Evening star., 1920-01-18

feminine. 1t is an old story, more
than twice told, that the designers OF
the last four years have drawn their
Inspiration for womens clothes from
the costumes worn by men in the
centuries that preceded this one. 1t
has proved a rich field. We have plow-
ed 1t, dug up treasures in 1t and used
many a spade and hoe to unearth
nuggets of inspiration.
1t is never dead past. The de-
signers keep it alive in the minds OF
women more than the historians keep
it alive in the memories OF / en-. This
Is the reason that it may be safely
said that nothing new has been in
vented in apparel in the last hundred
years 1t only appears new to each
generation. 1t puts on an attractive
guise OF youth like seine Faust who
has drunk of a miracle brew, but it
has really been through few centu-
ries OF existence.
What's the odds? If it appears new
to us, If it has an air of pristine
freshness. if it excites the imagina-
tion, lures coin from the purse, and
aids and abets the dressmaker in
making a fortune, then who cares
how old it is? History repeats it.
self--why not fashion?
often the designers do not even
take the trouble TO turn the old into
something that resembles an unusual
novelty. They realize that the human
memory Is about the shortest sense
that man possesses, so, trusting to this,
they merely offer tunic, a hoopskirt
kimono, sash, high boots. fat
heeled slippers. garlands of roses,
panniers of tulle and backless bodices
in sequence of fashions.
The public talks of skirt that is
wide at hips and narrow at hem as
though 1t were a garment new as the
telephone at its invention; there are
women interested in daguerreotpes
who look back upon the family album
with sadness and merriment and say
of certain fashions that they were
worn by their grandmothers as If that
finished them. but. after all, the gen.
eral impression concerning the vast
Kaleidoscope of style is vague.
Upon this vagueness rests the sue
cess Of a thousand dressmakcrs. In
the last three years the fashions have
been old enough to be interesting.
The civil war is too close upon our
heels, the Franco Prussian war is still
fresh memory in the minds of the
p living. the American Indian has been
portrayed at fancy dress parties until
ke novelty of the costume is lost
fdnd there are some In this country
who still shudder at the name and the
apparel. Therefore, when the de-
sighers discarded the epochs that
We're dimly fading into shadows be-
hind us and reached down Into the
depths of human history to pull out
clothes that reeked " the tenth CEN
tury. from Venice 10 London, they
made the public gasp.
We knew nothing of tunics and
ierkins. of armholes that ran to the
waist, Of chemise frOcks. of heavy.
silk ropes as girdles, Of sandwich
panels that were dropped down back
and front of an underrlip that had
long sleeves to the knuckles.
Bold embroidery, braiding with gilt
salloon. ornamentation with straw
were decided novelties to us. They
were not revolutions like the long
trousers worn by the men of the di-
rectOire period, or the plateau of
straw worn by king to keep the
rain from his head, or the long tights
TO the thighs that the fighters of
Great Britain took up IS substitutes
for the clinging robes that tapped
around mems ankles, or even the
leather shoes that had brass eyelets
through which facets were run, as
substitutes for the long woolen stock
ing with its foot part extended FIVE
inches beyond the big toe.
+ II II
The world had made it's startling
revolutions in style before we breath
ed on this planet and there have been
none SO bold end none so clever as to
threaten to cverturn them, with the
single exception of the introduction
OF trousers into feminine apparel.
Along that line we have gone far.
The riding .breeches which once
shocked the community were the pre-
cursors Of an accepted form of ap-
parel for women who indulge in
sports. Shades of Mrs BlOomer and
Dr. Mary Walker! All that these
women did to emancipate women from
skirts failed entirely until the SPORT
ihs life In the open air became cor
rect and fashionable for all women
who desired 10 be lovely and healthy.
r~.