Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-08
ny ANNE RITTENHoUsE.

HE medieval In dress dies hard
The Napoleonic influence in ap-
parel never really loses its grip.
< 1t may be said by the historian
of dress that one of these two phases
of feminine costumery is the basis OF
eyery fashion that comes and goes.
The professional humorists. when
they grow satirical over their work.
saw that there are only three basic tests
in the world; they are the century-old
pyramids which are used as the founda-
ton for all prankishness.
The buyers who deal with the COM
merce of fashions more than with their
artistic sources, and who give the credit
to the council of ten In Paris rather
than to the ages that have melted INTO
history, are apt to subdivide clothes
into what Worth, Paouin, Cheruit and
Poiret do or have done.
II these designers are interviewed as
to the source of their inspired cos
tumery, they merely point to old en-
cravings. to designs on parchments, to
historic costumes in the Cluny museum
or to the phases of history which they
dug up and revived In fabric
1t is true that Cheruit Is seven
teenth- century follower: that Worth
has never relinquished the ceremonial
aspect of the English court. and that
Paquin is a mother-of-pearl designer.
employing whatever is graceful IN
f,auve and gray. but on the other side
lending herself strongly to the influence
OF the new In art. Futurists, cubists
and others of that Xix frequent her
studio. gather around. her table in her
country house and influence her per-
reptihiy toward their view OF line ana
color.
Poiret is so definitely oriental that
one expects to see the nautch girls
swirl out of that extraordinarily mod
'ern lunchroom attached to his house.
where delicious food is served daily to
his mannequins: and one looks with a
gasp of surprise at the rows of sewing
machines run by electricity to save the
feet and legs of the women who trans
pose his ideas into Clothing.
None of these designers insists that
what they do has never been done be-
fore. What they believe. and what they
profess, is that they dip with both
hands into tn" nast. as the Arabs dip
deeply int" tNeir overlooking pot of
stew fo- dali and yearly nourishment
The wo-l' clothes has just expert
Women If very weight. age and curve
ba-e adorted the gowns of Queen
Guinevere and Melisond.
Such garments have been cut by the
fundred. in block, and they have been
worn in all the market places of the
fi~.!iZed world for two years. The
spIendil. sweeping robes in which
Guinevere met Launcelot have served.
when modified. to carry Mary Jane to
the department store to buy bargain
shirtwaists.
The swinging sleeves, the loose.
ieweled rope girdle and the straight
widths of deeply colored velvet worn
by Juliet when she went to the somber
tombs of the dead have been worn by
blue-eyed Miss Flapper. rapturously ap-
plauding the Midnight Follies."
What are the uses of history" say
the designers, IF not to turn 1t into
present use?" And so, over and over,
the world of apparel greets the rising
of the medieval sun. season after sea-
son, decade after decade.
reflect the twelfth century of the early
Britons 1t can go back into the days
of the ByZantiun. and it can reflect the
colorful glory of Italy under the birth
of the renaissance. Every page in his
tory suggests a whole fed of cos
tumery to the designer who reads it
Alright. No wonder that we continue to
wear the clothes which covered the
women of those centuries!
The >Napoleonic period is as deeply
impressed on the minds of the design
ers There was nothing medieval about
French ,costumery throughout the reign
of the superman, but there were SO
riety of beautiful lines and curves. SO