Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 278, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1917 — FRENCH CORSET IS STRAIGHT [ARTICLE]

FRENCH CORSET IS STRAIGHT

Corselet Effect Is Dominating Feature of Majority of Frocks—High Collars, Skimpy Skirts Popular. Paris has accentuated the endeavor to make the human figure look like a lead pencil. The French corsets of this season are built as straight ds a medieval cuirass, says a fashion writer in the New York Times. The corselet effect, in truth, is the dominating feature of the majority of frocks. The First Empire •waistline is brought in by many of the designers tn order to accentuate the lack of a waist. Even the jackets for street suits drop in straight lines from the shoulders to the hips, unless they carry out the surplice effect. The extraordinary wide girdles of this .season accentuate the Egyptian figure.

It is difficult to know exactly what France has decided upon in the way of a proper neckline. On street suits the collars rise so high that they are called the “cache-nez,” or nose coverings. There is the new trench muffler, an apache cravat, and a postillion collar of the eighteenth century for the street; and for the house there are gowns that are buttoned to the chin, with the material “going over the top.” •Others have the loose handkerchief drapery, the fifteenth century Italian collar, and the conventional high, rolling collar that shows a bit of neck below the chin. A very few of the new skirts sweep the instep. The fest are frankly short. Street suits have skirts that appear to be simply two breadths of material cut off at the hem to allow the fullest display of the highest boot made. There is a strong feeling abroad for the elongated skirt in evening gowns and women art insisting that they almost touch the toes in front. They are so narrow that they are easily wrinkled up over th# ankles as the wearer moves.