The Washington times., 1923-03-11
OREIGN
MOTIVES
COME TO
II LOW T. II
Chinese, Egyptian and
Persian Ideas Sup
plemented by Peas
ant Art of SIavs.
By VIRGINIA KINDON.


are pertaining the air and ma
ture seems gay and in iocund
mood, Il all very well.
The words fairly fly from the
typewriter. Metaphors and siil-
hes come unlimited. Rhyming
words. like love and dove, girl
and curl, rush into ones con.
seriousness; pictures Of blue skies
with lazily drifting clouds, like
huge puffs. and merrily bubbling
brooks. flash before the inward
eye. All. OF such stuff are poets
made. OF such stuff. say the
editors, are their desks filled
when spring comes tripping up
this way.
But to write Of spring styles
when an old.fashioned blizzard
RACES outside and the whirling
enowflahcs make white the city.
tired Of snow ana ice, Is mat.
ter Of great moment and difficult
mein.
Do you remember reading Van
Dykes Guide Posts and Camp.
fires?" The essay called Christ
mas Greens, /" explained the
writer's difficulties when called
upon to write about the Yuletide
when the calendar told that the
month at hand was August.
With long. cool shadows on a
velvet lawn, with the air redo
lent with the breath Of roses
and late summer flowers, ana
all the world bounded by the
green out-of-doors. how could the
mind Be forced to leave this and
take itself before q cracking
fire. into the hall, decked with
pine and naistletoe?
a LII such problems concern not
the editor, The Christmas
story must be on his desk by
August. The rhapsodies on spring
must Be composed To the accom-
panirnent o. the tune played By
the steam radiator Or the easy
tO-kindIe gas logs.
The Sunday articles are not
written at midnight Saturday
night, any more than Yuletide
stories are composed while the
chimes ring out that Christmas
Is here.
So. on . day, when galoshes.
snow-shovels, wooden sox and
sizzling radiators are the high
notes reached and brought abou.
by a changeable weather man,
comes the edict that models for
spring wraps and hats to match
must till the pages allotted TO
the discussion Of fashions; and
our state Of mind IL quite dis.
turbed.
Wrapg are more interesting
than organdie frccIks, for we can
ct least drop their folds about our
shivering thoughts and anuggle
into their satiny Innings and pull
the soft fur or silk collars about
our reddened ears. thereby deriv.
ing some small amount Of COM
fort. ana temporarily forgetting
the weather.
WRAPS, that all inclusive word,
taking under its wing coats
and capes and the more elaborate
garments that refuse to come
under either head and insist on
being known and addressed as
wraps, with broad English "a !"
are very interesting this spring
season OF 1923. They bespeak a
complex civilization and a more
complex world Of fashion.
Years ago, a coat was a coat.
It served to shut out the cold
and was neither interesting in
material, nor graceful as to lines
or cut Of the garment. The size
is figure appeared to DO the
same size as that of her more
plump sister, and a coat was a
daytime garment. At night one
wore shawl. A shawl from
China. IL one had friends or
cousins who had made voyages
TO the Orient, and Turkish or
other silk and fringed squares
purchased here or in Paris.
Nowadays. a coat 10 dis
nnct garment and means a day
time covering along mannish
lines, fashioned Of some durable
ana oftentimes nnannish and
rough material. belted and peck.
eted ana known as a sport coat.
These coats are lovely this
year. They are smart. They
are Swagger. They appeal. They
serve. Tweeds, cancels hair
cloths wooden mixtures, plain
fabrics and gay pIaids are EN-.
pioyed to make them.
EIRST cousins to the coat. a..
sport eape-coats. They are
city cousins, and rather inclined
TO look down upon the mannish
coats that do not boast a cane
style. unusual collar treatment
and striking fabrics.