Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-12

not nave ielt prouuer than the French
king who put piece OF straw over
his head to keep away the rain and
created hats.
Both the feather and the straw were
trivial incidents In the life of each of
these characters (for the satire on
Yankee Doodle was rhymed around
mani, but they were the foundation
stones of millinery.
Women have always pilfered from
men their tricks of apparel. They are
snug little thieves, women, when it
comes to petty pilfering from those
who consider themselves superior be-
ings. After all, 1t is form of coquetry,
and women discovered centuries ago
that nothing so pleased a man as to
do what he did. say what he said, and
hold on to his hand socially, financial
~, politically and mentally. woman
might hate another woman for steal
ing her fashions but man would
only look with more prideful adora-
tion upon woman who fashioned her,
clothes after his
Nothing so delighted the French
kings, the great and naughty Bour-
bons, as the fact that their women did
what they did in clothes. They gave
them their magnificent brocaded coats
with the full skirts, the knee-length
waistcoats, the precious lace rufiies
and the silver and diamond buttons as
a guide to their apparel. They allowed
them to borrow their couture in order
TO have their hair perfumed, powdered
and curled, They saw themselves re-
nected, as in mirrors, by the groups of
women surrounding them.
All, me. What~a sad world it would
be for Bourbon king today. Shorn
Of his apparel, his hair closely cropped
and unpowdered, his legs covered with
drab and austere cloth, his lace ruff
f1es obliterated, he would feel him
self in the Illuminating garb Of a con-
vict and he would look at women,
these present birds of paradise, flicker
ing through the sunshine Of their ac-
Invites, seemingly regardless of man
and his Importance in the world be-
cause or their own Importance and
their duties as citizens with terror
touched with horror In all the CEN
turtles that preceded the Bourbons and
encompassed them man was the glori-
fled being, and 1T was his plumage
that led the worlds fashions. Today
clicking machinery that works inces-
sanity and throws out it's surplus
product to women for their pearls and
limousines their peltries and brocades.
Edith Wharton says that the gift OF
all these glories to women by men is
the price of their peace.
The king who put a piece of straw
over his head may have introduced
hats, but he did not introduce head
gear. This is as old as the ancients.
Gen. Al1enby's colossal work in Pales-
tine has revived his primitive head
gear, which consists of pieces of cloth
wrapped, bandanna wise, about the
head. 1t may be that our own negroes
of the ole south will have their head
gear copied by the French, who are
looking everywhere for ornate and
colorful turbans.
half dozen years ago Nine. Paul
Poiret entered the restaurant of a
smart hotel with her slim, dark head
wrapped in an immense turban of
white satin ornamented with a string
of colored silk from which hung
pendant pearl in front. and on her
feet were high, white leather. Russian
boots, tiat-heeled and round-toed She
created a sensation.
X
Today neither of these features of
dress causes more than admiration,
never criticism Marie Tempest, re-
garded as the best dressed woman on
the stage, has stepped through Amer
lea Australia and Africa in her vari-
Gus pairs of Russian boots, just as
though she were wearing the regula-
ton thing; and women in smart So
ciety have wrapped their heads in i'm
mense Persian turbans and gone to
the Metropolitan Opera House in the
evening, sitting in their boxes and
looking amazingly like eastern wom-
en- behind their grilles.
TheSe turbanS are modified now.
They are pushed forward by the mil
liners for the day hours, and they run
tho gamut from the demure affair for
the morning to the brilliant one of
brocade for the afternoon.
There Is loud clamor for brocade
in all departments of dress, and the
milllners are eagerly snatching up the
crumbs that fall from the rich dress
makers table. They can use small and
irregular lengths, and with these they
here and there a Russian turban, in
well.
There is no attempt to introduce the
soft brocades. Both for gowns and
hats the medieval, metallic kind is
considered the most desirable. Since
peace we have flashed and glittered in
gay colors and metals, and no woman
wants a demure gown, so the dress
makers say.
Every woman may permit herself
the privilege of a brilliant hat, even If
she keeps to demure clothes for the
street, and it is in this very psyche
logical fact that the milliners reap
harvest. The overseas cap which
da(inted itself so brilliantly during