The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-23
DRESS By ANNE RITTTENHOUSE

Copyright. 1919. by the Nc Reversible capes have taken a hold
 on Paris and have grown in import
 ance since their inauguration into
 the fashions, and the Americans call
 them economy capes.
 Paris, September 1S.-One could write new story every day on capes and hats and one might add stockings and shoes. The temptation is hard to overcome. In the absence of anything startling and new in the major portion of Paris fash ions, the French women did the thing coey especially like and to which they i orlng ingenuity and trained art. They made their accessories the fashion note In their costumes. They put emphasis upon the wrap the hat the shoes and stockings. They featured handbags, purses, gloves, blouses. The great dress makers gave them little in the-way of novelty for three years and few indi- Vlduals rose out of the mass to create new type of gown; therefore, the mass wore the chemise frock without a waist line and the tailored suit with it's long jacket and short skirt. the former girdled at the waist with belt of the material This would make for intense monotony,
 
 viduals did not depart from the mass and invent clever and colorful accessories that would differentiate them from their nelghborS. It is in these accessories ! that the American observer finds some thing to go on in a dull season. She has watched French women at the resorts, at the pleasure places, in the exclusive back salon of great dressmaking house, given to the woman who buys many clothes and who avoids buying anything on the first visit. All these women play up the minor parts of apparel. So far, they have not changed the foundation. They have not entered the dressmakers houses, large or small, while they are being given over to foreigners allies and neutrals alike. They avoid their chosen haunts when the American buyers domi- nate the situation. They consider that the great houses are trying out experi- ments with the Americans and. after they shake down the chaff, they, the French, will come in and get the wheat. This does not worry the Americans. They are a little too independent this season to be worried about anything. You who are in America, and far away from the intrigue of industry have little idea of the locked horns between the Americans and French apparel people, for the clash has occurred right here in a small sector of Paris. Therefore, as the observer knows that all the exhibition clothes shown to Americans will appear in Amer ica, and the things that the French women wear may not be known to us at the present moment, it is of keen in- terest to watch these things.
 The French women have taken up the reversible cape with it's two-color scheme as one of the accessories to gown that lacks originality. The Americans like the idea. These capes sell for about $50 at the present rate of exchange in the department shops and far more at the dressmaking houses. They are dark blue or black satin on one side and beige or gray cloth on the other side. The dark satin side is turned to the light in the evening, and the light cloth side. serves for the street, in the morning or after nocn. The canny French woman matches