Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current, 1918-10-26

we nave WOFu dlTOClOuSIy SuVuI
skirts, and even in the most polite cir
cles, where one expected conservation,
there have been unduly scant clothes
worn on the plea that they were COM
Portable. One cared very little about
it when the wearers were flappers, as
the English put it, but when they were
women with gray hair whose figures
had matronly curves and whose faces
the lines that grandmOthers often get,
these ten and twelve-inch skirts were
more than grotesque; they were in bad
taste.
The first delightful conviction tina.
comes to the mind of the woman look
ing for autumn clothes this month is
the unchanged silhouette. She will let
the long and the short skirt problem
lie fallow for a while, although in do
ing this, she will make mistake, for,
if the entire world wears its skirts
long by Thanksgiving the women who
sit in outer darkness will wall and
gnash their teeth. They can put a
hem on any skirt, it is true, and this
may be compromise between an OLD
and a new fashion which will OF ne
cessity be adopted over the land.
It is, however, the continuance of the
straight line that pleases women. Here
AMI there it is broken into bits by
clever designers who wish to insist
upon what is called the tOnneau Sill
houette or the drnped skirt, but these
are details.
The fact of main Importance Is that
even with the tonneau skirt or one ar
ranged according to the tight, pullback
drapery of more than three decades
ago, the waistline is big, the ankle line
is slim, and the pencil outline from head
| to heels remains.
Yet, considering these new fashions
and realizing that they are possible
| winners in the race for settled fash
ion by Thanksgiving, the absorbing
fact remains that the medieval gown
is rampant.
The long chemise tunic is not as
sr,art as the chemise frOck. In truth,
there are many houses that will not
handle the long tunic at all, and yet
they lay great stress upon the long
coat, which has exactly the same effect.
The short tunic. however, with its
medieval waistline, If one may call so
slight an indentatiOn of the surface by
the name of waistline, is exceedingly
good. It is shown on a great majority
of American and French models. This
tunic might be called the foundation
stone of autumn cOstumery, for Its
lines are used for a jacket to plaid
skirt, q cuirass blouse to be worn with
or without a coat, and fur jacket to
b. worn with separate skirts or one
piece frocks. 1t hangs Imply down the
figure to a circular line halfway be-
tween knees and hips. Its hem Is irreg-
ular, as all hens are, even on many of
the new sleeves. But this is true of
it, and it is a significant fact. that no
matter how it is made, or of what ma
tcrial, it carries with it an exceed
inely narrow skirt. We have never
worn Just such skirt as we will wear
this autumn, and it Is at Its best under
this short, medieval tunic.
Certain DebatabIe Fashions.
If woman bases her autumn pur.
chasing on these fundamental facts OF
cOstumery, she may not 60 far wrong
for by this time, she knows what the
good materials are, as well as the
proper combinations Of peltry and vari'
| GUS fabrics but she may not be aware
Of the fatal facility that certain fash
| ions have shown for Overpopularity
7 She may want to avoid them for that
i reason, or she may want to adopt them
} It all depends upon her viewpoint and
, attitude of mind toward popularity a.
it is expressed in any form.
> Copyright, 1915 by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate)