The Jasper news. [volume] (Jasper, Missouri) 1898-1924, 1917-10-25
/ light Skirt Is
Generally Worn

p a
g.; the fulness at the taistline has
almost vanished; the fastening at the
front or side Is not tolerated. But all
Of these features Of fashion are merely
accentuations of an accepted style.
The designers have cut down to the
bone, as 1t were, and given us all in
the way Of grace, cleverness and beau
ty after they sacrificed every inch Of
material that might have been super
fiuous.
The Tunlc Persists.
That the medieval chemlse frock that
came In with such ringing Of bells
and blowing of trumpets has decided
that 1t will continue to be welcome
factor in fashions. There are a good
many women who are tired of 1t, as
we are not proof against that weari-
ness that comes from seeing one thing
multiplied through every phase of our
existence, and it has not been humanity
possible to escape tunlcs since they
made their appearance.
There were not as many of these
gowns put out by the American de-
signers In the early trade of the sea-
son as by the French, who evidently
are not In the least tired of the one
garment. They have repeated 1t in
Pleasing ways. They make 1t in thin
and in thick fabrics; they offer 1t as
coat, on an evening gown and as an
entire movement of French clothes
shows this tunic coming in and out of
the film.
Possibly, the one new feature that
Is most noticeable about 1t Is the slash
ing at the sides. The house of Doeuil-
let is credited with having started
this movement. 1t looks well and 1t Is
part of the universal tendency in
clothes to present panels from waist to
ankles. There Is an epidemic Of these
panels. They are put by every tailor
and dressmaker where they do the
most good or the most harm. They
are Egyptian or, as some critics. said,
mid-McKinley. They have allure and
they have most evil possibilities of
ugliness.
The selection of the good and the
avoidance Of the bad in this movement
of dress Is up to the individual. The
part of the reporter is to say that
panels are ubiquitous and that the
tunic Is slashed.
A woman with large hips cannot af
ford to go In for indiscriminate slash
Ing below the waist. She should always
bear In mind the fact that an open
line at the sides shows the curve of
her hips where 1t Is most perceptible
and often gives her rotund look that
could be easily concealed by another
kind of drapery.
Belt Is important.
The question of Il belt on these
tunics is another matter of lmpor-
lance. One may call the waist drap-
cry an accessory to the gown, but the
artist and the expert dressmnker con-
cede the fact that 1t is the kind of
| trifle that makes or mars the whole.
1t is well that every woman remem-
bers this truth during the remainder
| of this season. She will find, as the
months follow each other, that 1t will
take all her ingenuity to deal with the
extraordinary influx of belts, girdles,
sashes and waist drapery of pleasant
and sinister kinds.
There are evening gowns that seem
to be all sash. An immense piece Of
drapery is welded by an artist dress
maker into a dominating feature Of
the rock by wrapping 1t below the
bust, at or below the waistline, then
resolving 1t into a deep panel that
drops down the length of the skirt at
the back or into a bulging bow with
long, fringed ends that covers the en-
tire side of the figure.
There are belts on some of the new
coat suits which are almost corslets,
1 and an accessory of this type on the
wrong figure would turn good look
ing woman into carlcature.
There Is nest of belts, four or five
of them, linked together by some COM
mon cord OF the side and back and dis
posing themselves over the entire mid
die of the body.
There are actual corslets Of fiorinted
jet, of Egyptian tissue worked in tur-
quoise and jet beads, Of black silk
braid on q satin or serge foundation,
and these reach from the bust to the
point of the hips, with the ends ad.
justed by hooks and eyes or by rows
of cloth-covered buttons.
Copyright. 1917, by the Mcclure Newspa.
per syndicate.)
1
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