The New York herald., 1921-07-31
Possibility Of Bouffant Skirts
Superseding the Narrow
and Clinging Ones.
BY ANNE RITTENHoUsE.

w 7 HAT are the chances for the
w Eugene silhoue'ts'
This seems to be the ques-
ton. shorn of fiourishes. that women
ask most frequently when they talk
about clothes They NAV not put it
1ust this way. for they may not see
any connection between Eugene. that
half Spanish. half Scotch ardente
blond beauty who ruled beside Louis
Napoleon as Empress OF France. and
the bouffant skirts. form fitting bod
ices and dropped shoulders that are
peeping out here and there in the
ornament of present day fashions.
Perhaps it Is enough to ask whether
bouffant skirts will supe-scde narrow
or clinging ones. For II the bouffant
skirts win out then the cnug rounded
waist and droop shoulders, broad lam
gushing hats-"a la Clarissa Har-
lowe" they called them in Eugenie's
days--streamers and ribbons are
bound to follow.
AS a matter of fact, although we
designate the styles worn Of the 1860
period as those of Empress Eugene.
Eugene herself was often out of
sympa thy with what dressmakers pro-
pounded and other women wore. She
was criticised for wearing her skirts
too short. though at worst they re-
vealed only a toe OF her shoe; and
though she has been blamed for the
crinoiine she really disliked 1t. In 1859
she scandalized the other women and
some OF the men BY appearing at a
court ball sans crinoline. thus beginning
a movement that gradually led to It's
disappearance from fashion entirely.
Yet to-day when we want to speak of
skirts that are bouffant and ballooning
we call them Empress Eugene.
All styles Are Transitional.
How easy it would be simply to say
that the present Is transitional period
as far as clothes are concerned, that
anything and everything are the mode
not seeking beneath superficialities to
hnd what really Is the smart and the
significant thing about the clothes pre-
sented. Every period. at least In
modern times. seems transitional. We
think of the Eugenie mode as being
something quite settled when as a mat
ter OF fact 1t reflected the feeling of a
period just as unsettled. just as restless
as our own.
Says one of Empress Eugenie's court
Indies In characterizing the mode worn
at the beginning OF her reign--the one
that usually bears her name "It was
. mixture Of all styles--Greek models
were associated with the panniers of
Louis WIS time; the basque worn by
the amazons OF the Fronde. with the
hanging sleeves OF the Renaissance"
This might as we'll be taken for a de-
scripton of the mode of the present
time. VVa oil
sources, Greek. Egyptian. Medieval, Re
naissance. Russian. Bulgarian. From
China and Japan we take many sugges-
tfons. while the dressmakers Of the reign
OF Empress Eugene barely touched upon
this source. But whatever our inspira-
ton we stamp our own seal upon II just
as truly as did the women of the other
period.
Now one of the essentials In launch
ing a distinctly now farhion is that men
and women should have wearied of the
last And we have by no means wearied
OF our straightline frocks There is no
longer any doubt but that we have done
with the very short skirts. though II
may take TIL autumn 70 clear the at
nlosphere Of the fashion. and moralists
will probably continue to prate against
them as IL they were new style instead
of one fast fading into obscurity. The
sleeve question seems settled. too, though
II Is certainly not following Eugene
line at the present time.
short sleeves Done For.
We no longer discuss the relative mer-
IT'S of the short sleeve and the long, tho
flowing sleeve or the tight fitting sleeve
save for the very individual frocks wnerc
the line requires II. the short sleeve is
done for In daytime frocks. At present
the long sleeve that has taken Its place
hangs free and loose. The close fitting
long sleeve that Is often ss trying to
the woman with very thin arms as to
the woman with too fat arms Is In rather
bad grace.
But when II comes to bouffant skirts
the way Is not so clear. The comment
has been passed about by those who
have watched the new clothes appear In
Paris and smart French resorts that.
though the bouffant skirts are worn they
ara more often worn by nannecuins
than others. and that women who could
suit themselves IN the selection OF their
clothes clunR 10 the straightline frccks.
A fsw- fallooninr frocks ~ .'e r~~sef't
time cr( ko very much more stir than a
n--~<& 4|IA han IN efrairt.f 1ivcr ftfaf a.