Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1894 — CAPES ARE IN STYLE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CAPES ARE IN STYLE.

THEY’RE ALL THE OO FOR EVENING TOILETS. Especially Conrenlent for Theater*-Goer* —Hade la Many Style* and of Any Suitable Material—Two Promenade Coalman** —Skirt Without a Seam. Mode* In the Metropolis. New York pomapondence:

APES are the favorite wear for the theater costumes, and nothing is more important than the right sort of a wrap for these toilets. It needs to be something warm, it must be loose, that the draperies worn beneath it may not be crushed, and it should be prettily a part of the costume and yet not ornate enough to attract undue attention if the wearer reaches the theater by the cars. By many the street cars are

used for transportation to evening engagements, and besides, in these hard times when cab bills are the first to seem extravagant, many a woman may wish to economize in them without giving up altogether the custom of making a dressy appearance at the play-house. The cape slips on and off easily, and the outside may be of some dark rioh shade that will be quiet enough to suit the most fastidious, while the lining may be of a bright color and a rich material that shows vividly when the cape lies over the back of the seat and makes part of the effect of the costume. In the initial picture there is shown a dainty little cape, made of woolen ottoman and worn over a costume made of changeable silk and trimmed with lace and C'l passementerie. The yoke and ice of the wrap are of a contrasting shade of velvet, and the whole is linea with ouilted satin and garnished with two riDbon bands around the bottom with rosette bow and long ends of the same In front. The medicl collar is edged with swan’s down, which also trims the edges of the yoke. For the richer trade, ermine capes are much in vogue. These are invariably put on a yoke, that is, one with the high collar. Of late the skirts have been so arranged that the tails or points of black form spiral lines about the cape. Where the whole garment is not of ermine, and we are not all millionaires, the yoke and collar alone are, and the cape part is of seal, French seal, or even of velvet. Ermine is

even more economically employed as rovers or shoulder frills outlining the yoke, yoke and cape in such case being both of the darker fur or velvet. When velvet is the material of the gown, the dress is itself warm enough to mate a heavy or long wrap unnecessary. ’There are stunning little collarettes scarcely more than the yoke of a cape would be. These are, to tell the truth, made of odds and ends of fur, several different kinds being blended in the construction of one of these butterfly things. This seems to make no difference in the cost, however, and one of these collarettes costs almost as much as a long cloak. They come in the usual combination of sealskin and ermine, with astrakhan set into the seal in a series of points. Lace is added to these collarettes with curious effect. An especially beautiful one was of seal, with a very high ermine battlemented collar. From under the lower battlements a rich flounce of yellow lace escaped. The third picture in this column displays a rich and handsome theater wrap made of white cashmere with designs in different shades of Oriental colors. It Is lined with quilted white broche silk, and trimmed about the bottom, at the neck and down the front with bands of Mongolian goat. In the second illustration there is a black Bilk coat, the neck and fronts trimmed with bear and a muff of that skin accompanying. The garment is further ornamented by a handsome jet trimming. With its full, loose sleeves this coat has many of the advantages of a cape without the latter’s disadvantages. Of course, any handsome fur could replace the bearskin. A povelty Is the theater boa, which is very large and thick, of feathers or fur, and attached to it is a deep frill of fur or velvet that forms a cape over the

shoulders and back and a jabot to each side of .boa in front. 'Another novelty is a cape formed of two deep points of satin of bright hue and covered with lace. These pointi fit down the front and back, to tne waist line and out over the shoulders. A shoulder piece of fur is arranged so full at each shoulder that it hapgs to either side over the

arm, and may or may not be secured by buttons to the side of the points. When left free, the fur part can be thrown from the arms without replacing the entire garment. Where does all the money oome from? First, we must all dress in blue for the street; then fashion positively says brown; then black is the only correct thing. _ Whatever is decreed to be correct, it does not last long enough to give a woman with a desire for economy a chance to wear out her dress of one color by the time another is commanded. Now, in the fourth illustra» tion there appears a gown of dark green and greenish red changeable woolen suiting. Green was a short time ago the correct thing for street wear, but brown pushed it hard in popular favor, and finally passed it, and is now the accepted out o’ doors color. This gown is planned as a visiting drop, and is trimmed with red moire antique, which is taken for panel and plastron. The bell skirt has no seam, as the panel divides the edges, and one side is left open for the sift, which is closed with hooks and eyes. The edges in front are faced with watered silk and ornamented with buttonholes that hold small red buttons spun with wide meshes of green silk. The bodice fronts are folded surplice fashion, and the circular basque is lined with red silk and faced with a narrow bias fold of moire. The belt hooks in front and

is ornamented with two rows of buttons and imitation buttonholes made of red silk cord. The collarette has a round yoke open in front and trimmed with imitation buttonholes and button-!, and is finished with a circular frill scalloped with red silk at the edge and lined with red. The sleeves have a deep cuff, buttoning up the inner seam, and big boll puffs, and the cuffs open over a watered silk panel inserted in the upper arm. A pair of hand-some walking dresses are shown in the last cut. At the left there is a dress of blue Scotch mixture. The round bodice closes on the shoulder and under the loft arm. It has pointed revers of red satin, edged with fur, and the short basaues and standing collar are made of the same shade of satin and also edged with fur. The bell skirt is garnished with a scalloped band made of bias red satin, the scallops finished with fur. Tne smaller scallops on the standing collar and the top of the band around the skirt are piped with black velvet. Mode colored cloth comprises the other dress. The bodice is made of satin and hooks at the shoulder and under the arm. It is garnished with bolero fronts of mode cloth caught in the center with a full ribbon rosette, forms a round decollete in back and is edged with fur that stops at tne top of tne bolero in front, each fur end being finished with a long bow and streamers of satin ribbon. The puffed sleeves, have a deep plush cuff of the same shade as the fur. The bottom of the bell skirt is garnished with a deep plush band edged with festoons made of two bands of ribbon held in place with full ribbon rosettes. Not even the wearers themselves know how much their dresses depend on pad for fit. Most dressmakers pretend they do not use pads, for it hurts a customer’s vanity to know that she is being made lovely by such means, and it does not increase her good opinion of her dressmaker. The really wise dressmaker makes her customer lovely no

matter how slab-sided she is, and lets the poor woman think it all “clever lit” and the excellent emphasis the wonderful modiste has given to all the “good points.” Pads are inserted between the dross and its lining and do not appear on the inside of the gown. Hair is usually worn, and in case of a great deal being used the modiste always tells the slab-sided deceived one that the gown must be brought back to be taken in a little if it stretches. This means that the pads are to be renewed when they get hard. But little Miss Slab-sides does not know this, and it is just as well she should not. Some dressmakers use excelsior, which is beautifully light and changes verylittle. It is a queer thing that women nearly always believe they have a good figure, and that the gown that makes them look the best is the gown that best fits them, instead of the gown that is the most carefully and artistically padded. Just now pads are much used bn the outer round of the shoulder and a little down the arm. This gives a sloping effect to the shoulders which delights the woman, and she finds it ndt at all difficult to believe that her anatomy has altered itself in that way. Hips are almost always padded, and under the arms where almost all women are a little hollow, and where a little fulness does so much toward making the bust seem big and the waist small, which constitutes a good figure according to the modern way of thinking. The properly proportioned woman is wider at the hips than she is at the shoulders, ""but now the fashion is making women seem much wider at the shoulders than anywhere ehe. Wo all like,it. too. What is proportion compared to fashion: Copyright, 1891.

The victoria regia was taken from Guiana to England tn 1838.

AS BAGGY AS A MAN S COAT.

A FLARING WRAP.

A SKIRT WITHOUT A SEAM.

TWO PROMENADERS.