Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-02-04

poets anything more revolutionary
than the barrel skirt. or what we may
call the melon silhouette. There may
be some surprise in store for the COM
mercialists that has not yet dcVel-
oped, but those who are Interested
in the business of clothes think that
the introduction Of the new line from
head to heels which will cause com
plicated cutting is quite enough.
There are very few cutters, no
matter how well paid, who regard the
advent of this silhouette with any
thing like pleasure. The only form
the one which owes its shaping to
drapery and not to cores.
The method of draping employed
on the new barrel skirts is not grace
ful nor very effective, but 1t is an in
sinuating compromise between the
skirt we have had and the skirt we
will have. when even an expert cut
ter tries to get the melon silhouette
by shaping of numberless cores that
draw the skirt in at the waist and
hem and out at the knees, there Is
trouble, and plenty of it, ahead.
Nearly a decade ago there was "A
kind of barrel skirt which grew too
successful for the fastidlous woman
to continue to wear. 1t is possible
that you remember this; the top of II
was shaped like Dutch trousers and
the fullness was gathered into wide
hem that hugged the ankles. The up
per part was usually of a figured
material like foulard, and the lower
part was of satin, usually black.
1t is quite possible that this very
type of skirt will return after the
first models have had their little
fling. The main thing is that the
hem of the skirt will be narrow this
spring and summer, no matter what
the upper part may turn out to be.
None of the cables from Paris
leaves one in doubt about this fore
cast. They say that every house has
gone in for slender lines below tho
knees and the elimination of all flare
at the hem. This presupposes an en-
tircly new silhouette from the ono
that has prevailed for near.y three
years. The woman who must be eco
nomcal is instantly perturbed as to
whether she can alter the frocks she
has into the picture demanded by the
near future, but no one offers her
much cncouragemc on that score.
It is not the intention of either Paris
or the American sellers of apparel
that women should he able to alter
their old gowns into something new;
France needs all the money she can
get; America has more money to
spend than any other country on this
planet. And there you are.
The Incoming of Muslins.
The fabric people are interested in
launching old-fashioned muslins on
a very modern public. The shop win
dows have been full of these fancy
materials since the first day that the
thermometer went to zero. Windows
filled with the peltries of wild ami
mails surrounding a redhot stove
would have been more agreeable to
look upon, but the only use that the
merchants have for a calendar is to
know when they can push 1t three
months ahead.
There Is no race of people who con-
tribute to the feeling that life is
short, as do the merchants. They
live entirely in the future and compel
you to do the same. They impress
upon you the fact that there is no
today, but all tomorrow; they hypno-
tize you into believing that 1t Is
spring. when you have Just begun to
enjoy winter, and when YOU at last
realize that II is June, they convince
you that 1t is somber autumn.
This theory Is distinctly applicable
to the manner in which muslns flood
the country at time when people
are spending their savings on new fur
coats. 1t is good to know, however,
what we may expect in the spring,
and there is no doubt that muslins,
sprigged, checked. striped and Pals
ley-ed, will be in the forefront of new
offerings.
The pear-shaped design which runs
thru the cashmere shawls, and their
imitation. the Paisley shawls, is a new
and brilliant design on the most eX-
pensive of the new muslins; the Per-
sian tree OF life Is another design
copied from the embroidery of the
Orient This latter design first APP
peared last September, when Bulloz
used 1t as splendid splash of em-
broidery on gray satin gown made
for Mary Garden to wear when she