The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-11-25
9LD TIME FASHIONS
 MAY BRING BACK
 ERA OF ROMANCE

New York, Nov. 25-wil1 our new romantic styles in clothes bring back an era of romance?
 Will the revival of hoopskirts, lace scarves, tiny fans and garlanded coif- lures cause to live again the delicate creatures who tainted as easily and as gracefully as they flirled? And do their garments really affect the characters of women?
 Sudden changes in demeanor are seen dn the drab little girl who sud- denly gets a new dress. She is transformed. So is the middle-aged hitherto uncared for woman whose husband may unexpectedly gain wealth. Her new rainlent makes a new woman out of her oftentimes.
 Miss Ethel Traphagen, expert on dress design, confirms the legend that clothes make the man or woman. At her studio on Poplar street, Brooklyn, she displayed @ number of drawings of styles of the past and told me some of her own theories on dress.
 Miss Traphagen's Conclusions.
 Undoubtedly wearing clothes hark- ing back to times of romance will make women take on the character istfcs of those periods" Miss Trapha- gen says.
 "Of course, you know one of my beliefs is that we go through one in carnation after another, and that when we long for the trappings of some one era we are going back to those days through which we passed and which we loved.
 "In a certain mood & woman puts on a garment to express that feeling Again, when she puts on the dress of a bygone century she assumes there by the qualities or vagaries of the time.
 ''In the different stages of develop dierent moods in which we revert to former experiences. If q woman puts on a Moyen Age costume she is apt to feel as the women of those Middle Ages did.
 The fact of woman taking to the bOuffant skirts and rosebud garland ed coiffures shows a positive leaning back to the days of romance. In the thirties and in the sixties there was a romantic spirit but there was also hypocrisy. Those crimo1ine girls looked very sweet and demure, but they were not always so ingenious as we thirk them.
 Spooning and Swooning Customs.
 Even when these styles are brought out now there is always a little f1ippancy added to them.'
 But where. oh where. in our highly condensed conditions of life is there room for the dear creatures to wear 'vapours'' at the slightest provoca. ton? At least girls who swoon eas. fly might be preferable to those ultra moderns some of our readers score SC Savagely, those who spoon too easily and those whose only ''vapours" arc the thin streams of cloud that arise
 
 ''In V,ct toria's reign" Miss Trap hagen continued. ''she was so re pressed that everybody became bot tied up. The styles immediatel! showed this. The squeezed-in waists the ridiculous stuffed leg-of-muttol sleeves tell of the influence of thi strict ruler.
 But in America, we have a con glcrraration oc races. Each brings different environment and a past The countries from which they com have each had a different history O fashion affected in so many ways il the past No one silhouette of styl predominates today.
 Clothes influence women greatly The gingham dress imparts youth an freshness. It speaks of childhood an bread and butter days. Brocad makes US feel regal; velvet. dignif1e and a little softened-
 ''She who dons taffeta become crisp and jaunty like the fabric Blu | serge is business like and suitabl and lends self-con1dence-
 '-The rolled-down stockings and a too short skirts we have had for som r time give a woman vu1garity. O. 3 rather. they bring out her innate vul