Evening star., 1922-09-17

w 7 OMEN who are thinking of
NNf winter clothes do not walt
" " until all the styles are set
in motion against each
other in order to be able to judge
from the mass and not from the few.
Time and circumstance are against
the woman who is leisurely in the
selection OF seasonal raiment. Cool
days arrive. summer clothes are too
thin to serve. a wrap is needed-so sud
denly woman finds herself up to the
eyes in shopping.
She Is apt to be flustered. She is
apt to fire questions at her neighbors
with the rapidity of machine gun.
She realizes she has not kept up with
the preliminaries to the fashion bout.
She realizes that she must get knowl
edge, and get it quickly. So maybe
this survey of new fashions may aid.
Fortunately for us, the American
winter Is kept in allegiance by au-
tumn. Cold does not descend upon us
when October comes. Indian summer
Is not myth, as scientists say. 1t is
a condition which every woman de-
lights in, because it projects a season
when days are not too hot and nights
are not too cold
Knowing this to be true, we do not
have to leap into furs the moment
summer passes. Nor do we want a
large array of heavy and protective
clothing before Thanksgiving, but we
do want new things. 1t is hard to
economize when one is tired of sum-
mer clothes. The wardrobe of last
spring may serve, but who is the
woman without a strong Inclination
to buy the moment the fashion
changes, and change 1t does in
October.
THE American buyers who come to
Paris in August receive their pur-
chases in September and prepare to
begule the coin from every ones
purse in October
In advance of these French fashions
of August there are the French fash
ions of June which the host of Ameri-
can manufacturers have bought, mod
ified and copied.
1t is difficult to tell which set of
fashions American women prefer, and
if they buy early they may regret it
when the second set comes into view.
That Is too big a problem to discuss
here. 1t carries anxiets to every one
concerned.
This year there is sufficient SINH
larity between the fashions of June
and August to permit woman to
choose with certain degree of reck-
fess themselves disappointed with the
lack of new things in the collections
In answer to that one of the leading
designing dressmakers here said that
the Americans always asked for "a
sheep with five legs"
What the buyers expected was a
new silhouette. possibly several new
fabrics for common wear. What they
got was the silhouette of the last
three years, with few touches
thrown in from last summer accentu-
ating the circular movement.
The French women do not find fault
with the lack of novelty or the con-
tinuance of the existing silhouette
They have ceased to be fretful as
they were in the days Of great queens
and great courtesans. Probably the
war has something to do with this.
The curious thing is that the
French women, from Ain to Deau-
willie, do exactly what the French voy-
ayers complained of in America last
spring-they all dress alike.
You may remember the widespread
interviews with distinguished Paris
and London designers and merchants
last spring in our papers. They ex-
pressed themselves copiously con-
cerning their surprise at the hundreds
of women in America who wore the
Same cut and color of gown. One
concluded, after reading these inter-
views, that every Paris woman wore