The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-08-18
DRESS AND SUGGESTIONS ANN. n.isa,uov.. FOR WOMEN
A waistcoat and a polonaise joined to- gether by Drecoll make one of the new coats for the coming season.
By ANNE RITTENHOUSE

1 New York, August 17.-The struggle will not be between wide and narrow skirts this coming season, but between long and short coats.
 Each designer has turned out few of each length, some to the shoe tops, scme to the hips. The public can choose between them, or adopt both. l There is less talk of coat suits than formerly, all because of the lack of man power in France, England and also, to come extent, in America. Many of our tailors are oonscpipted. others are volan- teers and, although the selective draft releases from immediate service several thousands who might have had to go | through the chances of the supreme lot tery, there is not as much enthusiasm as in former seasons concerning the out put of thousands of ornate coat suits for l women.
 | The women engaged in charity /or re- lief work over the country are steadily talking of the economy of wearing smart uniforms and abandoning the frills and friyol1ties of more feminine attire. This appeal is made in the name or patriot ism It is devised to release men for service.
 But that is not a good point; these uniforms require tailored work, the kind entirely handled by skilled workers. To turn out the coat suits demanded by l the members of dozens of patriotic so- i cieties there would have to be more men working than ever and the price of these uniforms might jump as did the price of the Hoover house gown.
 If women abandon the thought of these uniforms and decide to dress in the kind of feminine attire that has al ways been the province of women work CTS, then they are talking sound sense Let them promise to keep all the women workers of America busy making the kind of clothes that are attractive, ano oven frivolous if need be, to maintain the balance of demand and supply.
 THE LOOSE COAT
 Paris is making some coat suits this autumn as the government releases 6 certain number of men each season, Il is said, to do the necessary work in the industry of clothes, but the real em phasis in fashion is put upon the loose polonaise which has many feminine touches.
 Dousilliet achieves the semblance oi a polonaise to each frock he has made for the American trade. Drecoll com pines the long waistcoat of the reigr of Louis XIV with the long outer gar ment which his queen brought to Paris from Poland.
 The combination Is very good and permits one to wear it as a. coat with 2 number of skirts. Remember that the separate skirt, even in an opposing colol from the jacket is not considered faul' in dressing these days. In fact, there are q handful of fashions coming into being. that ruled us when the question of clothes was more simply solved, wher it was in the state of reason that fol lowed the unreason of Marie Antoi nette's reign.
 Drecoll conceives 1t, is shown in the sketch today. To clothe the cloth Is 3 dark green velour, a shade and a fabric that seems to have made an impression already upon the early fall fashions.
 The long panels of the coat are gener- ally gathered at the waistlne and the lining of crepe shows as the materia swirls away from the tucked skirt o1 Getigette crepe in dark red Notice the armholes, by the way, for they are in dicative of the caprices which these openings have taken to themselves.
 CAPRICIOUS ARMHOLES
 They are battlemented, they are seal loped, and sometimes they run to tht waistline showing heavy cords of satir or silk. ItNis medieval fashion tt bring the armholes down on and ovel the sleeve and slash them into artistic irregularities. and the dressmakers hav' suddenly thought of it and accepted i as a fashion to be indulged for the au | tumn IL