Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1881-07-23 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

CUL U ALA.  DRESS AND FASHION.  WHAT Is WORN ?—The question taunt 'difficult to answer. The reply is erything." Large hats and small bonnets, scarcely trimmed at all or overloaded with fruit and flowers and feathers, necks low or necks hidden, sleeves long or short,. waist round or pointed, dresses full or plain, heels high or low, all are seen in turns and nothing seems out of fashion except modesty and simplisity. These may come in agam, but at present it is not considered "goad form to exhibit either in perceptible quantities. There is a certain curve of beauty commonly known as a " fall in the back," which a one of the principal charms of a good Agar°. When it is absent a wooden waist is the rmult. When it is pre. sent the figure is lithe and graceful. The 'resent very tight kind of dress displays this curve to advantage, but also shows the want of it in a painful manner. Milliners, consequently, devised the crino, lette, which in its infancy was but a puffing of stiffened muslin. This grew apace, until it developed into the full.grown erinolette. Now comes the strange part of the story. Those who possessed the requisite figure, enabling them to dispense with such adventitious aids, seeing their less fortunate sisters donning the crinolette immediately took to it, thus effectually hiding their own superiority! Such is fashion, and such the blindness of its votaries! . _ .  The long, pointed Louis"„XV. bodices now so popular arAerribly provocative of tight lacing. A stout figure looks its worst in them, but instead of adopting some style which would suit such figures, their owners lace aml strap themselves tightly to produce smallness of waist, forgetting that the flesh squeezed out of its own proper place must go somewhere. The consequence of this is a sack like effect and a bulging appearance above and below the line of the waist which are not lovely. A wotd of advice to the ussduly stout. Forsake the idea of dressing after the Louis Quinze styles. G. ve up long waists and pointed bodices. GO back to Louie Douse, or advance to Louie Philippe. In eith, rperiodallowance wasmade for a comfortable share of flesh. As to the days of Louis Quinze, all the fat women appear to have re. tired into convents or to have committed suicide. No record of their mode of dress remains. . This is the age of lace. It appears upon every dress, furniture in every detail of the toilet and of the lime. Its reign upon bonnets, parasols, and gloves has long been assured, but now it has made its appearance upon two other articles of the toilet. Fans covered with small frills of lace have appeared. Them match the bonnet and parasol, and have a bunch of flowers fastened upon the outer side. The fan is attached to the parasol by a long silken cord, so that it can easily be used when the parasol is held up, and gives no trouble when it is not in use. Shoes, too, are now trimmed with lace. The rosettes which used to be made of kid or ribbon are now composed of this material, and the buckle is frequently replaced by a small bunch of flowers. Black lute is used on black hider satin shoes, and diamond buckles are very effective when seen peeping from the folds of the lace. For white or pale-tinted shoes white or cream-coloured lace is used. _ .  Lace stockings have been in favour for some time. The newest are dyed pale blue, green, mauve, pink or yellow, to match dresses of those tints. The prettiest are those of black lace with dainty coloured clocks at the sides, which are, of course, of silk, the lace being inserted. Hats are very pretty and very becoming this year. One of the newest forms has been christened the Cond.3 by its inventors, or rather, adaptors, f r nearly everything now is the revised edition of something old. This hat is round, with a garland of small feathers all round it, falling over the edges of the brim. Then there is the Recamier, xv4h a very wide open brim, a piece being cut out at the back to admit of the chignon being seen. Under this wide brim wreaths of beautifully made flowers are tucked, the top of the bat being covered with the lightest clouds of web-like lace. One of these was of Maniln straw lined with pale pink silk and trimmed with a wreath of pale pink roses. The top was covered with bows of straw-coloured silk gauze. Besides these there is the Radclyffe, large and raised on one side under a mass of flowers, the crown being surrounded by a very large shaded feather. A large feather is sometimes placed under the brim, falling upon the hair. The effect of ti.is is very good, softening the expression of the face, and if the colour of the feather be judiciously chosen, heightening the gold or brown tints in the hair. There is little neve' ty in dresses, The changes are rung on muslin and cambric, white, pink, mauve, primrose and blue. Shaded materials are out of favour. I prophesied that their reign would be short. Vulgarity soon makes such dccid, d and prononce fashions her own, and Imes no time in setting her ineffaceable mark upon them. Even two shades of a colour are inadmisxible ins costume now. There may be two colours, Sr even three, but two shades of one colour are impassible.—"Allegres," in Life.