Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 261, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1918 — Fall Frocks at Home—Abroad [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Fall Frocks at Home—Abroad

New York.—The great • offensive in fashions, which the world has been awaiting with anxious uncertainty, did not take place. . The silhouette remains practically the same for autumn as it has been for two years. There is enough in the fashions, however, to keep the public guessing and put it on the defensive. Things are not exactly as they were, although the fundamentals remain the same. The Interesting development of the output of apparel for' autumn is the fact that America makes a more definite change than does Paris. She advocates the frock with the insteplength skirt. She even lowers the hem of her tailored suits for the street.

Paris does nothing of the kind. She takes advantage of the fact that the government demands less usage of wool in clothes and cuts her skirts to such a height that it is improbable an American woman would wear them, unless she is in uniform, driving an automobile or doing other active work. France, as was said before, put out these short skirts with the plea that they were in co-operatidn with the government and that they were suggested by the short skirts worn by American women in the war service abroad; but those were uniforms that the American women wore. The French mind may not have grasped that we’re not all in uniform over here and that those who do wear the regulation service costume have many other clothes in their wardrobe to which they resort as soon as their war service hours are over. Medievalism Still Rampant We have worn atrociously short skirts, and even in the most polite circles, where one expected conservation, there have been unduly scant clothes worn on the plea that they were comfortable. One cared very little about it when the wearers were flappers, as the English put it, but when they were women with gray hair whose figures had matronly curves and whose faces the lines that grandmothers often get, these ten and twelve-inch skirts were more than grotesque; they were in bad taste. I The first delightful conviction that comes to the mind of the woman looking for autumn clothes this month is the unchanged silhouette. She will let the long and the short skirt problem lie fallow for a while, although in doing this, she will make a mistake, for, if.the entire world wears its skirts leiig by Thanksgiving the women who sit in outer darkness will wail and gnash their teeth. They can put a hem on any skirt, it is true, and this may be a compromise between an old and a new fashion which will of necessity be adopted over the land. It is, however, the continuance of the straight line that pleases women. Here

and there it is broken into bits by clever designers who wish to insist upon what is called the tonneau silhouette or the draped skirt, but these aredetails. The fact of main importance is that even with the tonneau skirt or one arranged according to the tight, pullback drapery of more than three decades ago, the waistline is big, the ankle line Is slhn, and the pencil outline from head to heels remains. It js these draped skirts which the A met cans pU' out in June afid wore

in August that are still very much the thing. They have no bustle effect, and their narrowness at the hem is comfortably obviated by an inset, fanshaped plaiting at the back which gives the feet entire freedom of movement. Yet, considering these new fashions and realizing that they are possible winners in the race for a settled fashion by Thanksgiving, the absorbing fact remains that the medieval gown is rampant • The long chemise tunic is not as smart as the chemise frock. In truth.

there are many houses that will not handle the long tunic at all, and yet they lay great stress upon the long coat, which has exactly the same effect. The short tunic, however, with its medieval waistline, if one may call so slight an Indentation of the surface by the name of waistline, is exceedingly good. It Is shown on a great majority of American and French models. This tunic might be called the foundation Stone of autumn costumery, for its lines are used for a jacket to a plaid skiyt, a cuirass blouse to be worn with or without a coat, and a fur jacket to be worn with separate skirts or onepiece frocks. It hangs limply down the figure to a circular line halfway between knees and hips. Its hem is irregular, as all hems are, even on many of the new sleeves. But this Is* true of it, and it is a significant fact, that no matter how it is made, or of what material, it carries, with it an exceedingly narrow skirt. We have never worn just such a skirt as we will wear this autumn, and it Is at Its best under this short, mediaeval tunic. Certain Debatable Fashions.

. if a woman bases her autumn pupchasing on these fundamental facts of costumery, she may not go far Wrong, for by this time, she knows what the good materials are, as well as the proper combinations of peltry and various fabrics; but she may not be aware of the fatal facility that certain fashions* have shown for overpopularity. She may want to avoid them for that reason, or she may want to adopt them. It all depends upon het viewpoint and attitude of mind toward popularity as it is expressed in any form. * There are few shop windows that do not display , one or both, and the price ranges from $lO to SIOO for the garment When fringe first came into being, it was heralded by all of us as' a new touch, and a good one; but those who have been compelled to observe the new incoming fashions day after day and hour after hour, have found t-ieit eyes closing involuntarily at the sight of a gown with fringe.

The same is true of the narrow, ac-cordion-plaited skirt It is strange that this fashion did not burst into full bloom when it was advanced last February. A New York designer put out many suits with this skirt which clung to the figure as though we were back in the days of Thais of Alexandria. The truth is that accordion-plaited, transparent skirts pre shown without k lining, and a woman must work out her own salvation if she is to wear one. And the best part of it M that they are exceedingly graceful when properly arranged over a thin, supply tight lining of satin. • •• However, if you wish to be out of the procession of popularity, pass them by. . • - (Copyright, ISM, by McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

A PWrrot top coat of beige-colored velours which has the revived barrel outline. It fa trimmed with wide bands of Yukon seal and fastened with Immense buttons of the fur.

An afternoon frock of black and gray .satin, In which the bodice and undent skirt are of black and the overskirt is In strips of gray and black caught up over the girdle at one side. It la trimmed with Russian squirrel.