Evening star., 1917-09-16
BY ANNE RITTENHoUsE.

-HIS Is a vastly exciting time In
the fashion zone 1t is not alone
exciting because women want
q new clothes for new season.
but for the more important reason that
commerce in this country is entirely
entangled in the industry of clothes
A question as to what will be worn is
supposed to concern itself with wom-
ans vanity. Never was there such a
foolish conclusion. The question of
what will be-vorn is inextricably mixed
up with the lives of millions OF indus
trial workers in this country. and upon
its judicious adjustment depend the
bread and butter, the happiness and the
ability to be free from nervous depres-
sion of thousands of men too old or too
young to fight, and thousands of women
who have not the leisure to offer their
services to war relief.
1t is curious thing that the woman
who wants to know, even through an
assumed Indifference. whether her coat
and skirt are in fashion should be so
densely ignorant of the vast ramifica-
tions of fashions into the innermost re-
cesses of American life.
There are hundreds of women who
insist that they take no interest IN
clothes. yet they go quite wildly en-
thusiastic over other subjects relating
to domestic economy which are not
one-fifth important to the success OF
this part of the world. When one hears
these women talk, one is impelled to-
ward a vehement recital of the links
in this industry of clothes, which join
together nearly all the woman workers
of the country.
what a woman shall wear Is probably
not as important as what a woman
shall make. but the two are parts OF
the circle. and both rise to the level OF
by branches of business with higher
sounding names and which are inter-
preted by some as being vastly superior
to the question of styles
II, therefore, behooves a woman who
feels that the cut of a gown is merely
an appeal to ones vanity to regard the
situation of fashions, especially at this
time of the year, quite as seriously as
what one shall eat. what one shall in
vest extra money in, and how one shall
buy coal.
No one laughs at fashions in Paris.
No one takes them lightly. Every one
regards them as a supreme branch OF
French industry that brings welfare to
millions. Each artist takes his or her
designs for new clothes under serious
consideration, and the state acords them
Now. what have these great designers
done for America this season? That is
the leading question among the shop
keepers. the dressmakers. the millions
of woman workers in the industry OF
clothes. the mills, the manufacturers,
the importers and the exporters.
We know that the styles for the au-
tumn have been settled. but the masses
do not know what each designer has
done and what each great fashion es-
tahlishment has sponsored
To begin with. Paul Poiret has again
opened his house to show models. That
interesting little sign that went up
over his house on the Avenue d'Antin,
which was also placed on many other
doors, saying that the place would be
closed until the end of the war, has
foreseen long war, but her people felt
that things would come to a crisis be-
fore the fourth year broke.
Poiret is always important, therefore
what he shows is of interest. To begin
with, he features the waist line, which
is dropped below the normal in the
oriental manner. There is very little
that would ever appeal to Poiret in the
first and second empire fashions He is
strongly barbaric in what he does. He
has genius for fabrics. He knows the
art of weaving and dyeing better than
most artists in Paris do. and he has
special places that work out his ideas.
Therefore. he has been able to make
frockS in the new kind of plush which
will be very hard to get in this coun-
try. but which will be desired because
it has been featured by few of the
great French dressmakers. The fabric
is difficult to describe, because it owes
everything to its manner of weaving.
Poiret uses an unusual amount of
black and white, and brings back guam
titles of black and white Jet lavishly
arranged on frocks with a Slavic or
oriental tendency.
His evening gowns feature the high
line at the neck, which he has always
sponsored. His wife, a beautiful wom-
an. who wore his designs better than
any one else, always adopted the even
ing gown which showed only two or
more inches of the neck and dropped in
flexible line to low belt.
Poiret will never give up the skirt