Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 276, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1916 — Both Costly and Stately [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Both Costly and Stately

Two Elements That Mark the New Fashions That Come From Paris.

DAY OF THE TALL WOMAN

She la No Longer Compelled to Wear the Extremely Abbreviated Skirt of the Last Three Year*— Evening Gowns Have Dignity.

New York. —Any observant person glancing over the masses of women gathered in the large centers would not say that there was any lack of new autumn dressing. Hundreds of new gowns were worn, and winter hats made their appearance in mid-Septem-ber, but the burden of the dressmakers’ plaint was that’these models were, as a rule, bought from the shops at reasonable prices and that the expensive gowns which cost them such an amazing sum of money were neglected. The early autumn was perplexing in regard to fashions. No expert who saw behind the scenes can deny it. If America had not been peculiarly prosperous, if the stock market had not been turning fnen into millionaires with a rapidity that took the breath away, the situation would have been tragic to the importers. You see, the prices in Paris have never reached such a height In the history of women’s clothes. That’s a big statement, but on reading the itemized bills that were made by the women of Europe during the first and

second empire, and also before the French revolution under the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, it is quite possible that the statement can stand without argument Cite Higher Cost of Materials. France excused herself on the plea that material was so costly to produce that the designers had to put out an Immense amount of capital to secure the right fabrics to create gowns that the Americans would buy. She insists that she did not make more than her usual percentage out of the more than two thousand models which she offered to the American public in August. If you wonder why half the matrons In the country are smiling as they come out of the dressmaking places and shops, it is because their day in dress has come. We will now be stately in the evening. This does not mean that one shall Instantljrrelax vigilance over the flesh. Double chins, a pad at the back of the neck, rounded hips and a thickened diaphragm, are no more desirable now than they were six months ago. .The doctors have made so much of this fight against c flesh, approving of it in its moderate form and urging it upon every woman in the name of health, that it is not probable that we shell let the figure grow old merely because the fashions have changed. There are so many reasons for keeping slim these days that every woman is provided with a good one. It may be the mere feminine desire to be fashionable, or It may be the extreme reason advanced by one woman at a dinner the other night, who said: “The doctors say that it is necessary to keep slim because, if one is operated on, the less fat the knife has to go through, the better.” To the shocked inqHry of the other woman as to whether she expected an immediate operation, she said: “Oh, no; I have nothing the matter with me as far as I know, but everyone is

operated on these days, and I'm always keeping myself in condition for it” i-. The day of the flapper will never be over, for all the world loves youth, and to be young and to look young will be the whip over every woman until another race of being follows this one. But as much as is spoken on this subject, there are thousands of wqmen who prefer to be stately than absurd and who have found the last three years excessively difficult for them, willy-nilly, upon even the strong-minded women who had resolved to look dignified at the expense of fashion.

Adapted Themselves to Fashion. Short SK’rts in the evening were comfortable because dancing was tli<* universal recreation, but when short skirts left the length demanded by the fox trot and almost reached the length demanded by the ballet, It was necessary to do something strange in the way of a new fashion. • America produced an entire race of women to meet these now gowns, It would seem, for the tall, Anglo-Saxon type has felt like a giant among Lilliputians, like a well-clothed woman against a native Hawaiian, In the clothes which she selected. Where all the little women came from, gracious knows, and how they all reduced themselves to the consistency of planked shads and the sinuosity of French eels, is a matter for the student of the human race, and not the student of dress. The first feature of the new fashions that causes the smile on the tall woman's face, Is the introduction of the train. She Is quite aware that

this appendage, as Callot uses it, does not increase her dignity; it heightens her absurdity if she allows herself to wear it in its original form. The Callot evening gowns are drawn so high in the front that more than half of the leg shows against a background formed by the train. This trick is too theatrical for any woman except one employed in a chorus that brings out a fantastic sartorial effect. Not for American Woman. Callot does not intend it to be worn by the American woman. She has tried this skirt for season after season and It is always filled in with a flounce of lace, tulle or metal. With the exception of a few eccentricities, all the evening* gowns present a stately effect and give a vivid impression of dignity. They hang in straight lines down the figure, it is true, and have not a regulation waistline, but the absence of frivolity and the presence of ecclesiastical needlework, touch up each frock with a ceremonial aspect. Infrequently, in the new evening gowns, one sees a way of escape from needlework for the woman who does not wish to adopt it. Its expense is against it, where the majority of women are concerned. It is not possible to get this kind of needlework cheaply done, and all manner of bullion threads and colored crystals have advanced in price. The dressmakers are already substituting cheaper trifles for these costly ones, as in the first place, few women will pay the original price, and in the second place, it Is difficult to get the material and workmanship in this country. However, for the satisfaction of those who like the conservative rather than the new, there Is the truth staring one pleasantly In the face that velvet satin and silk net are reckoned among the first factors in a brilliant evening gown. (Copyright by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

On the left is a black panne velvet made by Worth, which hangs in a straight line from bust to ankles, and is made gorgeous by a deep, unfitted girdle-of rhinestones arranged in lattice work and edged at the top with a narrow band of small pink roses. A suggestion of, the First Empire is given in the Napoleonic wreaths of pink roses on the skirt, with the drip, ping tassels of crystals. On the right Is an early Italian gown by Bernard called Madonna. It is as straight as a mummy case and is made of metal gauze over green chiffon. The huge flowers are of stamped silver. The deep girdle placed below the waistline is of jet beads, and there is a deep necklace made from a jef rope, which forms the shoulder strap.