Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-26
By ANNE RITTENHOUsE.

tHTodtS nave lnelI
in harmony.
Yet certain fashions stand out
prominently. First there is the de, def !,
be soft and clinging. Stiff weaves are
taboo. Whatever the style of the
frock or the suit, whether Ruman1an.
Egyptian, Indian, Rabylonian. the ma
terial of which ii is fashioned must
create the illusion of grace in the figure.
This demand has brought duvetyn
into strong popularity, new and
better weave, We hope, than it's for
mer self Each woman recognizes
its grace, but she is cognizant of it's
perilous peculiarities. When one pays
the present price demanded for a
frock and finds that it carries away
with 1t the impress of every chair
it touches. every person it rubs ell
bows with, despair sets in.
X X +
The weavers acclaim this seasons
duvetyn. Realizing it's former misbe-
havior, they put forth their claims
of its reformation before a buyer
asks questions. The public appears
willing to accept these claims and
again stake their money on venture.
Why? Because human nature re-
mains the same and the fabric looks
so alluring that few can resist it's
appeal.
1t holds colors like an autumn sky
in a high wind. and this season the
dyers have done their best to per-
suade women from the universally of
black, as Paris proclaims it, by put
ting into cloth the tones that have
intrigued women since the beginning
of clothes.
In France black has been the post
war color, not on account of the mill
lion or more women who wear black
for the dead, but because, it was easily
produced by the limited industrial
forces at work upon women's apparel.
For two years the Parisienne's uni
form for the street has been a one
piece black crepe de chine frock, or a
suit of black and gray pin-striped
wool, each with string tied around
the middle She merely used this
somber and unchanging foundation
as an artistic background for strings
of beads or pearls.
The American woman did not go
intellectually into this scheme of
dressing. She likes variety and color.
Her climate encourages the desire.
Her changeable weather demands
variety of costumes. But she has
worn much black, nevertheless
1t will be her fault if she continues
to dress in somber tones, as the join
ing of rich shades of colors to the
fabrics that are catlike in their soft
ness and SinuouS movements gives
every woman. lovely or ugly, chance
to look like a stained glass window
not that this appearance in its en-.
tirety is desirable, but the chance
lies there.
If one desires to have black, deep
brown, beige. gray. the neutral colors.
she can choose them also in these
clinging fabrics. The main point is
that the material must not possess a
shred of stiffness. If it does there Is
little hope for the dressmaker to mold
it as the present style demands.
Duvetyn as a warm fabric is the
rival of crepe de chine for the au-
tumn. There is silken finish to the
former and thicker weave in the
latter than we have seen. Both fab
RIGS will be used for frocks, for
wraps and, odd to say, for Innings.
Some of the best evening coats in
tended for theater wear at the begin
ming of the season are of thin metal
lie tissue lined with vivid crepe de
chine. This is good thing for the
doubtful to keep in mind as suita-
bic lining is not to be casually picked
up.
Poiret fashions his new evening
capes from the two colors he espec-
tally likes; rel and violet. These. he
once called h > tango colors and used
them in bewildering variety for
frocks to be worn by women who con-
tinually danced the tango in those
pre-war days which Ibanez makes
vivid in the first part of the -Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
Verify a woman should look and feel
warm in cloak of violet velvet lined
would not permit her to wear a frock
Of red or purple that did not harmon
ize with her cloak. but maybe it
would be easy to persuade her out of
that trick.
The wrap makers are using a mass
of metallic cloths for these capes, so
this fabric shows no intention of be-
ing recalled from the forefront of
fashion. The idea of using a vivid
cloth lining gives it new impetus,
probably. for the combination is most
attractive. This weave of metal used
is also supple. Ginning in with the
woollen and silk fabrics in the effort
to make it season of classic folds
and primitive wrappings.
Velvet glides back into fashion on
this current The weave is extra soft
and appears perishable. but it's pro-
ducers promise stability for 1t and
the qualities of endurance. Strange to
say, the velvets have taken on the
air OF crepe and the latter has be-
come as sturdy as heavy satin. for
Certain Of the evening capes built of
1t seem to weigh down the body as
the wearer walks. This enables the
tailors to use it for street suits, the
new kind with the one-piece frock
entirely covered by a Balkan coat
touched with braid or embroidery.
The fabrics of the season are not
confined to mere half dozen. There
are too many women in the world de-
manding clothes to try TO govern
their tastes by offering only the
smooth surfaced supple weaves of
cloth. There are homespuns again,
some of them woven in the North
Carolina mills, comparing well with
the best Scotch production. and there
are English suits which retain a bit
of stiffness. The homespuns are sup
pie and are used for capes as well as
suits.
The American woman is asking for
materials newer than taffeta and
satin and the shops find that they
can handle a variety of fabrics for
the same purpose. There is contin-
ued demand, as ever, for serge and
satin by women who do not want to
experiment and who cling to what
they know: but the venturesome ones
will not have anything to do with
either fabric. calling them too com
monplace.
Leaving out black. which will have
q host of adherents, the new colors
are showing more strength every
week 1t is said they have better
sale in the small towns rather than
the large centers where woman puts
the most of her money into a very
few well selected clothes. This is nat
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