Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-11-14

decked themselves out in the same ar
resting fashion.
There are headdresses this season
that give one the impression of hav-
ing glimpsed those old Romans who
when they went into battle against
their neighbors. in order to brighten
them into surrender before fighting
Wore the fantastic heads and horns OF
animals that never existed.
The house OF Cabot must have got
ten some Of it's inspiration from this
ancient source, as rev or their
mannequins wore jeweled horns that
curved over their heads.
No designer had difficulty in Secur-
ing inspiration for this revival of an
historic phase of women's costumery.
The world that has slipped past US
In the loom of life is thickly woven
with such types of decoration.
Ii depended on the especial phase
were sophisticated or gentle in aspect.
Nothing was gentle in old Asiatic his
tory, SO one cannot expect from that
quarter the type of hair ornament that
should be worn by the young girl. ct
is a preteXt that our young are not
LIES Swirling stream. but it's good
pretence that makes us happier.)
x X 4 X
1t is strange that the most classic
headdreSS, one free from any sinister
aspect. was invented and insisted upon
by two virile men. who stamped vio-
lence and suffering upon the world
julius Caesar and Napoleon.
The simple wreath of leaves was
the crown OF these two Supermen and
throughout the centuries it has been
the fashion for women, ii not for men.
Grecian simplicity demanded the
purity of the flower garland about the
head, especially in token Of victory or
of national happiness over any event.
Men could wear the atrocious emblems
of battle on their heads. but battle
over and victory secure the women
Wore the emblems of gentleness and
sweetness
Down through the ages afterward
the headdress twisted and turned and
endured. The Renaissance emphasized
1t. The French have never quite re-
inquished it. Neither have the Rus
slams. From the pearl-sewn cap of
Juliet to the pointed arch of Catherine
the Great studded with Asiatic gems,
women have chosen that which they
desired in order to make them lovely,
imposing or commanding.
Only IN the Anglo-Saxon race has
this passion for the ornamental hair
covering died down with the modern
so to speak-fashion for hats. The
Americans are less given TO it than
the British. for the condition of roy
atty has preserved the tiara. the oak
leaf jeweled and the small crown, the
embleIns of rank and title.
Once our girls wore a ribbon in their
hair as a token for gayety. but ever so
simple fashion quickly died. The
novelist who makes the heroine put a
rose in her locks should be writing of
our next-door neighbors. the South
American Staes. for we at this end of
the continent neglect such adornment
We are more practical moreover. and
know that roses soon fade. and, with
ering, give us the look of age and dis
illusionment. Nothing is so disen-
chanting than the banquet hall de-
serted.
Our Indifference to such things must
be at an end, at least for space of
time. We want to be. running with
the current. The current is plainly
marked for headdress.
Since the year after the armistice.
the winter Of the peace conference
Paris has given brilliant attention
and workmanship to the ornaments
that are to pc psrched on the head.
They were shown in their Asiatic
glory by that dead girl who was never
out of the limelight and whom Paris
sincerely mourned. Gaby Delys. In
London she made towering head
dresses the fashion and many smart
Rritishers took off their jeweled en-
blems of titles and substituted the
plumage and coloring Of a jungle bird
in imitation of her and in keeping
with the strongly running current Of
fashion.
That winter every one in Paris took
thought to their headdresses for the
evening. In opposition to the bibli-
cal utterance, they, by taking thought
did add an inch. or more to their
stature. Some kept to the band stud
ded with jewels from which an i'm
mense aigrette swirled out from the
side. Others took the cue from Gaby
Delys and Mile. Mistinguett, who
amused thousands of doughboys in
her French theater, and adopted the
towering edifice of expensive fues and
feathers of the kind forbidden by law
and constantly worn and sold.
During the winter in Paris at the
opera and the theaters theonlookers
were more attracted by the head
dresses than the body dresses. There
was far more of one than the other, it
might be said parenthetically. Each
woman tried her best to eclipse the
other. None went with the hair I'M
adorned. The simplest Marcel wave
was Tue helsht OF any attempt to
make a couture. for the locks were
merely a foundation for whatever the
rnilliner could invent.
x i; X x
Fashions changed rapidly under this
stimulation. Rivalry and unprece-
denied spending of money by those
made rich through the war and others
whose sources of income remained in
doubt caused the jewellers and mil
liners to reap that harvest for which
they had waited through four years.
They made the best of it.
Still, we in America remain aloof
from the fashion. Few women Of
fashion were in France during the
years that followed the arrnistice, ex-
cept those connected with the peace
conference. They followed the French