The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-01

The Directoire Exerts Powerful lnflu-
ence in New Turn of Affairs
battles Bring Out Clothes With
out Hooks and Eyes

famous designer In Paris which struck
the top note OF simplicity.
She exhibited 1t at a lunch party
She merely unlocked Il at one nip and
slipped out Of 1t.
1t was as primitive as the drap-
cry of an ancient Asiatic. II had
sash, sleeves, collar. and the rest was
according to convention; but 1t. was
made in one piece and adjusted by
slipping the arms through the arm
holes and hooking one side we'll over
on one hip. then tying the sash.
Could anything be more delightful?
was the remark of those who saw this
garment slipped on and of. 1t was
instantly borrowed In the good old
fashioned way that has never been
dropped among friends, whether they
live in fashionable centres or lean over
their back fence to gossip.
The gown was given to a we'll known
New York designer. who copied It for
his clientele. Each woman who wore
1t exhibited 1t to her friends. after the
manner Of the original owner, and
thereby gained for herself quite a good
One who knows much has said that
the gown was the first OF the wartime
inventions and that 1t was brought to
this country and exhibited with little
success. That is the truth. At that
time it did not. get across the foot
lights" but to-day It gains its merited
burst Of applause.
These one piece frocks that practi-
cally wrap around the figure at the
hip line and depend upon one fasten-
ing and a sash to keep them in place
are not only doing their bit in fash
ionable life. but have been adopted by
those who go in for the cult OF violent
exercise which has swept over New
York as though it were a strange, new
religion.
You may not know-but It is time
you should know, II you keep up with
the trend of the hour that physiol-
ogy is considered more important than
all the 'ologies" put together by those
who are extremely modern. 1t is quite
difficult to get into the one exclusive
club which dominates all the others
in New York, but 1t is wise to try to
get in under some teacher who will
instil into your brain. heart and tenn
permanent the sturdy belief that to
stand on your head is to beckon to
health. and to make a cult Of health
Is to be a success.
Now, among the votaries Of these
acrobatics for health's sake, there is
a fashion for this simple frock that
dispenses with the hook and has It's
a q fhrnn0h bat
hip.
These gowns, made Of linen, crepe
de chine, heavy jersey cloth. calico
anG Bingham, will be worn in the sum-
mer, in and out Of the house.
The Corsetless Figure.
OF course, the votaries of the new
cult do not wear corsets and the
French fashionables do not wear cor
sets, so simplicity in clothes seems to
be galloping back over the horizon.
The French women have taken up
the simplicity of the Directoire in
abandoning corsets, in returning to
round carriers to keep up the stock
ings, to chemises of crepe de chine.
and then this frock which has no fast
ering but winds about the hips and
| ties with a sash.
France wears these gowns six
inches below the knees. America
wears them six or eight inches above
the floor.
And they are becoming shorter and
shorter each week so that they may
be almost to the knees by the time
this story is printed.
The conservatives do not adopt the
short skirt, but the fashionable wom-