Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1894 — MIDWINTER MILLINERY. GOWNS AND GOWNING. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MIDWINTER MILLINERY.

GOWNS AND GOWNING.

WOMEN GIVE MUCH ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY WEAR. Brief Glances at Fancies Feminine, Frivolous, Mayhap, and Yet Offered In the Hope that the Reading May Prove Restful to Wearied Womankind. Gossip from Gay Gotham. New York correspondence:

TREET dresses are often made of velF vet; that is, the dresses which are HJk distinctly for pajHpk rade purposes, or Jr IS which are worn at the afternoon lecture, the matinee \ jr or at church. This, \ Jof course, does not \ I include the shopI a ping gown, for the n fj really elegant wom- |// an does no shopI I ping. She leaves ifw the purchasing of materials to her dressmaker and designer. Many ladies with trustee! maids

send orders through them or depend upon their selection. Nowhere except on horseback does a woman’s figure and style show to such advantage as on the street. Gowns for this wear are distinct from those for traveling or for the carriage. They are a distinct branch of outdoor gown. Under this general head is included the street or walking gown, the carriage dress, more delicate, longer and more elaborate and intended for the daily drive, or for calling when the closed carriage is

used. The traveling gown is extreme in its severity and the shopping dress is almost equally plain of cut. but may be made in a greater variety of colors and materials. Shopping trips are rare occasions with the wearer of the dress in the initial picture, but she nevertheless called it a shopping gown. Black velvet was its material and the panel was moss green satin embroidered with silk in a slightly pale shade. The bottom of the skirt as well as the edges that lie against the panels were embroidered with jet, as shown. The skirt was lined with silk, was three and a half yards wide, and a hemp cord came in the bottom hem. The lining of the bodice hooked in front and the embroidered yoke and draped plastron hooked over. The epaulette garniture was also fastened to the plastron and effectually hid the mode of closing the bodice. The epaulette collarette was slit at the shoulders in consequence. The yoke was also put in back and was finished by the collarette, which, as well as the edges of the bretelles, was embroidered with jet. It will be seen that the use to which the street gown is put is limited to oc-

casions not properly covered by either the traveling, shopping or carriage

gown. In its construction the richest materials may be employed, while there must be more or le. s "severity of cut and finish. If velvet is used, it is better made with great simplicity, as with a coat having full skirts added a skirt clearing the ground and quite Elain. The coat should be doublereasted. or made in cossack fashion, fastening at the side. Cloth may be combined with fur or leather and may be shot with silk or in changeable basket effects. Silk may be used in combination with fur. A richness of material not permissible in the shopping

gown ana a simplicity of design not required in the carriage costume is the requisite medium. The shopping gown is either black, brown, or stone color. It may be as plain as you like and manifestly designed to avoid conspicuous modishness in any way. That you may not be mistaken for an ordinary person, however, the rustle of the silken lining must be very crisp, and the fit absolutely perfect. There must not be extraordinary braiding or finishing in the way of trimming. The matinee gown is a variety of the street dress, but it need not be either plain of cut or material. A particularly stylish example is to be seen in the second picture. Made of blue cloth its bell skirt is ornamented with three bands of marten, a fourth encircles the hips, the V points of the fur appear back and front, and collar and cuffs are likewise trimmed. The front of the skirt is oddly trimmed with satin ribbon, as shown. The carriage gown is of the richest materials and it may employ a startling fashion or design of color with perfect impunity. The present season compels the use of fur in so many cases that the elegance-of effect is usually made in the cloak rather than in the dress. The carriage gown of the warmer season may rival the house gown and the reception toilet for ornate and delicate effect. The traveling dress should always be plain, of course, and those materials which show dirt the least are at once the most sensible and fashionable. A model which is extremely plain and yet which presents an attractively novel cut of bodice is shown. The fabric used is brown woolen cloth

and the skirt is entirely plain. The double-breasted bodice buttons at the right armhole and its short fronts show the bottom of a chamois waistcoat. The leg-o'-mutton sleeves have wing epaulettes, bodice fronts, cuffs and skirt hem are finished with machine stitching, the only other ornamentation about the dress being a bit of feather trimming about the high collar. Besides these sorts of outdoor gowns there are dresses fdr especial occasions. Skating dresses are designed with an almost theatric view to effect. Gowns for wear at exhibitions of outdoor sports have all the elegance of the carriage gown and a suggestion of the skating gown in the bizarre effects sought. The church toilet is perhaps a class of gowns that should be given a place by itself. It may display all the elegance of the calling dress with a subdued effect in color. A pair of stylish walking dresses are pictured together. One of them is a cloth costume with a draped skirt showing an underskirt of moire silk and having wide revers of the same. The other includes a plain skirt of colored cloth and velvet bodice and sleeves. The bodice is trimmed with a broad, reverlike band of fur, and a jabot of creamy lace falls from the throat. If the overskirt must come, it can assume few prettier shapes than that of the first of this rair. Copyright, 189*.

CONTRASTED PROMENADERS.

FOR AN AFTERNOON AT THE TREATER.

TWO NEW COATS

FOR JOURNEYINGS.