Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1912 — IN VOGUE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN VOGUE

TAFFETA’S MANY USES MATERIAL IS THE MOST POPULAR OF THE SEASON. Two-Color Gowns Much In Vogue— Semblance of' Severity One of the Smartest Features of the New Season. Taffeta has a prominent place among the new materials, -although the modern brands of this silk bear little resemblance to the old. The choicest qualities, especially those in old blues and pinks, have a luminous surface as if they had been slightly faded by moonbeams. Shot taffeta, or changeable taffeta, as we called it in other days, has a special vogue, costumes in this sort being trimmed generally with the colors. There are gowns entirely of taffeta, taffeta coats, taffeta hats and trimmings of taffeta

on chiffon, lace, net and every other thin fabric used. The veiling dresses, taffeta trimmed, are mosteffectlve, thebandißbrbtherbrnamentations being put on with close machine stitching. * , The illustration shows a dress quite plain, yet this severity is one of the smartest features of the new season. The toilet, which Is for medium dressy use, is of shot taffeta in gray and blue and plain gray veiling. The cording used upon the bodice and long tunic is made of the veiling and silk com-

bined —two narrow pipings twisted together—while th? frilling at the neck is of plain white silk mulL This would be an admirable design for a cloth or satin street dress, and*lf liked a peplum could be added to the waist. If the cording seems too difficult for a veiling wait and tunic, a bias of the taffeta could take its place. One of the most extraordinary uses of taffeta is its employment on odd chiffon bodices and on all such waists in filmy materials as would be worn with fine tailored suits. The silk and chiffon are blended together in the most patchy ways, one part of the waist being of one material and the rest in the other. There is no rule for the dividing line; the bottom of the waist may be of the taffeta, or only the sleeves and belt and peplum, for these old-time little tails are as plentiful as blackberries in August. One stunning bodice seen recently was of white chiffon and black taffeta, with which had been thrown in some wisps of black chantilly and delicate silver embroideries, , But the chiffon part of the waist,, the white, was absolutely without a touch of garniture, and so such parts looked singular Indeed with the fussiness elsewhere. On a waist of plain cream silk net over a thin gold tissue, taffeta in half a dozen different colors had been used to make a daisy trimming, the flowers minute and massed together so that their form was lost in a riot of color. Bulgarian feds, blues, greens and purples and golds flashed richly from this unique decking, which appeared only on the wide sleeves of the waist and in a brooch of immense dimensions . that held the bodice at the bust. When making over an old evening dress or one in any thin, pretty fabric with which this silk would blend, a bit of new taffeta will come in finely for shoulder braces, belts, peplums and pipings. A short taffeta eeat, with a frilling below the belt and three-quarter sleeves—this to be worn With any dress of a smartish nature—is another device for the use of this fairly inexpensive and very smart material. At any rate one must have something of taffeta this spring, if it is no more than a cart wheel in a hat, or else be behind the times. We are going to have a taffeta madness, and it has already begun. MARY DEAN.

Dress of Shot Gray and Blue Taffeta and Plain Gray Veiling.