curves itself
There are chains of silver leaves. such
as Napoleon wore on his coronation
robes, and there is the wreath that
marks the empire wherever one sees
it. Canoes are put on splendid evening
gowns. with rows of pearls or rhine
stones rippling away from them. and
the classic Roman drapery is revived
from the Napoleonic era, and not direct
from Caesar.
Now. against all these incoming
fashions, how does a short, ruffed tulle
gown. punched on the hips, appear? If
you can soften the lining. hatten the
hips and add a train of velvet or satin
I pendant from the waist line at the back
you may be able to bring this friv olous
frock into the stately silhouette; but
as the season progresses. gowns will
grow longer and narrower. All the
straws show that the wind blows in
this direction.
! As long ago as last July those who
watch straws. rather than shop win
dows. insisted upon the fact that even
street suits should maintain straight
silhouette. Every woman in France,
smart and otherwise. had removed all
manner of stiffening from her skirts
as early-as July and allowed the full
ness to fall in to the figure as softly as
muslin, and yet the american dress
makers and tailorS insisted upon far
ing the tailor-nade skirts out from the
waist line and hips and putting into
them an unnecessary amount of full
ness.
Manufacturers continued to make
stiffened petticoats. and those who were
interested in crinolineS advanced them
weekly as an aid to the new styles.
Now, who wants petticoat a bit of
crinoline? The latter is tabooed and
the former is discarded or ignored.
The manufacturers in France have
seen to it that the new fabrics carry
! out the new silhouette. They are not
able to flare. They are too soft. They
are woven so that they will reveai |.
rather than conceal, the lines of the
figure. The skirts are not narrow, but
they are not unusually full and they
! hang limp from the waist
The women of France also heightened
their skirts on the 1st Of July, and this
is a sure forerunner what we will do
by Thanksgiving. There is not any strong