Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 308, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1913 — Appropriate for the Promenade [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Appropriate for the Promenade

APART from the bewildering world of gowns in the loosely hanging styles, with voluminous and enveloping draperies and all sorts of eccentricities of construction, the tailormade survives. Well-set-up gowns for the promenade are to be seen on the best dressed women, bearing little imprint (apd sometimes none at all) of the vogue of the “sloppy styles.” Some of the refreshingly neat looking suits are severely plain, but the majority embody a skirt in which there is a little drapery and a charming coat or jacket, with an easy set to the figure. American woman is • independent enough to continue to wear an undraped skirt and a plain coat if it suits her style best. A plentiful sprinkling of them appears in any concourse of fashionable people. But the most successful and pleasing suits are those in which the style features of the prevailing mode have made themselves felt to the extent of doing away with severe lines.

Such a suit is pictured here on the smartly gowned lady dressed for a promenade. It is of brocaded eponge, in a dark paprika shade, worn with a small black hat and an unspotted ermine muff. There is a border of ermine on the collar. In passing, one should note that a touch of fur in the costume, as a trimming, worn with a muff to match, is just about the latest and most successfur of fashion’s fancies. At the New York horse show there was a liberal spffnkling of gowns in which this combination proved itself most effective. In one costume of sage green satin and chiffon had a shawl collar of spotted ermine, with muff to match. The hat was an Oriental turban of black velvet. Over the gown an enveloping coat concealed the ermine collar entirely when the wearer took her pretty and richly clad, petite body homeward. The advantage in this management of furs lies in having the gown harmonize with the muff, rather than the

outside wrap. Milady removes her wrap, but continues to wear her lux* urioUs muff for afternoon tea or reception or other social event. -

The street suit shown here has a small waistcoat of net and chiffon, with wide girdle of the material in the dress. The draped skirt has the effect of a piece of goods wrapped about the figure and adjusted to it’ with a few pleats at the back and side front. The coat has a rounded basque at, the back. . - By way of decoration nothing -is needed except what is provided in buttous covered with the fabric which appears in the gown, and the border of fur on the collar.

The sleeves are separate and sewed in, much like so many models in which the pretty kimono sleeve is featured. The beautifully adjusted rolling collar and the set-in sleeve are worthy of special mention in this costume. Especially the slender woman should appreciate how well the revers and collar of the coat, the full soft vest and the wide girdle amplify and add graciousness to a figure inclined to meagerness.

• As to the hat, like about ninety-nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand among those worn at present,- it is small, with a novel brim and soft crown, and is made of black velvet. The plume in this instance repeats the color of the gown, thereby departing from thp rule of all-black, which would have been quite as effective with the costume,

While the popularity of the all-black hat makes a concourse of fashionable women look somewhat somber, there was flever any millinery so generally useful. Some women have several different trimmings, which they put on and off the shape at pleasure. This provides variety, but the all-black hat is appropriately worn with any costume.

JULIA BOTTOMLEY.