The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-27

first and only offenders in this tam
gent from the normal.
Nothing is SO foolish as to think In
this strain. In the thirteenth century,
women wore immense sleeves of fur
and trimmed their skirts with 1t when
the lower part of Europe was suffer-
ing under the sun.
The low street gowns which have
come into fashion this summer were
worn in other centuries over and over.
and even in the days just preceding
the Civil war. the deepest of decollete
street gowns were worn with little
capes of silk or fur.
The public has criticised with vio-
lence the clinging skirts worn by the
women of the moment, and the lack
of lingerie, yet, in the early part of
the eighteenth century, the highest
women of the land, or rather, of all
the lands, dipped their India muslin
skirts into water in order to make
them cling to the figure as only wet
cloth can do. So extreme had this
fashion become that when a certain
woman Of very high degree. coming
from France. wore such gown to
the august Assembly Dance in Phila-
delphia, she received a round robin OF
protest from the ladies who managed
the ball.
No Caprices Are New.
It would be difficult to find any ex-
travagant and arresting fashion that
makes the public talk and jeer and
criticise, which could be put down to
the brain of some modern.
In Newport, two seasons ago, a love-
ly girl went about the streets with a
bird in a bird cage dangling from her
fingers, but she was only copying Eng
lish women of the early eighteenth
century. When Mrs. Irene Castle be-
, gan the fashion of carrying a monkey
on the arm, the shrieking tumult that
went up about it SHOULD have been
begotten by something really original;
but that caprice goes 50 far back that
in famous painting of Nero and Oc-
tavia called La Via Appia." one of
the -fashionab1es in the parade
carries a monkey in her arms in the
exact fashion taken up by Mrs. Castle.
| In the seventeenth century in Eng
land, women had squirrels of a special
tiny breed attached to their wrists by
bracelets or to their little finger by a
costly ring. The squirrel was on a
long enough chain to amuse himself
Probably the only woman who did
anything strictly original in this line
was the girl who came into the smart
Club de Vingt in the afternoon lead
ing Florida coon by a long chain.
This created something of sensation
that was akin to terror.
Caprice OF Wearing Fur in Summer.
What is the use, therefore, in ex-
pecting eccentric fashions to be the
invention of the moment? Most OF
| them can be traced back thru seven
thousand years of civilization.
The sketch shows one of the new
garments trimmed with fur which will
undoubtedly be worn this season and
| which was worth sketching because
| of its several novelties.
1t Is of Pershing tan cloth, with
cape and cuffs of sealskin. This pei.
| try, by the way, must be given the
| full endorsement of every woman, as
the United States government has
taken control of it and asks that we
use 1t as patriotic measure.
| The sleeves of this coat are split
from the elbow, and the skirt is
slashed at the sides. There is 6
| cuirass blouse of tan colored faills
embroidered in black, and it is the
new shape for a blouse that is to be-
worn with a suit.