The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-08-05

was the spirit of shopping. The wom- an who felt that by her skillful tongue and shrewd knowledge of values she could compel a merchant to come down, penny by penny, until her price or a compromise was reached, came home with triumphant air that she imparted to her neighbors. She felt grieved when the evil thing which had sapped the commerce of this country was eradicated, surgically extracted.
 This country is going through the preliminaries of another great reform this summer and it is possible that Il may be in effect before the year l9lS
 The selling of merchandise has been so violently competitive that each store has sung a siren song to women which has pandered to their weakness.
 Human nature was estimated at it's true value when the merchants knew that every woman likes to ask for sam pies as an excuse for being in shop and wants goods sent up on approval as an added excitement to her life. She may or may not buy. The mer- chants know that. They take the enor- nous wastage of material as matter of course and they accept the wastage in values which comes from being con- pelled to throw millions of dollars of returned goods on the counters at price below cost.
 They tell you that the system is evil but they insist that each must do 1t because the other does it. If the war wipes out both these evils with one great, sweeping movement of the gov
 ernmental hand, then women, mer- chants, shopping and valuations will be improved.
 INSIST ON BLACK AND WHITE
 Despite the fact that the new color card for 1918 shows IA colors, the news that drifts over from Paris gives one a feeling that the adoption of black and white will be insisted upon for the autumn. The smartest women one sees in this country are emphasiz- ing unusual and original combinations of black and white in their costumes.
 White muslins with black hats has been a constant fashion seen at all the resorts since June. It Is quite natural that these two colors should hold their own despite the introduction of any thing else. and the woman who be-
 1ieves in them and considers them
 trump cards to play at all seasons of the year whenever she is in doubt about the rest of the fashion game is
 secure in her belief if she accepts thA new innovations
 There are, unfortunately. battalions
 of women who believe in black because
 they have not the energy inspiration or courage to sSGGk dTIn6T dllelu III LIG color scheme of fashion. They buy black suit because such a purchase is along the line of least resistance. They have an erroneous and futile idea that black is always elegant and becoming. Extraordinary judgment, this! It should be sponged out of the minds of women
 Black is difficult color to wear. It can be dowdy, unattractive. inelegant n md nn N11ra 1on in w in, any other color we have. In com bina- tion with white. it can break all laws of line, shadow and perspective Wom- en should be trained to handle 1t with care, as they would an explosive. Dark blue has many of the possibil- ities which the majority claim for black and it may be said in a sweer- ing manner. that in its deeper tones, known as crow and midnight, the choice of it is playing for safety. It is from the French theatres that the reporters of fashion France get their strong conviction that original methods in black and white. in combi- nation. will take leading part in the clothes to be ushered in during Sep tember
 l It takes an artist to originate new l juxtapositions ofswhite against black. 1 Therefore, the French artists and their American colleagues are in high feath- CT when they are working for original l ity along this line
 Gowns on the French stage. as well as those worn at smart resorts in this country, show for instance, the revival 1 of the polonaise.. in black satin lined with white satin, dropped over skirt | of white satin. with a bodice of blacl, l showing a waistcoat of white. The 1 polonaise of the hour is not the genu | inc polonaise of Louis XIV's- time. 1t