Evening star., 1918-03-31

changed, Japanese art has been 30
| cheaply commercialized througnout
America, and its little shops outllne
| the boardwalks Of the pleasure resoIes
fer to go to China-the vast spaces
around the great wall-for suggestions.
The greater designers in Paris nave
preferred China to Japan for haL1
dozen years, and we in America nass
made the kimono too much part OF
our early morning life. at " per
garment, that we may not see In TINS
effort of the house Of Cheruit an open
path to beauty. g..
influence into many channels. and the
gowns of its making, which arrived IN
this country later than all the otners'
, increase the respect we must pay 70 JET.
The woman who has chsrishea n nt,a,a wn1id 1roGd
ever return in order that she might re-
vive it into something modern. may go
to the work with enthusiasm.
Callot is not the only designer VINO
whirls let around the wheel of fashion
into the top place, but she is the one de-
signer who introduces entire gowns
of it. These are coat-of-mail creations
that cling to the figure like glitter
ing cuirass and whiten in a brilliant
way the skin of the neck and arms,
which are left uncovered. These gowns
have trains of tulle or lace. and they
are costly-oh, very. very costly!
To the average mind they may seem a
bit heavy for an American spring. and
1t is safe to say that the woman who
buys a costly evening gown in April OF
this year 1918 will expect it to do duty
through the summer season. Even our
g1ittering birds of paradise, who here
tofore fioated through forest of riches
showing their plumage and thinking
nothing of the cares of life. have been
changed heart and soul by the war and
its terrorS into creatures of Self-Sacri-
fee and much higher ideas.
They buy clothes. yes; they pay good
prices for clothes-to do otherwise
would be selfish and unpatriotic; but
they have an eye to wastage, and a
servation. Again, they have neither the
vitality nor the time to bother with
many clothes and many changes Of
apparel
The other night, at a large dinner In
a 6th avenue house, the hostess turned
out all the electric lights as she pro-
ceeded toward the dining room, saying:
Il have wanted to do this all my life.
and never could indulge my whim until
the war made 1t the fashion" And she
expressed the feeling Of every woman
in the land about most extravagances
Through the absence Of social fear and
the promotion of physical and moral
courage which this war brings out may
come the regeneration and the redemp-
ton Of all our social customs.
Another thing that the house Of Callot
has done to get us away from conven-
tional fashion is the exploitation of
green for the street. It may be roughly
said that there are a thousand navy
blue gowns to q hundred of any other
color. and. admirable as dark blue is.
the world grows a bit weary of the
monotonous procession Of gowns in this
color which moves to and fro from
France to Alaska. We cry aloud for
something else. We are like the heroine
of the novel, who passionately wished
for just a thread of scarlet in her cos
tune to make her believe that there
was happiness and gayety in the world.
Callot gives US green to quiet our
nerves. She gives us a chance to get
away from navy blue and still remain
1t may be said that Callot has no idea
Of letting US appear demure. Evidently
that house employed as many embroid-
erers as 1t could find in Paris. and used
up all the brilliant dyes for which it is
famous, because Qrnamentatfon Of the
most somber frock, unless 1t is black,
runs riot in thsrCallot clothes.
There Is a strfkingly dangerous tend
eney toward ;oyercoloring in some of
know, when women are allowed to
wear dozens of small mirrors embroid-
cred to a Burgundy background, fringes
of combined ostrich feathers. girdles
that dangle monkey-fur and even coll
ored. feathers from birds, across the