Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-10-19
Longer
by ANNE RITTENHOUsE.
PARIS. October ., 10

Of high renown.
Lanvin makes q picture gallery Of
her creations. One felt as though one
were present at vanishing day at the
salon. POiret's collection made the
same impression. Doucet also ac-
centuated the tableau idea; a process
sion Of lovely clothes to give pleasure
to the eve.
There were bad clothes as we'll as
good ones in the parades. This is
always true. Houses that heretofore
had pleased the Americans failed to
please any one. and houses that were
unknown and new reaped a harvest.
Small houses did q thriving business
without chance OF getting the credit
from the public which Is continually
fed on big and powerful names.
The reason for the latter fact was
the high prices at the we'll known
houses. One reckoned on an advance
Of from 800 to 500 francs over even
war prices. Many reasons were given
but one grew weary of them and
gown at places where five gowns were
usually bought, or left the house
with a promise to return. The
small houses. finding that there was
not to be any especially new sill
houette except the pannier which the
smart French women have worn in
their social life since April, offered
good gowns at smaller prices than
those which ruled at the houses on
the Rue dc la Paix. the Place Ven-
dome and the Champs Elysees So
they reaped a harvest.
What did they bring out, these
houses with big names? American
commerce watches these Developments
with interest. To begin with, there
are panniers, as has been foretold for
several weeks. Poiret made them in
pronounced Velasquez style. Lanvin
created them after the Italian style,
Faquin used them delicately, Premet
modified them, Renee turned them
into bustles and Elizabethan trunks,
Doucet used crinoline sparingly, but
pulled out the material at the hips to
give a butterfly effect.
Douellet simplified the silhouette
until it was neither novel nor strik-
ing. Drecoll got width by fiaring cir
cular flounces, Worth went on his
own splendid way with evening
gowns. but placed huge bows lined
with color at one hip to break the
straight line.
Martial ct Armand kept narrow
underskirt and placed the fullness of
the fabric exactly below the hips, let
ting II flare to the knees. and Bernard
fashioned his tailored suits with coats
that had suggestion of the Bourbon
godets at the Sides
The one house that did not accept
the pannier in any form was
new one by the name of Made
leine ct Madeleine, on the
Champs Elysees. In those spacious
salons, flower-flleld, the tall man
nequins, who looked like Anglo
Saxons, walked with a stately tread
in clinging gowns that had no break
in their lines, showing every curve
or the figure. but not pinched in at
the waist: the kind Of jet and velvet,
satin and embroidered crepe gowns
that America once thought the most
distinguished in the dressmaker's
power to achieve. Therefore, the
house was under fire throughout the
two weeks of the exhibitions.
talked to Madeleine, the designer. and
she was quite sure of her position
having that show of conviction that
carries strong suggestion of
authority.
She insists that women are weary
OF frivolous clothes and of too great
emphasis upon the orient and tho
Russian. She thinks they are weary
OF immense hip draperies already; the
smart Paris women are, and that the
American will never accept them. The
time is ripe for return to the
sinuous gown, she thinks. to the long
skirt. to richness obtained merely by
material and not by wealth of added
autumn will tell. 1t is an interesting
struggle, with all the forces arrayed
against one force, but Madeleine says
she doesn't have a sleepless night
over II, for she is sure the Americans
will like her style.
Whenever one goes in one Is asked
the question OF how Americans will
like the crinoline on the hips, and
the aNsWar demands on the aeY Of