Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 148, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1917 — SIMPLICITY IN CLOTHES SOUGHT [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SIMPLICITY IN CLOTHES SOUGHT

Women Eliminate Appearance of Waste and Extravagance in Their Frocks. ECONOMY HYSTERIA SUBSIDES Idea Now Followed Is Not to Deprive Seamstresses of Their Livelihood • but to Avoid All Unnecessary Display. New York. —-In talking- to a dressmaker of importance, whose bills to the rich women run into thousands each season, anent this current topic of economy in clothes, she said that she had found less economy among all classes than a strong desire to wear clothes that did not express money. Simplicity may be very costly, as we all know, was her further explanation, and women were paying good prices for their summer apparel, but they made a strong demand that

it should take upon itself the appearance of costing little. A black satin dinner frock, for instance, built in draped lines, with a bit of good lace at the neck, or merely a distinctive turnover collar of black and white tulle arranged in a modest decolletage, may have cost as much as a black and gold brocade of last season, trimmed with tulle and metal and draped in a daring way that focussed the attention. But the effect of economy was there. The majority of women think that any undue display of apparel is in bad taste. They feel that the amount of money they pay for their clothes is a private and personal matter; but that any visible and outward display of the high cost of the gown is a public matter, and one that the public has a right to criticize. The question of food is handled in much the same way. If you have been to anyone of the three-course dinners given by the rich women of the country, you may have had to go home and take soda mint to forestall indigestion. There are three courses; against that there is no discussion. The quantity of food that can be put into three courses forms the interesting part of this subject, but, mind you, the food is not expensive and it is not elaborately prepared. The effect on the one who dines is that the inner man is satisfied with nourishing food perfectly cooked.

Onions and potatoes may cost a good deal; rice may have gone up in price; chops may be much higher than mushrooms with a French sauce; but who can gainsay the effect of severe simplicity in the serving of this type of- food? Just what the women who serve three courses have done to their cookery Is what the women of wealth have done to their clothes. See Effect of Economy. After the first hysteria of war economy was over, women saw its foolishness in regard to apparel. A few facts sufficed to give them a different attitude. When several dozen seamstresses had their engagements canceled for the spring season and were at their wits’ end to know how to pay the rent food, the women who engaged these seamstresses to come to their houses each season, quickly saw that it was better to pay wages than to give to charity. When hundreds of gowns were thrown back on dressmakers’ hands, on the plea that there would be no money to pay for such extravagance, and the dressmakers were compelled to hold sweeping sales that undervalued whatever clothes the rich women had already bought, a new idea concerning economy was born in the brains of wealthy women. Th-< second movement on the part of masses of women was then directed toward providing money for those who worked, and at the same time eliminating the appearance of waste and extravagance. " The sane idea worked welf in both directions; it kept the workers em-

Here is an artistic negligee. It is of lapis lazuli crepe, with an overdrapery of ecru lace arranged into full sleeves held by a bracelet of blue beads.

ployed and gave them sufficient money on which to live; and it did not offend. the public. No one wants to appear frivolous or unthinking in a crisis like this. When women are dressed in gold or silver, in jeweled trappings and in precious gems, that vast public that Ms thinking only of how to live and how to sacrifice, might begin to murmur those terrible sentences of the French people tn the revolution. It is the appearance of extravagance, therefore, that women should avoid in these times of stress. Let them spend rfs liberally for apparel as they can afford, but let all women follow the lead of the wealthy and conservative set and see to it that their clothes reflect this great hour in dignity, seriousness and simplicity. It is interesting, to know that Germany is the first of the belligerents to put a restriction on the amount of wearing apparel for each person. The imperial clothing office has fixed the amount of garments that each man or woman may buy or possess during the year. This , office also limits the amount of material which may be used in the making of a gown or a suit No one may purchase a yard of material or a single garment without a special permit. It is also interesting to know what imperial Germany thinks is sufficient in the way of clothing for one woman —two everyday frocks, one Sunday frock, one separate skirt, two blouses, one coat or cape, one shawl, one dressing gown, three aprons, one pair of gloves, a half dozen handkerchiefs, four chemises, three nightgowns, three combinations or bloomers, three petticoats and four pairs of stockings. Clothes That Appear Well.

It is the comment of all dressmakers that they are compelled to sell gay clothes at half the price of solemn ones. This should be a guide to all those who are preparing to plan the summer wardrobe. There is no idea of- substituting black for all colors, as there was in France at th? beginning ot the war, for we’re not facing an invading army and burying masses of our dead. Yet, women are choosing frocks with only a bit of white, or Chinese brocade, to enliven them; and beige, sand, white and dull plaids are preferred to red, blue, green and purple. The woman who may have chosen a cloth of gold brown with a tunic over it for last summer, will today choose a frock of white satin with a bit of black tulle at neck and arms, and a girdle of ribbon velvet with a rhinestone buckle. She may pay as much for the one as for the other, but she takes her place in the world with more dignity in the latter than in the former frock. Women dine and dance at restaurants as much as they did last season, but instead of choosing the excessively decollete gowns that have been fashionable, they prefer to be seen in frocks of silk and tulle, or lace, that are high at the back and transparent, and have long, transparent sleeves. There is a woman who pays $25 apiece for her gingham frocks made at an excellent house, and for that high price she could get satin or embroidery jersey; but she wants to do

her bit toward that dressmaker by keeping the young girls on salaries during the summer and, at the same time, giving the appearance of simplicity. ' ' A number of smart women who lead the styles have taken up striped outing cloth for sports suits, and they have succeeded in giving it character and dash. This ordinary material is made into a plaited skirt and blouse and trimmed with bands of scallops overcast with a buttonhole stitch. There is a turnover collar of white cambric, and a high, soft belt of colored suede. They are also' making sports Jackets of this outing flannel, trimming It with broad bands of linen ot taffeta, to match the color of the stripes. (Copyright, 1917, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

In this chtrry-rlpe frock for a flirt the skirt is of white pique, the waist of thin white lawn, and the red cherries that dot the, surface are made In cross-stitch design. —