Evening star., 1927-04-24
and Linen Are Fashionable Materials for Summer Frocks
nv MARY MARSHALL.

>OTTON frocks are coming into
fashion. They are 1Qs be
found among the collections
~ OF Summer frocks shown by
the worlds most renowned
dressmakers--and these original froeks
entirely or partly of cotton are quite
as expensive as though they had been
made from metallic tissue. velvet or
fine silk
Until very recently we have worn
cotton frocks with sort of apology
or maybe we haven't worn them at
all. We called them porch ;frocl1s or
garden frocks or morpin.s dresses and
all the time Thought of them as suit.
able only for the housewifely tasks.
AS matter of fact, we didn't wear
them in the garden or on the porch
and we didnt wear. them in the morn
ing away from home IL there was any
time to change into something else
Your little typist sor stenogTapher or
telephone operator wouldn't have
dreamed Of going to work in q cotton
frock-eyen when few aspns ago
a number of fashionable rich women
began TO wear gingham dresses on the
beaches and promenades at their
chosen resorts. I
Doubtless in the minds of many
young women the cotton frock smacked
somehow too much Of doinesticity,
TO the city girl it, seemed suburban,
to the suburban it seemed rural rus
tic, conntrified-and the country girl
meantime was quite as partial to the
little frock of georgette or silk crepe
as any girl in the city. The prejudice
will continue to a great eXtent-and
in the meantime this very prejudice
OF the many will help the new cotton
frocks to gain an enviable position
OF snnartness among the, women who
can follow rather closely the new,
trend of fashion Il
The fact that cotton and = linen
frocks go through the laundry with
good results was once q point in their
favor from the standpoint OF economy.
That was in the days of the cheap
and easily available 1aundress A
fresh supply of nicely starehed and,
ironed clothes every petticoats.
slips, rlffied drawers and oon7bifia-
Hons-white duck skirts, shirt waists
&pd frocks--was something that even
the poor working girl usually took for
granted. Now she wears silk nothings
In the way of underwear that she can,
wash out herself-and silk frocks are
her standby for work as we'll as play.
Cotton frocks that must be washed
and ironed every two or three wear
ipgs are, far more expensive than
gAorgette and silk crepe frocks that
may be worn a month or so before
being sent to the cleaner.
There is no doubt Of the fact that
Aotton and linen do somehow show
soil and effects of wear, far sooner
than silk or woolen. Freshly laun-
dered frocks are a luxury, and some
of the new cotton and linen frocks
do not lend themselves to the laundry
process. An expert laundress might
manage to restore an organdie frock
to pristine freshness, unless, of course,
at was combined with taffeta or other
aak, as is the case in many instances.
In taking the obvious element of
practicability away from cottons and
nnens-in lifting them once and for
all out OF the house-freck classifca-
tion---the French dressmakers have
done more for cottons and linens than
might have been done in any other
way. BY combining cottons with silks
and other expensive materials they
have made it perfectly obvious that
the fine cotton materials suffer moth
1ng by comparison. White organdie
Ss, run with silver thread, pink or.
gandie is placed over a foundation of
rose metal cloth. Organdie is COM
bined with taffeta.
Some fashion observers have a way
Of attributing human attributes to
such lifeless things as dress ma
terials. This habit Of speech, school
teachers used TO tell us, was the
prophetic fallacy-calling the. ocean |
wild, or gray skies melancholy or
the desert cruel.
So it is that some observers speak |
of some materials as sophisticated |
and others as being naive-and in
general you may say that it is. the
cotton materials that have the repu.
tation for lack of sophistication while
the silks abound in it. Organdies. dim
titles, percales, ginghams are the most
ingenious Of materials. and it is no
doubt partly because fashionable wom
en- have wearied of the game Of look
ing as sophisticated as possible that