The Washington herald., 1920-05-30
OMEN FASHIONED TO ORDER


GIBSON started 1t all when he pen-and-
" linked that "eight knott on the back OF
the neck Of American woman, and all the
tall young things Of the nineties began con-
Quoting gesture and coiffure along the GID
son Girl technique. Since then the cult OF
woman as Decoration has been speed
ing up. In the last decade It has been
double trotting-and now at last leaoins
costume designer and artist, Robert kailocn'
Is ready to announce that ''It'' has arrived.
It has arrived even in remote quarters Oh
sterling America" where half the giris
are tipping" up as Mary Pickfords and the
other half as Thedas, instead OF along tne
old reliable Butterick lines.
But most of all has it arrived for the
woman of wealth and leisure, who is finding
it quite as momentous and about as in
flexible a matter to select her type as for
debbies to choose husbands-and not until
the type Is chosen may she even begin to be
decorative woman" With watching and
with prayer and with long hours before
the mirror does she decide her fate.
Time was when thus did she conclude
whether it was to be blue -sprigged muslin
or changeable silk, but now the choice is
wider. Oriental, shall it be?-there's
Hindu and Spanish Nand French coquette;
or shall it just be eighteenth century with
trailing ostrich plumes and perennially
boutfant skirts?
Vamp style or boyishness, "arty" or
clinging vine, the world and history are hers
from which to choose; but, once having
chosen, he tells me, she's committed for
decade. It's not considered smart" to
change. Thus in New York's social world
may Mrs. Philip Lydig be found forever
Spanish, and Mrs. Preston Gibson as ORR
entail as the rising sun. Miss Elsie de
Wolfe affects ever the sophisticated modern
Of the moderns. Classical grandeur is the
keynote of Mary Garden, "Thaising" OF
stage as on. Over in England Consuelo
Vanderbilt has captured tall blonde Eng
lish womanhood in tangible form till she's
more English than the English. Every
body that's anybody is being somebody else,
and those that aren't somebody are trying
to copy the clothes of those that are-not
the individual dresses, mark you.
'In the morning one does not type so
violently" explains this arbiter Of woman's
new destiny. THE morning is for health
and sports-and decorative woman, who,
above all, bows to her setting, is content
to lose her own personality in the gallop Of
the horse, In the swing Of the golf stick.
To effect anything more personal than good
color and good lines would be like adorning
o golf bag with a coat Of arms.
"Ah, but come luncheon, and modern
woman begins to express herself" says MIR.
Kalloch. Through the language Of ac-
cessories she may speak. II she has chosen
the Oriental, her hat may now adhere to the
turban shape. Dull Oriental beads adorn
her tailored frock. Personality is budding,
but not yet blossoming. The public's eyes
are on her, therefore she but suggests.
"But then comes evening-evening Of
the intense, the individual! The eyes of her
own world are upon her. The exhilaration
of the supreme moment of the day is hers.
If Spanish be her fate a great comb adorns
her hair. A. great fan coquettes. High
slippers-Goya or Velasquez skirts! The
subtle favor of the land Of fire and casta
nets! Think not that she must be rigged
up like a Carmen in mantilla and passionate
red flower. Decorative woman does not
appear as for a fancy ball-it is merely
that an artist for her sake has instilled into
the prevailing mode the very essence Of old
Spain"
So, too, he explains, she Of the Orient
must grow more eastern as evening ap-
proaches-unlike the we'll known sun. Her
figure that walked crisply in the morning
droops in the languorous costume Of the
night. The costume of the East, whose in
fuence on dress has been powerful enough
TO steal the corset from half the American
women and to sneak the steels out of thos
that are left, holds her in its power. LonR
and slow are her movements, like those Of
4 languid sultana, reclining on her pillowed
divan, while upright slaves disturb the
perfumed air with peacock fans. Thu,
rhythmically sways her fan of ostrich
plumes. where the dainty little fan of
jeune file should futter like the wing of q
bird.
GsDUT how shall one select type? Now
ID couldn't be Oriental?' 1 ask him
hopefully. That sounds like such a restful
type for after working hours-and I've a
string of Persian beads to start with"
Sadly be shakes his head.
"Alas! no. One may not choose to buy
Q type as If it were material by the yard.