Evening star., 1918-07-15
OfntereSt TO Women
A NEW SKIRT STYLE OF THE SEASON.
By ANNE R1TrENHousE
Special Correspond .ncs Of The star,

Special Correspondent .ncs Of The Star,
NEW YORK. July IA dasuerro-
type of your grandmother and a snap
shot of yourself. each adorned in the
same fashions. win bear SO little re-
semblance to each other that it is
hard to believe that the clothes had
their inspiration at the same source.
1t Is In this very divergence OF ap-
pearance that the milliners and dress
makers find their means of susie
nance by selling old clothes for new.
Why 1t Is not possible to look like
your grandmother, in the same hat
ana gown. Is question that cannot be
answered except in an. exhaustive
way. It has nothing to do with the
clothes. It has nothing to do with the
spirit. outlook. point Of view and ac-
tivtties Of the life that presses close
against every one.
Old Clothes That Fit New Methods.
No one is more keenly aware Of this
than the students Of clothes. who
must design and exploit whatever is
brought up to their minds out Of the
past and whatever will permit them
TO turn an extra penny.
The French have for two centuries
founded the future on the past. We
are not very opt to do this, for our
past is too near our heels to give us a
ieeiing OF remoteness. We are like
not backward.
Ihere are too many living who par
t1cipated in our civil war to remem-
per its fashions with anything but a
thrill OF pain and sadness. and even
for our colonial wars we have no es-
pecfal awe. This is because we are
not touching upon a remote and gilt
ter1ng period of which we know moth
ing but what we can CLEAN from ro-
mantle tales and folk lore
But 1t is quite noticeable. even
against this array Of evidence that we
DO not particularly care for the past.
that our dressmakers are going into
q fashion OF dressing that was in
dulged IN by American women when
they did not care much for the orient.
We wore bustles in those days, and
the pull-back skirt. which tilted up-
ward In the back and wrapper itself
so closely around the ankles that we
could hardly step.
1t produced a tidal wave Of PASSION
ate criticism. simply because men
who are the critics. do not know what
a woman has had on the night before,
to say nothing Of half century be-
lore. They are SO sure that the wom-
en- or the present are more careless.
and ignorant. and defiant than the
women of any other generation, and
they know SO little OF the study Of
clothes. that they vent their anger
easily upon all seeming discrepancies
in dress with the vehemence of the
ignorant. Let them pass.
Skirt That Tits Up at Back.
Now. the modern rendition of this
skirt which has a hustle below the
waist line. and the skirt that is pull
ed back across the knees and tilted
upward. in the back. is so different
from its progenitor that 1t recalls lit
tie to the average mind. Yet, the de-
signers took 1t from that period of
dress which students have considered
especially and peculiarly ungraceful.
But there Is nothing ungraceful about
the modern rendition. You can see
that for yourself in the sketch.
There is first an underskirt of white
satin with a black satin hem. Over
that is one-ptece frock of black ier-
sey which has q white satin waist