Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1892 — MODES OF THE SEASON. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MODES OF THE SEASON.

POINTS ABOUT DRESS AND HOW TO WEAR IT. I Many Women Who Send to Pari* for Their Attire Should Send for a Frenchwoman to Show Them How to Wear It. Gotham JKaMilon Gossip, tfew York correspondence:

FASHIONABLY ffrla dressed woman is II not always well dressed. It is one J thing to buy a bonsSi fi net and quite another to know how to Opy wear it. Some one has said that youth is always beautiful; Jf* this is no more true than to say that Ly youth is always A graceful. In rare g cases women have ft JJIL had instinctive Ip-'-' sense of the becoming, but as a rule . i-- the art of dressing jr —■ becomingly must be L ll—.learned like any 1 kUpT other art, by close \ study and deep application. I know a lady who always

makes it a point to send to Paris for her bonnets, and wijen I meet her I feel like advising her to send for a Frenchwoman to show her how to wear them. She would then learn that a Frenchwoman wears her bonnet on her head, and not perched on a towering coil of hair in an altogether ridiculous manner. Nor does a Frenchwoman ever allow her train to drag behind her-on the sidewalk, exercising the functions of a street sweeper. And speaking of skirts, let me call your attention to the fact that in all woolen materials it is customary to set off the skirt with a ruching of the same material. But it is possible to display a great deal of taste in this matter* of ruches. One way is to make a double niching composed of two pleats, set close together and pinked out on each edge. Another style is to set a single ruffle at the bottom and head it with

guipure lace. Some, however, prefer the skirt quite plain, as shown in my initial illustration. Here you see a charming out-door costume which may be made up eii her in wool or silk. In this instance it has a cream ground with a red figure. It will be noted that this dress consists of two parts, a skirt and redingote. The plastron and sleeve puffs are of red silk. At the back there is a half belt of the silk, and the cuffs are turned ba k with the silk. The yoke is covered with eeru guipure. To catch a glimpse of the summer girl’s opening splendor you must run down to the seaside resorts within easy distance of the metropolis. She is wise in making choice of these places to display her dainty gowns, for here she is sure to find throngs of male admirers. You find little else save college boys and rich men’s sons at the distant summer resorts. The business man can’t go so far. He must content himself with the Jersey coast. Your young man in the twenties is not satisfactory as a judge of a brilliant toilet. He knows a pretty face when he sees it, but he has not been educated up to the art of a gored skirt, the glove fit of a corsage or the proper hang of a Watteau fold. He is too apt to be dazzed by the sparkle of two black eyes or led away from a sweet nocturn in two shades of ecru by the sweeter voice of the girl Inside. In my second illustration you will find pictured a lovely summer costume in barege and taffeta glace, very appropriate for a garden party or a lawn party of any kind. The taffeta not only serves to make the plastron, the collar,’ the revers, the sleeves and the bias

bands on the skirt, but it also serves as foundation for the barege. This gown must be made princess and be glovefitting. The plastron is pleated over lining and the dress material cut from under it. The puffed sleeves are caught up with a bow of ribbon. Garden and lawn parties promise to be extremely popular this season, and I have several more charming dresses to show you, each well qualified to figure at such fetes. The exquisite textures and delicate tones now so modish are brought out in their full value by the green floors and darker green backgrounds furnished by the foliage, while the open air lends a c-oior to the cheek and a vivacity to the manner which drawing-room or ball-room is powerless to effect. My third picture presents one of these dainty gowns for a lawn party. The material is a figured foulard, pink geranium, with white flowers. The bottom of the skirt is finished with a narrow scalloped band and below it two tiny ruffles of lace. The dress is set off with a white lace figaro and the sleeves are also draped with lace, Idle Vshaped neck is filled in with a fichu of pleated gauze held in place by fancy pins. The so-called Japanese crepons, largi

and fantastic figures In blue on ecr* grounds, are also very appropriate for garden parties. I saw one made up with huge bell sleeves reaching to the elbows and with lace undersleeves. The corsage was jacket form, and had a deep draped tint in surah of a darker blue. The thing to avoid for these outdoor fetes is all approach to the conventional street gown with its tailor-made look. Strive as far as possible to attain the quaint and picturesque. I set a very good model before you in my fourth illustration. Here you have a lovely empire gown in embroidered batiste, made up over a sky-blue glace taffeta, the batiste being of a lighter shade. The guipure collarette and cuffs are in a salt-gray. You will note how the pleating is done at the front: at the back there is a Watteau in gaufred pleating. The ribbon used is in a light-green velvet. If you would be quite correct, you must set a dainty little toque on your crown of waved hair. Thesfe pretty little bits of fancy straw are set off with Bruges lace or flowers, or both, and are

extremely natty. The summer girl is wonderfully particular in the selection of her hats. She has hats for everything: hats to walk in, ride in, sit in, play in, and flirt in. She changes her hat on the slighest provocation, and often changes her mind in so doing. No politician ever changed his principles with such quickness and readiness. “Beally, Mr. Featherly,” exclaimed a midsummer maiden, “you must not talk so to me—in tfcat strain ” “But you made no objection this morning, Miss Frivelle!” “Ah, but I had my big hat on then, and couldn’t see your face, ” urged the artless maid of modes. Some of the combinations of mauve ana cream are delightful. For instance, an exquisite cream muslin printed with mauve sprigs of flowers is set off with a deep sash of mauve and cream ribbon. The front of the corsage has a fichu of lace brought down under the sash, and the bottom of the skirt is garnitured wfth two tiny flounces, lace embroidered. Some malicious critic has asserted that croquet was invented to display the beautifully clocked stockings so muoh in vogue a lew years ago, and, no doubt, the same critic would assert that lawn tennis was invented in order to give the summer girl an opportunity to display her lithe and graceful figure, for surely no one has ever been able to discover what other object the game could possibly have. There is this about these lawn tennis games, however, tlfat they enable the summer girl to display a natty and jaunty costume as well as a graceful figure before more or less of a crowd of lookers-on. As it is hard for the orator to be eloquent before a beggarly array of empty benches, so it is very difficult for a young girl to show to good advantage in her own narrow circle. She finds no inspiration where

there is no appreciation, and it is with a pretty gown as with a song well sung, it is a work of art, and calls for an educated eye in the one case as it does for an educated ear in the other. Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise, and where there is no standard of taste it would be foolish to waste time over dress as a fine art. In my last illustration I set before you an extremely fetching costume for a croqbet party—an outing suit in Mulhouse linen. The vest is striped and has small mother-of-pearl buttons; shirt collar and tie are as ( masculine looking as possible. The 1 pockets are put in vertically, and the cap is of the same material as the vest. The cuffs and cuff buttons must also ba mannish in style. The skirt doesn’t need to be lined, but there is a broad bias band set on as represented. If a dicky be worn instead of a shirt, it will be necessary to hold it in place by two ribbons reaching to the band. A boutonniere is part and parcel of this semimasculine rig, which is extremely becoming to aome girls and positively disfiguring to others. The combination of lace and ribbons continues to be much in vogue. In one instance I saw a lace bodice wound around with ribbon from bust line to the waist, and then there was a loose, full bib falling from the throat to meet the ribbon corselet. The effect on a fine figure is altogether charming. In the matter of sleeves, I may say that the upward tendency has completely disappeared. Now they either droop down toward the elbow or stand out in a straight line from the shoulders. Forevery-dJy wear, as general knockabouts, nothing is so pretty and inexpensive wiihal as a serge skipt aind a foulard blou-re in some light color. Some blouses are made in accordionpleated crepe de chine and so cut as to overhang the waist line, with a lace yoke at the throat and the satne pleated effect in the full upper sleeves. The omnipre ; ent Eton jacket in blue serge looks very tak ng over an accordionpleated blouse of heliotrope crepe de chine. ; Copyrighted, 1892. ' Moderation is tbe , father ot health, cheerfulness, and old age. Excess has so large a family that wo cannot remember the” names of onehalf of them. However, disease, debt, dishonor, destri.c ion and death are among them—not ihe mostklioper ful household in the world.

GAUDEN PARTY CCSTUME.

FOULARD AND LACE.

EMPIRE GOWN.

VERY DIKE A BOY.