The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-09

of walking skirts, and also those used
for sports in the open country. which
are made of shadow plaid or vague
striped worsteds that resolve them
selves into kind of puttee from knee
to ankle.
On the stage, and in the restaurants
where wemen dance, there are more
extraVaSant trousered effects in
skirts, such as full garments OF crepe
de chine OF satin which drop from "a
high waistline and end in tight fit
ting leggings of jet, crystal beading
or gold ard silver lace. These leg
gings enclose only the calf of the leg,
the knees covered by the full zo'lave
drapery of the skirt, and the ankles
covered by silk stockings, with high
heeled, 5rocaded slippers as a finish.
Everyone knows that the new even
ing slippers designed after the French
pattern, are often carried TO the calf
of the leg by means of wide straps of
These strings are folded and interlac-
ed about the ankles and finished at
the top without a bow.
Some of the smart women who wear
tho zouaVe skirt with the short, Jew
eled legglngs that stop four inches
bracelet or a ribbon of black velvet
at each ankle, in the Oriental man
ner.
The fashionable demand for gold
and silver lace done IN the pattern
known as lame, which means that
the bullion threads are flattened out
by heavy roller to give the effec.
of being ironed into the cloth gives
rise to short, tight leggings made of
either lace,
The metal tissues are not revived
for summer, and only chiffons, crepes
de chine and thin satins are used for
evening gowns. therefore, one does
not get the impressive, Oriental eff
feet from. the jeweled leggines that
one would receive if The gown itself
were full of bullion threads, as it was
last winter.
The Zouave Uniform Skirt.
None of these trousered skirts is
narrow. Every one that France has
sent over and that America has
adopted has its trousered effect ar
ranged in the Slavic or Oriental man.
ner. The insistence upon the silhouette
or the zouave uniform is conspicuous
everywhere. This uniform is used
by the Algerian troops fighting for
France, and it is most picturesque,
with the full trousers like skirts, the
colored sash. the short tight Jacket
and the wrapped leggings from knee
to ankle
This idea of enclosing the leg with
wrapp1ngs of any kind goes back to
the earliest history of the race IT NAV
be prehistoric, but we know the earIi-
est garments off men were wrapped
about the legs with strings or vines
to keep the material compact against
the flesh. Therefore, when we revive
this ancient and honorable custom we
are going back TO the cradle of civil
ization, and it is only natural that the
Oriental races, where civilization be-
gan, should have retained this idea in
the dress for both man and woman.
France sends us many afternoon
gowns as we'll as walking skirts which
hang full from a high waistline in
either pleats or fine gathers and are
tucked in around the legs in some
fashion, to suggest trousers. The BIZ
furcation is often in front, not in
back, and some of the great dressmak-
ers in France drop pleated panels of
ornate needlework in the Slavic fash
ion down the front of the garment
from bust to hem of skirt, in order to
hide the bifurcation; but it is there
just the same.
This silhouette, which, keep in mind.
| is patterned after the Oriental idea of
! trousers, and not the Angio-Saxon one,
gives rise to an artistic variety of
skirts that for the present seem to
attract several classes of women.
Possibly, in peace times or In an
era of ceremonial social dignity, this
idea would not advance so rapidly
hamong the women of two continents,
but with millions of women called to
| take the places of men, with ceremon-
| ial society simply gone by the board
and with efficiency, utility and the
greater degree of comfort being tn