Middletown transcript., 1918-02-16
SPRING GOWNS AT
HOME AND ABROAD

New York.-That large segment OF
people on this continent. called soci-
ETY., which means those who have
money to indulge in what they wish to
do, has been unable to decide between
two problems.
They did not know whether It was
best to fight out the cold Of heatless
houses in the North or to take their
chances of getting South within few
days after they started. Each case
brought it's train of evils. Each situ-
alton was full of discomfort.
The majority Of them shrugged
their shoulders with the trick we are
trying to learn from the French and
used the phase that has become in
corporated in our language, dams Ia
guerre, CONNIE Ia guerre."
The dressmakers, who must be op-
portunists, divided their time between
offering stay-at-home clothes that
looked as though they were intended
for a Siberian winter, and thin ap-
parel that is always associated with
the sands of Palm Beach in February.
Havana presents more novelty than
the Florida, Georgia and South Caro-
lima cities. Another language is
spoken, other customs prevail and the
Latin brush has been passed over
everything and left its mark Of color,
allurement and brilliancy. There
fore, the clothes that went to Cuba
were extremely good looking.
Shifting Of Fashion.
It is undoubtedly important to take
cognizance of the clothes that were
invented for the South. They were
put out in tentative manner because
Of chaotic conditions that the war
brought about not only in travel, but
in the expenditure Of money. The
dressmakers knew that no one would
want these clothes except for Angus
ia, Havana, Miami and Palm Beach.
Aiken puts its faith in sport clothes.
Possibly that is because Aiken is east
" more fashionable and has moro So
cial prestige than any other colony
fOregathered in the South, and as it
is intimate and goes there for out
door pleasure purely, it not only in
dulges in new sport clothes, but in
many, many old ones.
The straight silhouette has been ap.
proved, the scarcity Of material ac-
copied, plated skirts are accom-
plished and the verdict has been given
for strictly tailored and mannish ap-
parel. And yet, before the eyes, an ac-
tual and concrete fact, are frocks that
are girlish and futile and full of small
and minor trifles that destroy ele-
gance.
There are fichus and ruchings and
plated bands of ribbon and silly
sashes and awkward loopings at the
ankles, and baby sleeves finished with
ruff1es and sometimes with few BIOS
SONS.
Is this the new silhouette produced
by America? Has it anything to do
with Paris? Is it a makeshift or
determined effort to change what has
been into something that has been
dropped?
The Paris doors are opening to the
few American buyers that have
crossed the ocean, and the sketches Of
the new gowns, as they have been out
lined in Paris, do not lead one to sup
pose that there is any shifting of fash
ion over there from a severe, straight
silhouette to a Dolly Warden kind Of q
thing that is utterly unbecOming to
the American woman and has nothing
in common with her stern activities in
wartime.
Over there, Bulloz, who has had a
dominating influence on clothes for
three years, has thrown his cap over
the windmill and gone in for the d.
rectOire. This is fashion that the
American woman wears in manner
peculiarly suitable to her figure and
personality.
Sleeves fit the arm at the top and