Evening star., 1917-02-18

URINCi the ebb tide of fashions
III " is the time to plan ones cam
III ~ paign in clothes. There may
Il have been days on this con-
tinent when a woman could have gone
along without confusion, bought one or
two of the new things offered by the
dressmakers and worn them with
serenity until the following season. But
today there is dire confusion concern
ing clothes in the minds of most wom-
en-. Few are strong enough to rise
above it. and not many are sufficiently
poised to disregard the perplexities that
confront every woman who is attempt
ing to dress either on a small or large
income.
Dressmakers have sprung up like
mushrooms; importers who were once
content with sending clothes from
Paris twice a year now feel it neces
sary to import them by every boat. and
standing orders are left by them with
the French houses to send over any
thing that appears new or is designated
such.
This may not be true of all the CEN
ters of American life. but it is certainly
ira VI u III VI cat Iltits- anu siS
women are travelling this year in great
focks. as birds do. it is the great CEN
ters that are catering to their tastes
and caprices and persuading the coin
out of their purses.
SO, here You have this condition of
life in February-confiicting rumors OF
what will be worn and what will be
passed up; a widespread and sensa-
tional prosperity which enables women
to spend quantities of money in the
name of vanity: an immense number of
importers who are shutting across the
ocean and making new clothes do the
same; a Paris needing money and,
therefore. constrained to originate new
garments at every turn in order to get
the money out of the only continent
that has it.
Looking this condition in the face. one
finds it almost impossible to sail above
1t. Serenity of mind is difficult thing
to have when one is beaten by currents
of fashion and rivalry.
The woman who can go calmly on
from October to April, content. either
through state or through philosophy,
with the clothes she has. is to be en-
We'd. She is not the friend of the dress
maker; she is the enemy of the i'm
porter: she is not the purchaser de-
sired by the shops; but she keeps her
head above perplexities and confusion
and should set example to other
women who may follow her in part, if
not IN WnOle-
X
February is the month that divides
the year in half. as far as women and
clothes are concerned. One seems to
have run a breathless race with or
against fashion until this time, and one
knows that the race will be picked up
again by the middle of March. There
fore, it is wise to give few weeks over
to mapping out campaign that will
lead to success or, at least, keep one out
of a series of quagmires
No one, not even the rich woman, !
wants to continue failures in the pur-
chase of clothes. She who has S100 a |
year to spend on her apparel and she
who has $4,000 are fretful if they see
their closets filled with garments that |
are wrong, unbecoming or inopportune. |,
There are the stern economists who !
insist upon wearing their failures with |
a grin, determination to punish them |
selves for making mistakes: and there |
are others who discard them with the [
feeling that it is unwise to be tempted !
into looking ones worst, and that it is |
far better to refuse invitations and stav |
at home than to appear in costumes |
that are ugly, unbecoming or not well !
made. /
No one can tell your faults to you as |