Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 256, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1916 — ALONG FASHION'S CHANGING TRACK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ALONG FASHION'S CHANGING TRACK

On the left is a frock of dull satin with flounced skirt edged with a border of metal lace. »n the center is a gown of black satin with plaited skirt and short jacket of blue velvet edged with white fur. On the right is a gown of blue gaberdine with bodice trimmed with soutache braid and a girdle of black satin. ,

Will the Directoire Become th Choice of the Important Minority? IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION Skirts Will Be Ankle, Instead of ShoeTop, Length, But Narrower—Lafayette and Robespierre Colors to the Front. New York.—One of the interesting phases of American fashions is to (stand by the side of the racetrack and watch a few fashions in the contest for the blue ribbon of popularity. This race usually occurs in September and March. The observer considers it as a species of sartorial sport, but the men behind these fashions regard it with anxiety and deep concern. They have brought these models from Paris and they have probably risked a great deal of their money on them, and some force outside of them- . selves seems to put certain gowns and hats on this racetrack of fashion and bring them into a sharp contest. Probably the manufacturer makes his money out of this race*. If he does, he is quite content, for by the time December comes he is ready to put another set of models on the track. The high-priced dressmakers regard this race in September and March as a blessing not in disguise. Through it they are enabled to make their discard of certain gowns before the actual season opens. of fashion rarely get their autumn and winter clothes until October. If they buy early models before then, their wisdom and experience teach them that these clothes are merely stock-gaps which tide over

the interim between the faded summer finery and the new winter equipment. Will the Directoire Come? Now the puzzling question before the people who buy and sell is this: Will the Moyen-age, which was so speedily carried to popularity, become a drug in the market, and will the directoire lobm up as the choice of the minority? Will the smart women who really lead the affairs of dress decide that the high waistline, slim hips, tight shoulders and long sleeves will be the fashion of their choice, making a direct: 'contrast to the wrapper-like frock that is girdled around the hips? In France the tendency is toward the directoire and first empire. It is believed that the smart women over there have gone in for the newer line and that the waistline dropped to the hips was a follow-on of French styles that had been taken up in May and June. The belief of the experts is that the directoire will win before Thanksgiving. They believed that in Paris, and this belief has been strengthened by the action of the multitudinous masses in America in taking up the Moyenage and not looking at the directoire. However, it’s all a gamble. That’s what makes clothes and the discussion of them exceedingly interesting to those who are behind the scenes or standing at the side of the racetrack. It is not probable that the extreme, or rather pure, directoire jwill be inaugurated before February it flicker over here before that time tbA oxclnsive models that are .sent over to women who keep their orders in French houses and to those shops -whose buyers send over something different every month. Skirts to Be Longer. There would be no cause for surprise if one saw, at some time not far away, a return to the tight t skirt and the long-failed cotit with its short, ornamented front and striped waistcoats. We must turn somewhere; we have had the fashion of the moment with us for so long a time that, in things sartorial, a break is sure to come. - There is no doubt about the fact

that we will consider ankle length, rather than shoetop length, the more correct way to cut a skirt. We. may really come into the long, full, straight skirt that fails on the floor when we are dressed for the evening, but the united hopes of a nation should bar out the long skirt for the street; the accepted length is more graceful and in far better taste than that which we have exploited for a year. Long, full skirts are excessively awkward, and for that reason It is believed that the longer sk(rts. get, the narrower they will grow at the hem. New Colors to the Front. It Is evidently not to be a. season of black, although it remains as a color in first fashion and will be chosen by those who like it. But the colors of Lafayette and Robespierre are coming to the front. Our coat suits of soft velour, with their deep revers, are to be of plum color, of deep Burgundy, of bottle green and of that brown that Is like snuff with a golden tinge in it. It is not given to every woman to wear brown, and in choosing it she must be excessively careful. If she has not artistic perceptions of her own, she should call them In from the outside. That bright mustard yellow that is offered everywhere in smart suits, especially in the new satin jersey, is a most monstrous color on the wrong woman, and it should be avoided as the plague unless one is quite sure, beyond peradventure, of its success. There is something pleasing in the thought of plum color and bottle green. They are rich, warm colors, quite suitable to our sharp winters. The milliners have joined with the dressmakers to create an excellent ensemble by introducing the eighteenth-century hat with its small sloping brim and its high, soft crown. There is every reason to believe that women xan be turned out in excellent manner this winterthere is nothing capricious about the styles, and there is much that is eminently artistic. (Copyright, 1216.) _