Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1913 — Oddity of the Ornaments Marks Millinery Just Now [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Oddity of the Ornaments Marks Millinery Just Now

While the Question Mark and Bulgarian colors occupy the center of the millinery stage, feather manufacturers have taken advantage of their popularity. There is really no end to <he number of small, brilliant and curious novelties and odd feather pieces. They are pretty, and one might almost call some of them amusing. They stand up with a saucy air on the small close-fitting shapes for spring. f' Besides the question mark there is a class of decorative pieces made of feathers (and often of other millinery material's) called the Mephisto ornaments. Long, slender, curving quills or ribs of quills without any pretentions to beauty, which suggest the antennae of a butterfly, or fine, incisive horns. Nature provides such ad-

ditions to plumage; their long, hard fibers, curling at the ends, appear among the beautiful, soft feathers of the bird of paradise. 2 Besides these odd ornaments there is a great liking for the queer plumage called humidi. It is long and straggling and dyed into many colorings and shadings. The original color, in a dark taupe, is very rich. It combines with coque de roche with fine effect. There is a great demand for it, which promises to become greater. Its price is soaring. But in a season when flowers are as well liked as feathers and when every day brings out some novelty of note, it is not safe to predict that any one item will outshine all the others. JULIA BOTTOMLEY.