Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-11

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fashions this Autumn.
The reason that this prediction
would have been impossible is because
this present prominence Of the blouse
comes as a sort of side isSue--aS a Sec
ondary rather than primary fashion
development That is to say, there was
really no concerted effort en- the part
of the dresSmakers to bring the blouse
2Ato faShion-nor was there any special
dssire on the part Of women to wear
houses more generally. Only in the
natural course of things skirts had be-
come a trif1e longer, and with these
longer skirts and uneven hemlineS the
ful-length coat had to give place in
great measure to the coat of three
quarter or Seven-eighth length.
With this shorter coat the little frock
Of georgette crepe or transparent velvet
viii hardly do. In its place has come
: the skirt or foundation to match the
coat, with lighter, contrasting blouse
or tunic
For street wear and sports wear the
tailored jacket and skirt came back into
fashion and that brought back the short
tailored silk or satin blouse or short
sweater. Add to this the continued
vogue OF the separate pleated skirt for
informal daytime wear and you will see
reason enough for the prominence of
the blouse in the fashion panorama at
present
A most important recent development
Is the appearance of the sleeveless eve
ming blouse among u.s. A few weeks ago
l might have said that some sort of
blouse worn with an appropriate skirt
might be chosen for every possible
occasion save for evening That was
before had seen these new sleeveless
blouseS which satisfy evening dress de-
mands for all save most formal
occasions.
AS solution to the problem of eve
ming dress for the woman who wants a
costume as practical and wearable as a
mans dinner suit they are everything
tnat the womanS tuxedo evening en-
Sen1Dte OF season or SO ago was not. :"
If you have not finished plans for
your Winter wardrobe. by all means
consider the usefulness of a coat cos
tune with which you may wear one
OF these sleeveless evening blouses. A
black velvet fur trimmed coat and
foundation may have gold and black
metallic brocade blouse with long
sleeves for formal afternoon wear and
an all-black velvet sleeveless blouse for
evening wear. This sort of costume is
a boon to the suburban woman WHO
fndS it inconvenient to dress for an
evening engagement after she has
reached the city and yet who takes
real satisfaction in being correctly
dressed for dinner or the theater in
town.
Usually the sleeveless blouse is de-
signed for evening wear. There are
exceptionS-for Talbot has a charm
ing ensemble of velvet with a very
simple oyerblouse of matching velvet
made with round neckline that circles
the base of the neck and dropping
shoulders that form very short sleeves
edged like the lower edge of the blouse
with narrow fringe made by a raveling
Of the material. And this is part of
an afternoon ensemble.
If there is such thing as a normal
blouse length it must be somewhere
about the hips. But there are also
blouses long enough to be called tunics
and blouSeS worn short enough to be
called "tuck-ins"
Some of the most distinguished of
new French ensembles consist of
en-eighth-length coats of black vel
vet or broadcloth with matching skirts
or foundations over which are worn
white blouSeS usually of crepe satin
In one Of Lelong'S models this blouse
Is of white velvet stamped to resemble
fur. Be it said with satisfaction that
these new tunics are made almost al
ways with some sort of flare below the
hips. Hips may and usually are draped
or fitted closely, but there is no longer
that "below-the- hip" swathing which
may be all very well on the slender
figure in the tombs of ancient kings
OF Egypt-but not so admirable when
eXemplified in a preSent-day tunic
To go with the two-piece suit or
separate skirt of tweed some women
choose lightweight sweaters worn
sometimes in tuck-in fashion. Some
times difficult to distinguish from these
sweaters are the overblouses or tuck
in blouses made of jersey. Also suitable
to wear with tweed and other sports
materials are blouSeS of crepe de chine
and double-faced satin. Simple tai
1ored blouses Of satin in white or the
more usually becoming eggshell tintS
are often chosen to go with tweed suits
CT brownish mixtures. Practical blouses
for wear with tailored suits are made
of cravat silk-that is the sort of silk
which has heretofore been used almost
exclusively for mems neckties. These
silks show blending of colors in small
figures that go extremely well with the
mannish sort of tWeeds and suitings
and they have the added advantage
of high resistance to crushing and
wrinkling.
To go with the rather informal en-
semble for afternoon wear, metal cloth
blouses play an important role. There
are metal cloths printed in small color
full designs. Interesting effects are OBJ
tanned by the working Of metal threads
on chiffon velvet or georgette. A
charming formal blouse for a velvet
coat costume was made Of gold tissue
posed over wine-colored chiffon to
match the velvet of the costume. Gold
lace used over colored chiffon also
gives the desirable metal effect that is
in such high favor this season. Ex-