Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-06

III awaiting with anxious uncer-
tainty did not take place.
frhe silhouette remains practically
be same for autumn as it has been
pr two years. There is enough in the
ashions. however. to keep the public
messing and put it on the defensive.
Ihings are not exactly as they were,
Though the fundamentals remain the
anne.
The interesting development of the
utput of apparel for autumn is the
act that America makes a more def
lite change than does Paris. She advo-
ntes the frock with the step-length
kirt. She even lowers the hem of her
.ailored suits for the street.
Paris does nothing of the kind. She
axes advantage of the fact that the
overnment demands less usage of
TOOL in clothes and cuts her skirts to
uch height that it is improbable an
american woman would wear them,
Mess she is in uniform. driving an
automobile or. doing other active
fork.
* i:
France. as was said before, put out
hese short skirts with the plea that
hey were in cooperation with the
government, and that they We're sug-
imerican women in war service
broad; but those were uniforms that
be American women wore. The
trench mind may not have grasped
bat We're not all in uniform over
tere. and that those who do wear the
bgulatiOn service costume have many
ther clothes in their wardrobe to
thich they resort as soon as their war
ervice hours are over
I'VE have worn atrociously short
atirts, and even in the most polite cir
here have been unduly scant clothes
yorn, on the plea that they were COM
brtable. One cared very little about
when the wearers were flappers. as
he English put it, but when they
igures had matronly curves, and
whose faces the lines that grand
mothers often get, these ten and
Twelve inch skirts were more than gro
esque; they were in bad taste
So, summing it all up. it appears that
{ really good, stiff fight is on in this
country as to which length of skirt
Eill be adopted-the French or the
american.
1t is not revolution. this lowering
u the skirt. 1t did not come in a
iight; but then, revolutions do not
some overnight, either. if one studies
history with attention to fact. In this
department. the probability of long
sklrts becoming the chief American
fashion was prophesied fully year
ego, and every week since then there
strengthen the belief that such was
TO DO the prevailing fashion
Ihe very smart dreSSmakerS have
encouraged this fashion by trying to
persuade all their smart and powerful
patrons to take on skirts that We're
pot cut according to the chorus girl
plea. We had ceased to be a nation of
cancers wearing hoopskirts, was the
argument. and we had become ma
fion of workers. Although a few Of
The most authoritative designers had
been able to make their patrons wear
these instep weeping skirts since last
January. stall the fashion did not make
nuch progress until midsummer.
! during July. at such places as New
port, Bar Harbor and the Long Island
races and charity affairs. where most
Pr the new fashions are launched by
those who defy the commonplace.
There was perceptible return to long
skirts.
/ The majority laughed at the idea. If
any one with belief in the abolit ion
among women who were not paying
much attention to the smart set the
EXPLANATIONS of dissent ran all the
way from disbelief to defiance. Short
skirts. women said. were what they
wanted and what they would wear.
The question is how long they will be
worn.
X X
| The first delightful conviction that
ZONES to the mind Of the woman look
ing for autumn clothes this month is
The unchanged silhouette. She will let
Che long and the short skirt problem
Die fallow for while. although in do
ing this she will make a mistake, for,
If the entire world wears its skirts
long by Thanksgiving, the women who
sit in outer darkness will wall and
Bnash their teeth. They can put a hem
on any skirt, it is true. and this may
sbe compromise between an old and
n new fashion which will of necessity
lbe adopted over the land.
1t is, however, the continuance of
the straight line that pleases women,
Iby clever designers who wish to insist
upon what is called the tonneau sill
houette or the draped skirt, but these
are details.
The fact of main Importance is that
even in the tonneau skirt or one ar
back drapery of more than three
decades ago the waist line is big, the
ankle line is slim, and the pencil out
line from head to heels remains. Even
il the skirt takes on a barrel bulge,
which is the vulgar English for the
1upo tonneau, 1T Is not SO decided that
1T Spoils an almost straight line, and
when Il skirt is drained ,1nwor,l AVID