Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-11
BY ANNE RITTENHoUSE.

E1HE new materials for spring.
when assembled on long
counter. look like the magni-
q fed palette of a painter after he
has finished his days work. Red. violet.
copper. yellow. purple and turquoise
crash and clash against one another in
variety of tones that makes one
shudder at the possibility of all our
women being dressed in them by the
first of May.
If each woman picks out one of these
colors any assemblage of women be-
tween the two oceans will bear re-
semblance to q crazy-quilt. The differ
ent pieces of color will come together
IN a series of shocks. without forming
n design or being guided by a central
idea.
It is not to be hoped that wisdom and
b. sanity in the choice of these spring
colors will prevail over the continent
Each woman has streak of the bar
barrie in her. whether or not she lets IT
out and 1t may come to the surface I'M
der the persuasive influence of the
spreading acceptance of crude colors-
One wonders where the dye came from
to get these reds. yellows. puppies and
greens. For two years we have had the
scarcity of dyes hurled at US, as an ex-
PLANTATION for the difficulty in matching
colors and the rise in prices month oy
month. No matter what the article or
the color, the person who sells 1t VIII
explain the upward leap of price from
81 to SIS on the basis of this alleged
scarcity of dyeing matter
After having heard this argument on
every side for two years, 1t was quite
natural for the experts to expect a
spring season of white, black ana the
staple blue and brown. But not So Kid
ing triumphant over circumstance ana
rising above the commercial obstacles
which are repeated by the commercial
lists with tears in their eyes, the new
fabrics scream aloud in the colors OF a
parrakeet. Where the dyes came from
is not the part of layman to ma OUT.
The fact exists that we are threatened
to be inundated by tidal wave or col
ors-and such colorS.
There are still the pastel shades of
the end of the Bourbon reign, and
there are the white and black Of eter-
nifty. but added to these is mass of
Egyptian, Chinese. Tartar and Peruvian
colorS
1t is hard to tell whether these co1ors
are taken from the people who live in
these countries today or whether they
were copied from the Byzantine and
Babylonian dynasties, which is what
the experts would have US think.
When un-el-Raschid went dis
guised through the streets of Bagdad
on those frolicsome adventures which
young kings have ever loved to lmi-
tate, he surely found just the assem-
blage of colors that we face today.
There is no scarcity of silk in the
market OF that fact any one can be
sure who takes even a peep at the
counters displaying the new spring
fabrics The manufacturers have done
their best by US this season. They have
not included much taffeta, and the
woman who wears a gown of this
weave of material does not look as
smart as her sisters. OF course, the
shops sell good-looking frocks of it and
ask high prices for them. but the ex-
perts know that the first glamour of taft
feta has worn off and that the second
acceptance of it has had the edge worn
away.
One of the reasons for the partial
discarding of this material is that it
has not lent itself to the passion for
the medieval which has spread over
the continent, but if the new barrel sill
houette is accepted and strongly fea-
tured for the spring there are few ma
terials that can lend themselves to 1t
better than taffeta. Probably there
will be a recrudescence of it under this
condition.
All the other silks that have been
produced for spring usage are soft,
and satin-if one may include that in
the silk list-leads them all for every
kind Of garment. The strictly tailored
suit is made of satin, evening gowns
still claim it as their own, it will be
lavishly used for topcoats and for Rus
sian blouses with separate skirts, and
Ii has crept into lingerie. in which field
il rivals Italian silk.
The Chinese silks are here in abun-
dance. Fine qualities of shantung and
tussor are offered for the first country
suits and frocks. some of them with
plain surfaces and others with the or
nate designs that fling themselves over