Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 251, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1917 — Tight Skirt Is Generally Worn [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Tight Skirt Is Generally Worn

New York. —New clothes are passing before the eyes- as quickly as a vital and dramatic series of ihotion pictures. One has only sufficient mental vision to catch at the leading points as they swirl by. These things will not go' Into oblivion. They will return as do the moving films; but the world of women wants to get at the gist of the movement at this moment. The whole continent of women is buying autumn clothes. Those who preached economy, suspension of sash-

ions, standardized uniforms for women, the turning of women buyers in the industry of apparel into the work of war relief, must feel that they have preached In vain. The reel of clothes that is running off quickly before the eyes of every woman is not nearly so confining if one brings to. bear upon it a welladjusted judgment. The first impression one has is that the vital changes are few, but this impression gives way after a day or two to the feeling that the changes, whatever they are, are very important. The majority of women look at new clothes in the light of a contrast to old ones. Thbre are few women so wealthy that they do not say when they see the influx of new seasonal fashions, “If that is to be the style, I can wear my blue gown of last year.” t Lead-Pencil Figure. # There will be a hundred or more remarks like this made by the women who view the clothes of the hour. France has not changed her silhouette as much as America has. She produced the lead-pencil figure late last spring, but America takes it up this season with an enthusiasm that is usually given to what is original. ▲ few of the American designers have exaggerated the French idea. There have been certain gowns sent out by a well-known house and extensively copied by those who deal with the trade over the country, which put a woman’s figure back to where it was Si 1880. The skirt is pulled about the figure until movement is actually impeded. It has all the symptoms of the famous pull-back skirt to which the bustle was attached. That appendage is also in fashion, but made so inconspicuous that it cannot offend even the most conservative taste. Odd as it may sound, many of these pull-back skirts are longer than anything we have had for four years. They have to be of decent length, for their tendency to lift at the back and pull across the knees would bring the front hem higher than the law allows. It is mockery to refer to a law in dress, probably, in the light of what we have seen during the last two years, for what the French call “a souvenir of a skirt and a regret of a bodice” has been combined to make the average woman’s costume. However, as one reviews the skirts of the moment, there is definite reason to believe that the figure will look much as it did last spring. Trimming is lifted from skirts; the hem is often 10 inches from the ground, instead of 8; the fullness at the waistline has almost vanished; the fastening at the front or side is not tolerated. But all of these’features of fashion are merely accentuations of an accepted style. The designers have cut down to the bone, as it were, and given us all in the way of grace, cleverness and beauty after they sacrificed every inch of material that might have been superfluous. The Tunlo Persists. That the medieval chemise frock that came in with such a ringing of bells and blowing of trumpets has decided that it will continue to be a welcome

factor in fashions. There are a good many women who are tired of It, as we'are not proof against that weariness that comes from seeing one thing multiplied through every phase of our existence, and it has not been humanly possible to escape tunics since they made their appearance. There were not as many of these gowns put out by the American designers in the early trade of the season as by the French, who evidently are not in the least tired of the one garment. They have repeated it in pleasing ways. They make it in thin and in thick fabrics; they offer it as a coat, on an evening gown and as an elongated blouse for the house. The entire movement of French clothes shows this tunic coming in and out of the film. Possibly, the one new feature that is most noticeable about it is the slashing at the sides. The house of Doeuillet is credited with having started this movement. It looks well and it is part of the universal tendency in clothes to present panels from waist to ankles. There is an epidemic of these panels. They are put by every tailor and dressmaker where they do the most good or the most harm. They are Egyptian or, as some critics said, mid-McKlnley. They have allure and they have. most evil possibilities of ugliness. The selection of the good and the avoidance of the bad in this movement of dress is up to the Individual. The part of the reporter is to say that panels are übiquitous and that the tunic is slashed. A womqn with large hips cannot afford to go in for indiscriminate slashing below the waist. She should always bear in mind the fact that an open line at the sides shows the curve of her hips where it is most perceptible and often gives her a rotund look that could be easily concealed by another kind of drapery. Belt Is Important. The question of a belt on these tunics is another matter of importance. One may cair the waist drapery an accessory to the gown, but the artist and the expert dressmaker concede the fact that it is the kind of trifle that makes or mars the whole. It if well that every woman remembers this truth during the remainder of this season. She will find, as the months follow each other, that it will take all her ingenuity to deal with the extraordinary influx of belts, girdles, sashes and waist drapery of pleasant and sinister kinds. There are evening gowns that seem to be all sash. An immense piece of drapery is wielded by an artist dressmaker into a dominating featufe“Of the rock by wrapping it below the bust, at or below the waistline, then resolving it into a deep panel that drops down the length of the skirt at

This coat is of amethyst velvet, with deep, tight yoke bordered with atone marten. High collar la lined with blue satin. Cuffa 1 of fur. The gown beneath la of cream malinea lace with front and back'panels of blue satin, the back or into a bulging bow with long, fringed ends that covers the entire side of the figure. There are belts on some of the new coat suits which are almost corslets, and an accessory of this type on the ’wrong figure would turn a good looking woman into a caricature. There is a nest of belts, four or five of them, linked together by some common cord at the side and back and disposing themselves over the entire middle of the body. There are actual corslets of floriated jet, of Egyptian tissue worked in turquoise and jet beads, of black silk braid on a satin or. serge foundation, and these reach frdjn the bust to the point of the hips.with the ends adjusted by hooks and eyes or of cloth-covered buttons. - t 'A, (Copyright, 1917, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

This frock is of heavy Tokay crepe trimmed with dull brown silk braid and buttons. The underslip is very narrow, and the bodice wraps about the waist and ties at the back.