Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-05-12
BY ANNE RITTENHoUsE.

EIHE weather prophets and the
fashion prophets do not go
through life hand in hand.
q There is no cordially between
them, it would seem, judging from the
way in which they oppose each other
You may have noticed this situation
in some slight measure, as an observer
on the side lines. caring more about the
state of the weather than the state of
fashions, but those who must deal with
the latter as daily issue, and must try
to conform the output of fashions with
the output of the sky deplore the
separation.
If a fashion reporter wants to write
continually of piquant contrasts the
antasonism of fashion to the weather
makes a continuous volley Of stories,
but one becomes tired of piquancy In
human nature as we'll as in literature.
i
Are the woman and man designers to
blame for the steady practice of intro
ducine the wrong things at the wrong
time in the realm of clothes? Does the
public like to wear immense capes, furs
and serge gowns in summer? Does it
mis- boots when the thermometer is nine
ty. and paper-soled. patent-leather slip
pers when the thermometer is zero?
Do the women do these things with
touch of malice, as bit of bravado. or
do the designers, like bellwethers. lead
the way sure that all the little sheep
will tumble over bitches and hurdles IN
their effort to follow?
1t is hard to answer such questions.
They have been hurled at the head of
women and dressmakers since the first
ng leaf came into fashion. There has
never been time. as far back as we
can glimpse through the centuries.
when women and their dressmakers
were not doing capricious things IN
clothes. We of the moment feel in so
passionate way that 1t is difficult to
argue that everything that happens
now Is new, vital and tremendous. The
epoch. no matter what happens. but
nothing is new.
The utter audacity that women have
shown since the beginning Of time in
regard to the caprices of.the weather is
. part Of the history of the civilization
Of man. To return to that fig leaf: 1t
was probably the only time in history
when the climate was met! met with the
right sort of costume. Since then the
world of women has gone on the path
that suggests obstinacy.
Take, as an example of the perversity
of the present moment, the incoming
fashion of five-inch sleeves at time
when kid gloves are difficult to get and
exceedingly difficult to pay for. The
women of today, we are quite sure,
have no idea of attempting the methods
of the directoire by going about the
streets with entirely bare arms. Jo-
sephine. the empress of the French,
may have believed that the short sleeve
was correct for her time, but this is
workaday world, full of the rush and
impetus of activity-and open-air ac-
tivity at that. We might have chance
Of looking like group let loose from
q boiler factory at midday in August if
we rushed about the streets with our
athletic and Slightly red arms protrud-
ing from five-inch capes, without
sleeves.
No, the fashion would never do for
this time, this country and this season.
It is comfortable enough, and for the
house it is a reasonable bit of cos
tumery for hot weather. but the dress
makers are turning out street gowns
with these short sleeves. and some
women are attempting to wear them at
luncheon in the restaurants.
France is supposed to be a most prac-
tical country, and yet why did she in
troduce the shortest sleeves worn in a
century at the very moment that kid
gloves were threatening to withdraw
from the shops?
One feels, in running full tilt against
the tidal wave of new sleeves, the utter
futility of trying to describe even the
best of them. One would think that the
world had gone quite mad over arm
coverings. Possibly it is true that the
French and American designers, realiz-
ing that they could not introduce any,
thing especially brilliant or novel in the
new costumery because of the lack of
materials. put their genius to work in
devising a vast variety of complex and
stimulating minor details.
However, this does not contribute to
the pleasure a woman thinks she will
dnd in wearing her old clothes We are