Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1918 — ORIENTAL TREND SEEN IN CLOTHES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ORIENTAL TREND SEEN IN CLOTHES

New York. —Find* out where the bulge is and you find where the fashion is. This was the opinion of an artist who studied movement and color and knew nothing of the practical side of apparel. “Throughout the centuries of dress,” he continued, “the student 1 who deals only with the Mstory of . fashions will find that the entire difference rests in the bulge, its presence, Its absence and Its placement.” One could write chapters dealing with the bulge that has gone through centuries of fashion. A skirt goes out at the Mps and in at the ankle, out at the ankle and in at the hips; sleeves flare at the elbow, the shoulder or the wrist; collars rise outward from the neck, flare over the shoulders, roll downward to the collarbone. The bulge is so all-important that a woman is hopelessly out of fas Mon unless she follows its movements. She may wear the wrong color, compromise on a fabric that is slightly out of fas Mon or combine materials that were not Intended for each other at their sources, but she will not put a bulge where a- bulge should not be. She will work overnight, be extravagant and lose her temper merely to avoid wearing a skirt that goes out In the wrong place, a sleeve that flares where it should not, a hipline that Is con-, cave when it ought to be convex. What in common garden English we call “the bulge,” the French more elegantly term “the movement.” It is interesting and puzzling to those who go to Paris the first time and hear the discussion of dress in the ateliers of those who design and sell clothes, to hear the two words —“the movement” —punctuate every sentence. If the movement of a gown is right, or if a celebrated designer, through the hands and the fabric, brings a new movement Into an accomplished result, the whole fashion of the season Is changed. The Bias Movement The different curves wMch clothes have taken during the last two years are too familiar to women’s minds to recount them. And these women, who watch the development of line in clothes more than the introduction of new colors or fabrics, are now Interested in that oriental movement wMch is trailing over the horizon and wMch we frequently call bias. The world has always accredited the Orient with the lines that go across and around the figure. The primitive peoples are supposed to have wrapped their clothes about them for centuries,

and the sensuousness of the East Is supposed to be the origin of tMs Mas movement of fabric on the female figure. The straight line conceals; the bias line partly reveals. The American Indian Is probably the only great primitive who kept to the straight line In costumery, as if It were done in accordance with the Indian physical framework. Recently, the designers have blended the American Indian silhouette with that of old Egypt, the Egypt of Thais, with straight, translucent draperies and plaited skirts that sweep the feet. Gypsy Sash in Favor. Everyone knows that the so-called gypsy wash which has been taken from the Roumanian vagabonds is apt to Increase the size appearance of the Mps, and yerUt has come into fas Mon as quickly as a thunder-shower comes up in August. There is a strong belief among the designers that this Roumanian hip girdle, wMch is as old as Nineveh and

Tyre, will not prove popular, but all the designers believe that the bias movement, wMch is creeping Into all the fas Mons and wMch expresses itself In long, oblique lines, will soon take the place of the straight, Indian and Alexandrian silhouette. The dressmakers, who are trying to achieve something new in evening

gowns, in order to keep women inter* ested' ln this form of apparel, have used this oblique movement to accomplish something quite out of the commonplace. On a black velvet frock, this new silhouette was given by using a broad piece of cloth of jet studded with rows of rhinestones, which wrapped the upper part of the figure in long lines that dropped from shoulder to hips, and crossing in front to tie in back, ended in a narrow train wMch gave dignity to a slim skirt. It is a long jump from an evening gown of velvet and cloth of jet to a sweater, but among the artistic set, this oblique movement has been worked out in a knitted scarf which is a substitute for a sweater. It is word' as the Canadian soldiers wear it, crossing over the front and back in oblique lines, with the long ends tucked through the part that forms the belt in front and dropping down with their fringe ten Inches below the waist The Importance of Sashes. Whenever the girdling of the hips becomes a first fashion, sashes leap up on a high pinnacle and proclaim their presence- with trumpeting authority. Throughout the ages, sashes come and go, much to the amusement and interest of women, especially those women who see in accessories the most diverting part of fashionable apparel. Some minds work along the line of adjuncts in clothes, rather than fundamentals. In every little group of women there is one, or probably more, who will burn the midnight oil to create or attach new and fashionable accessories to an old gown.Nln the addition of a sash, the placement of a rose, the application of a bit of jet, new cuffs or a gold cord, they find their chief pleasure in clothes. These women wilt have ttndr heart’s delight this season,/tor the fundamentals are few and theibeteessories many. Camouflage is the word that has spread over the planet, and it Is a word that no longer refers to war, but rs forever incorporated in the language of a people. A new sash is camouflage on an old gown, and as such it plays an important part in the development of this season’s clothes. These sashes have the bias move ment; they girdle the hips in obliqut lines, they tie at'the side, they form an apology for a bustle in the back they are how in front, in the primitive fas Mon, they are fringed, embroidered stenciled or made of Batik. They are the connecting link be tween a blouse of one kind and n skirt of another, and they soften and make harmonious the joining of these "two opposing garments. Sometimes they have bibs and aprons attached to the front and then they become sashes de luxe. Usually, these peasant accessories are made of old silver lace, which has come into Mgh fashion tMs winter, in keeping with the fact that necessities are difficult to obtain, but luxuries easy. You may not be able to buy a woolen undergarment, but you can a silver lace apron. TMs apron, with its bib, collar and sash that ties in the back, is built into a complete accessory and sold to go over any gown which needs to be enlivened and camouflaged. (Copyright, 1917. by the McClure N«w«pe per Syndicate.)

Again the apron. The blouse Is of gray chiffon, the apron of silver lace. Black satin skirt and sash of the chiffon. Hat of gray Jersey faced with black satin and embroidered in black and silver.

This slim one-piece frock is of blue gaberdine trimmed with black silk braid. High collar of lace.