The Cordova daily times., 1919-03-24
QUICK CHANGE: IN
STYLE OF GOWNS
Women Must Catch Ideas Quick
Iy or They Will Be Lacking
in Fashion.
NEW DECOLLETAGE IN VOGUE
Queen Elizabeth and Queen Anne Are
Sponsors for the NeckIne Now in
Favor-DeIta Becoming for
Evening Wear.

New York.-It is time to change q
few things in women's apparel, asserts
a prominent fashion authority. Wom-
en- are leaping from uniforms into
medieval gowns of gold, and crystal,
and tulle in brilliant colors, and into
smashing furs and red street apparel.
There are significant changes work.
ing up from the ground. There is the
new decolletage which was prophesied
in this department weeks ago and
which is coming into view as smart
women exploit it. Half a dozen new
ways of cutting the neckline have
leaped into existence and a dozen new
collars claim the blue ribbon Of ex-
cellence. No matter whether we dress
differently about the hips and feet,
we are dressing decidedly differently
about the neck and even the wrists.
It is in these significant changes
that the great mass of women are in
terested who do not feel that they can
afford entirely new gowns for the mid
season.
in fashions for women consisted in
the placement of the bulge, or the alb
sence Of it, should have added that the
open spaces in costumes were second
in Importance.
Cut to the bone, there is no doubt
that he was right. The contour is the
thing. It is where a garment goes
in or out that determines it's fash
ion. Few women there are who are
brave enough to go against the
may not suggest the best there is in
their figures.
New DecoIIetaqe.
The change in the neckline is per-
haps the most important to the aver
ags woman. She has belief in herself
when it comes to cutting new kind
| of reckllne. She feels that good
pair Of scissors may be the medium of
Transforming an old gown into a new
gown by the simple process of turn
ing an oblong neck into round one,
square one, or a U-shaped one.
All history is filled with rapid
changes in the neckline, and so far we
have not had anything new. We have
rung the bells of history all over again.
That Is all.
When Edward II was king of
England the women wore the geor-
gette, which wrinkled about the neck
and spread outward over the chin and
the back Of the head. This was intro
duced to fashion few years ago
| through dancer and her clever de-
signer. 1t is still worn by women who
20 motoring, and they make it of dark
| blue crepe or yelling, rather than Of
white satin.
When Richard II was king his
French queen brought over the
fashion of the low neck, and so, after
centuries, women dropped the neck
band of the gown from chin to collar
bone.
When Elizabeth was queen of Eng-
land the delta decolletage was invent
ed, and it ran along with another neck
line that exposed all the chest and half
the shoulders, and then, as If by
sudden spasm of prudery, hid the neck
and ears by an immense ruff.
When James I came to the
throne of England his queen intro
duced the very decollete, tight bodice
with it's immense, flaring collar Of
wired lace at the back, and when
Charles I allowed Henriette of
France to lead the fashions for
his court, there was the low, round
neckline that dipped we'll downward
in the back and was finished with a
deep vandyke collar that extended
over the sleeves.
In the picturesque days of Queen
Anne women introduced the low,
square cut decolletage, guiltless Of col
lar, which our women have worn for
two decades; and in the middle of the
eighteenth century, in the Georgian
era, women used a simple decolletage
in rounded V outlined with a
wrinkled handkerchief as a part Of
their street attire.
Running the mind over this slight
summary of historical changes in the
decolletage, 1t is easy to see that we
have done nothing new; but here is
what we are going to do at the imme-
4 date moment: Revive the delta Of
the Elizabethan times, the deep square
of Queen Anne, with its tight, high
| line at the side of the neck, and the
/ U-shaped decolletage Of the end Of
the eighteenth century, with its mod
esty piece of lace.
Return Of Lace Collars.
! We have gone through season Of
medieval severity in the neckline.
Women have aided nature which made
them ugly or cheated nature which
made them beautiful by going about
without any softening effect at the
neck, by. wearing coat collars Of heavy
homespun unrelieved by white, and by
the use of V-shaped lines Of heavy vel
veteen and crepe which fashion kept
unad0rned.