Evening star., 1920-06-27
Successful Revival of
Old-Tinne Entertain
ments Brings Out
Smart Thin Frocks.
Fabrics in Vogue.
Return of the Picture
Styles Importance
of Sashes,
BY ANNE RITTENHOUSE.


mental and moral attitude toward that
espec al burst of nature into full flower
ing.
1t is not a new thought that has just
come to society. 1t is one that seems
to have suddenly taken root. The fam
lily must have a summer home. of
course. one that has that special burst
of nature in full evidence. 1t cannot
be done at a summer hotel But the
possession of a home where there are
trees and open spaces is the privilege
of even those in America who are not
always ranked among the privileged
classes, as the term is understood.
This stupendous continent is full OF
them, looking their best and gayest in
small towns, and running close to hot
intricate cities. The millions of com
| ruters who make up the industrial
classes of this complex network of
labor that makes us what we are as a
nation count upon such homes in sum-
mer to atone to them for the exhaust
ling ir-itations of committing during the
winter.
Each and all they make an attractive
background for whatever gayety in the
open is scheduled for the hot weather
months.
The mother who has small and in
commodious house il town, or she who
is burdened with large one, incom-
ipetently run, feels the strain of bring
ing out a daughter and threshes the
air to find some way to solve the prob
lem so that the purse is not emptied
to provide an atmosphere OF brilliancy
and wellbeing.
1t is because of this crisis. probably.
ir the affairs of housekeeping that the
old idea of introducing a girl in the
| has beAn revived. another WaV
of easing the strain.
Simple frocks, food that is not pro-
hibitively dear, a tent or two, cane
chairs, festive porch can be assem-
bled into a picture that is good to look
at and good to be in
1t has long been said of debutante
lparties that none of ones intimates
came nor ones important acquaint-
Iances: only those who seldom receive
cards for any other entertainments.
But with the advent of the open air
lcoming-out party, those who are in
lvited usually come. all of them. The
world and its wife like to eat straw
berries under striped tents and drink
iced lemonade and tea in comfortable
chairs with cushions on a flower strewn
porch. They like to put on thin muslin
frocks and wear big shade hats and
drift away the twilight hours without
the strain of having a dozen engage
ments dogging the heels and pressing
on the pam.
! The English and the French know
how to live. is the comment of the
tagged, rushed American world when
they go to social festivals in open
spaces; they remember Trollope's novels
! and they feel something of the spirit of
the old and restful world that takes its
| pleasures happily and at ones ease.
Harassed and weary women wonder
why all our social life cannot be ar
ranged for the relaxed months after
the way of the older civilizations, who
could teach us so much if our ears
were not stopped with cotton TO the
call of leisurely methods. They con-
trast, peevishly, the 'eXhausting strain
of party in "a city house with its COM
Iplexity of detail and its burden of ex-
pense with a negligible result and the
iapparent simplicity of the English gar
den party.
And there's much in name. "A
tea says the invited one. with a ges-
ture of contempt and resignation. "A
garden party" says society, what fun.
Let's go" And they do go. All in their
best bib and tucker.
So it has come about that those who
feel the urge to entertain look with an
tobServing eye upon the possibilities of
| their porches and open spaces. If there
is even one tree it is accounted joy.
| If there are many success is assured,
thinks the prospective hostess.
Sunshine may reveal more deficiencies
lin china and upholstery than electric
light, but it is more kindly when it
comes filtered through leaves, and even
that which is old seems to take on a
glamor when the sun begins to sink and
| the violet shades arrive. Really it is
the most satisfying way in the world
| to entertain when one is not burdened
with money and a frantic desire to show
off the house in town.
| And if it rains, as one may reasonably
IeXDert in hOf waafhpr yCell tho
and the flower filled interior look very
attractive. Far better this annoyance
than the overheated rooms of the city
! in winter and the inability of the parlor
| to hold the people with comfort
| The success of the debutante parties
| in June of this year has brought into
full play the fashion for garden parties,
| the real English French variety, and
| the small town and suburban houses
have suddenly appeared to their owners
as treasures.
| Maybe Gen. Pershing was responsible
for the fashion, although no man would
be quicker to disclaim responsibility for
a social fashion. He gave a memorable
one last summer in Paris. in a great
garden hemmed in by ancient walls in
the heart of the old part of the loveliest
city in the world
| Garden parties became the fashion.
Long may they remain. They open
wide and safe channels for successful
entertaining and bring to our hectic
rushing about in search of pleasure an
hour of serenity in which the cup Of
tea beneath the bough takes on new
luster.
The successful attempt to make gar
den parties fashion of the summer
has brought out much in the way of
smart thin frocks.
The much abused sport costume has
disappeared under the stress of criti-
cism. 1t permits its substitute, the
muslin or other transparent gown, to
assert it's right to be considered the
proper thing for social occasions after
| the noon hour.
Everywhere there is seen a tendency
| to shelve the sweater and striped skirt,
which usurped the place of all other
| costumery as soon as June broke; to
limit to its rightful hours and occa-
sions, and to reinstate the glorified
summer gown which goes with the
gayeties of summer and gives to them
the atmosphere Of slight formality that
they deserve.
AS if foreshadowing the advent of the
garden party into American life, the
dressmakers have turned out alluring
thin frocks as from a tip-tilted cornu-
copia. The assortment is astounding.
The first party of June, which blew in
cold and wet, was a blow to those who
hoped to food the continent with gar
den party gowns, but the gloom was
soon dispelled by the fact that women
evidently, did not care what the weather
was like. The gowns were purchased
as though the summer had burst upor
us in it's old and sometimes cruel way
AS for the clothes, this might be the
season after the civil war to judge solely
by them. What was fashionable ther
is fashionable now. although the cut anG