Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 83, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1912 — FASHION'S PARADE ON EASTER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FASHION'S PARADE ON EASTER

-6 - * EjTHOTJ(JtH Easter, more than ML any other holiday of the year, mSL may be said to be a worldwide festival and is celebrab; ed in one way or another In scores of different count Hes, there is one phase of Blaster observance which may be said to be strictly American — American in origin andAmerlean In development, inasmuch as few other countries *2m|P have copied this phase of Yankee life. This unique feaiw*' "ture of the Joyous is fashion's parade on Easter — on Easter morning we came pretty near saying, but that would be incorrect since the annual fyahinn parade is no longer restricted to the morning hour’s of the most significant holiday on the church calendar. Fashion’s parade on Blaster merely means, of course, the ceremonial display of clothes, brand new clothes of course, and more important yet, new hats. Blaster has attained a . position of pre-eminence as the one occasion above all others in the whole year when it is incum bent upon all those (V« who essay to be well Vvf\\C- , dressed to make their appearance in new and distlnctive styles. Insofar as - Dame Fashion is concerned Easter Sunday, on what- ■ q ever date it falls, is ac- JH|g; ’ counted the first day of spring—the occasion of /|j|. .. the "spring opening” of the wearers of costumes |syLj([ - "N calculated to cause com- (plK'. ment. Therefore, even though the temperature, by some freak of nature, be "3® close to zero, milady who ” Jill desires to observe the con. ventlons will appear on Easter morning in all the nA\K v flory of the newest creatlons of milliners and dressmakers. She may be JHTyt2/P7V2E tempted to shiver in the \irrr'jrx%?. chilly blasts of an early Easter, but her pride in her new finery can usually be relied upon to help her combat the icy winds. A movement was started some years ago to induce the women of the United States to unite in robbing Easter Sunday of its significance as a “field day” for the new fashions. According to the new mandate it was no{ to be considered “good form” for a woman to appear on Easter resplendent in fresh additions to her wardrobe. She might display her new treasures—for, of what use would nice clothes be to a woman if she could not show them—on the Sunday preceding Blaster or on.the Sunday following Easter or at any other time, but the custom was to be decried of turning Easter into a grand review for marshaling the newest i products of the dressmakers, the bootmakers and the milliners. the new plan was all very well in theory, but the persons who suggested it evidently did not figure on the persistency with which the daughters of the republic can cling to a cherished prerogative. The American women simply declined to abandon their Easter fashion parade and consequently the season’s surprises in now raiment continue to be as Indespenßable adjuncts to a regulation Easter observance as are the Easter lilies and the Easter eggs. The credit for the preservation of the traditions of the Blaster fashion parade is given to the women because it is the members of the fair sex who both as spectators and participants are the most numerous and most enthusiastic supporters of the function. At the same time it would be idle to insinuate that many of the opposite sex have not succumbed to the influence of the Blaster dress parade. Among the male contingent there is a brave representation of spring overcoats and spring suits, that make their appearance for the first time, but the one pre-eminent touch which proclaims the occasldn is the array of new collars mid ties. Some men there may ibe, who, because of prejudice or pocketbook, will not Indulge themselves in the new conceits of the tailors on Easter, but there are none who need forego the Indespensable of a novelty in neckwear. As has been said, fashion’s parade on Blaster marches up and down the entire land. Thfre are some famous Blaster fashion parades in the United States, notably the one on Fifth avenue, New York, and the one on the Boardwalk at Atlantic City, but there is scarce a city or town or village from Maine to California or from Michigan to Texas that does not enjoy its nrn Easter panorama—particularly if the community is not so small that there are no church services to act as an Incentive to draw forth the birds of plumage. And just here. It may be noted in wonder, that such is the perfection of our modern system of fashion distribution that the Easter parade in the most remote town affords proof that her feminine residents are little behind New York and even Paris in the main essentials of the “new styles.” While on this phase of the subject it may be remarked that very few of the fashionable panders In the Easter throngs realise how farreaching have been the preparations for thU

display and how far back, in point of time, have extended the preliminaries for the burst of glory. Milady may not even realize that the milliners who "did” her hat have been working literally night and day for a fortnight before Easter and that the delivery boy who distributed the “confections” of lace and ribbons, had precious little sleep on Easter eve. But the trail of preparation goes yet farther back. It extends as far as fascinating Paris, where all the styles originate and where the ammunition for the Easter broadside was * matter of concern to hundreds of designers and seamstresses and bonnet makers and flower workers in the days when you and I were busy with Christmas preparations. There Is usually at least three or four months between the in-

ceptlon of a costume idea in Paris and the realization of the “dream” in America and consequently American dressmakers and milliners were paying hundreds of dollars for advance information regarding the Easter styles and furtive peeps gs the new Easter hats ere the prospective wearers in America had - commenced to bother their heads on the subject. The traditional hour for the Blaster fashion .parade is after the morning church service and this time continues the accepted interval in most communities. It is, for instance, in the interim from twelve to one o’clock that one sees the impressive procession of gorgeouslygowned women and correctly-attired men

which renders Fifth avenue, New York, memorable on this occasion. So to in most of the smaller cities the church hour is accounted the logical time for fashion’s review because there Is nothing to call forth the population en masse at any other time in the day—Unless it be, mayhap, to evening church service when, of course, It is too dark to have fanciful toilettes appear to the best advantage. In some of our cities, however, notably In the national capital. It has come about that In recent years there are in effect two fashion 1 parades on Easter. The first is held, as above mentioned, at the conclusion of the morning church service, but the newer and more popular promenade comes late In the afternoon, wheh well dressed people of all ages traverse the principal residential* thoroughfares inspired by a frank Interest In their fellow-beings and their raiment. The mom- -- ing fashion parade finds almost, everybody afoot IgfOJ if the weatber be at all jjq pleasant, but in the “moving picture” that Is -vs -•• Bp on view from 3:30 to 5 o’clock in the afternoon a considerable proporw| tlon of the paraders are in vehicles, open carJ.A riages and motor cars J. f t Mil having the preference. "'J’ < - Each mode of locomotion ' ‘* v has its advantages from KPsJt/ the Standpoint of the SBBSBBSBB’ '1 / Easter paraders. Those j'.’l-Blllliy afoot have the best MBBgKjfeijj! i@r chance to be seen, whereas those In motors or carriages have the best wi opportunities to see, and since the aim antj object of this fashion parade is 1 1 that its devotees may see and be seen it will be realized tbat It is virtually a standoff between those who walk and those who ride. In point of numbers participating, easily the greatest Easter fashion parade in America is that which takes place on this eventful day on the Boardwalk at Atlantic City. People flock from all sections of the country to the New Jersey resort. They come, many of them will tell you, because Atlantic City is supposed to have a mild and equable spring climate, but the real reason in most instances is a realisation that the “natural study of mankind is man” and that here may be found a- greater assemblage of representatives of the human race that) at any other Easter mecca on this side of the Atlantic. There are sometimes aa many as 100,000 people in the Blaster parade at Atlantic pity and they devote themselves to marching and countermarching on that live-mile elevated esplanade because there Is little else to do at Atlantic City at Easter when it is, of course, too cold for sea bathing. The Atlantic City parade of fashion starts in the morning, though it is not timed to accord with church services, for the simple reason tbat only a small proportion of the Easter visitors to Atlantic City take time to 'attend divine worship on this day of days. Instead they spend their time on the great wooden high-way-walking or riding in those odd and iasy wheeled chairs pushed by porters or propelled by tricycles. At Atlantic City also there is another fashion parade in the afternoon, though to be strictly accurate we should not say “another.” In reality it is a continuation* of the same grand march of the gaudy dressers. How any of thsm manage to get lunch is a mystery, for the crowd on the Boardwalk never suffers any diminution from mid-morn to dusk, and indeed this spectacular continuous performance even goes on after the electric bulbs are aglow and Blaster promenaders in other cities have long since sought their own firesides. _