Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 301, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1917 — Sleeves Reflect World’s History [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Sleeves Reflect World’s History

New York.—As the current of clothes goes rushing by, one has a strong temptation to reach out and grasp at the straws that are swirling along on the top eddies. Standing on the bank and watching the brilliant borne down the stream, one is strongly reminded of an alluring article by Mr. Beebe, the explorer, who has brought back so much that was worth while to the zoological knowledge in America. y Mr> Beebe rests quietly on a bank, as he tells it, by which passes a great, swiftly flowing stream which comes from the heart of the jungle and which is full of mystery and color and

splendid exotic life. The stream has caught on its top current parts of this life, and as he;studies it, keenly and with knowledge, as it swiftly goes by him, he is able to form in his mind: just what the life of that special jungle is. Fauna and flora go by, an opossum with its young, a peculiar kind of snake on a log, bits of wood that explain the tree growth, birds that have been caught in branches and cannot extricate themselves. On, on goes the colorful stream, rushing past the flat mud bank and explaining to the zoologist and ornithologist the entire life and personality of the source from which all these things come. It is thus in fashions. All the tumult, the revolt, the color, the perconality and the life of a country flow by in this semi-annual stream of clothes that are symbols of their sources. And the one who stands on the bank wants to reach Out a hand or throw out a grappling pole, as Mr. Beebe did, and bring in for closer observation the. peculiar and particular things that can be developed into a whole chapter of interest.

Sleeves From Every Epoch. Sleeves, for instance. There is a detail that one w’ants to catch at with a grappling pole, pull into the bank and study for a week. They are representative of the history of the world. Each epoch seems to have offered a peculiar phase of arm covering for the designers to incorporate into modern costumes. ' We have the medieval sleeve which opens after it leaves the qlbow and drops in a point to the knee; we have the Chinese sleeve which is roomy enough for all the juggling we care to do; there is the tight sleeve of the Directoire that fits into an oversnug armhole and stretches to the knuckles of the hand; there is the Italian sleeve that begins in an armhole that is nearly at the elbow and widens itself out in order that It may drop in cloakllke folds to the wrist, where it Is caught into « band of white velvet or cloth. There is the sleeve that Is slashed from armhole to wrist, as Marguerite and Faust wore It, and there is the

Oriental sleeve that is formed from the front edge of a cape and confined to the arm with a bracelet of tulle or jewels. Another sleeve is merely a brassard and, of course, it is on an evening gown. There are sleeves taken from the church, from comic opera, from the Round Table, from Wagnerian legends, from the days of Dante and, one might almost add, from the Sultan of Sulu. There are sleeves that ate nothing but arm bands above and below the elbow, to which are caught swing’ug folds of colored tulle.

This suit is of cream velours stitched with the same shade of silk and trimmed with sealskin. The coat is fastened on the bias and ripples at the back.

Possibly the one garment which the sleeve-mad designers have left untouched in their wild orgy of designing is the street coat which is part of a conventional tailored suit. All sorts of liberties are taken with sleeves In top coats, because this garment has reached so high on the ladder of .fashion that it gets a whack of originality from every designer who wants to play with the garment in either a commercial or arCstic way. The short street coat, ho.wever, remains conventional. So little has been ■done with this garment in the line of originality that we begin to believe that the French influence dominates even in this line of American costumery. Paris, as you remember, insisted that she could do little with the coat suit because her tailors were wielding hand grenades Instead of scissors. Variety In Armholes. It Is not possible to deal with sleeves, in detail or in mass, without taking the armhole into serious consideration. The tailors and dressmakers talk in an interesting manner about this alleged minor part of the costume. It Is a pity, one might say in passing, that there are any cutters and fitters who treat it as a minor consideration, for the average woman knows that the skill or awkwardness in cutting an armhole makes or mars the fit of the frock and her individual comfort. There are few people who can restrain their tempers when the subject of armholes is mentioned, because the extraordinary deficiency of talent in this particular line of dressmaking reaches out into the dally lives of thousands. Let us hope that the cutters of this winter will have learned more than they knew last winter, if they are going to attempt a dozen instead of two varieties.

There is the tight Directolre armhole that hugs the skin so that the fronts of the coat or bodice must be perfectly adjusted in order that they will not rise in waves about the neck. There is the long, loose Chinese armhole w’hlch demands a certain lack of contour in the bodice or jacket. There is the pear-shaped armhole which extends to the waistline and into which an elbow-length or threequarter sleeve is usually placed. And. topping the list of comfortable armholes, is the one that belongs to the lining and not to the bodice. New Type Saves Temper. If you have had trouble with the fit of your jackets and blouses because of ill-cut armholes, remember that this last type saves temper and tears. When the sleeve is put into the armhole of the lining and the outer material is allowed to drop over it, moving with security and freedom according to the shifting of the shoulders, then you get the best armhole that the American tailors can achieve. This is the kind that is now in high fashion. It is run well over the top of the arm and up on the lining, in order that there may be no revealing of the inside material when the outer armhole swings to and fro. Some dressmakers use a band of embroidery or soutaching or ornamented cloth of some kind over the lining from the

edge of the armhole half way to the front, in order that the effect is good when the outer armhole shifts. The recognition given by the designers to this armhole-dn the lining has been the reason for an influx of sleeves made of different material from the gown fabric and also in a different color. Street frocks of heavy cloth wll have ’ long, tight sleeves of braide t satin running from shoulder to wrist They do not make a shocking contrast in color, but depart from the tone of the gown sufficiently to give an artistic touch. (Copyright, McClur. New,paper Syndicate.)

This Egyptian evening gown is made of black satin covered with fine black lace and broad bands of black net embroidered with gold and Jet. The panels are weighted with Jet fringe.