Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 55, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1919 — Quick Change in Style of Gowns [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Quick Change in Style of Gowns

i New York. —It Is time to change a few things in women’s apparel, asserts a prominent fashion authority. Women are leaping from uniforms intq medieval gowns of gold, and .crystal, and tulle in brilliant colors, and into smashing furs and red street apparel.'’ There are significant chaiig'-s working up from tlie ground._ Tle-n- is tlie new deoollefnge which was prophesied in tills department weeks ago and which is coming into view as smart women exploit it. Half a dozen new ways’ of cutting the neckline have leaped into existence.and a dozen new collars claim the blue ribbon of excellence. No matter whether we dress differently about tin 1 hips and feet, we Tire dressing decidedly diff< neatly about the-neck and even tlie wrists!.——. It is in these significant changes th.’.. the great mass of women are in-tcr.-sted wlm do mir feel that they canafford entirely new gowns for tlie midseason. The.artist who Said that all changes in fashions? for women consisted in the placement of the bulge, or the absence of it, should have added that the open spaces in costumes were second In importance. ==— 1 ~ ~~—; Cut to the bone, there is no doubt ! that he was right. Tire contour is the : thing. It is where a garment goes ki OF -eut that determines its fashion. Few women there are who are brave enough to go against the contour of the hour, even though it may not suggest the best there is in their figures. New Decolletage. - The change in the ITcckline Is perhaps the most important to the average woman. She has belief in herself j when it comes to cutting a new kind ; She feels that a good pair of scissors may be the medium of transforming an old gown into a new gown by the simple process of turning an oblong neck into a round one, a square one, or*a U-shaped one.

All history is filled with rapid changes in-the neckline, and so far we have not had anything new. We have rung the bells of history all over again. •That is all. When Edward II was king of England the women wore the georgette., which wrinkled-about the. neck and spread outward over the chin and the back of the head. This was in troll ueedto fashion a few years ago through a dancer, and her clever designer. It is still worn by women who go motoring, and they make it of dark blue crepe or veiling, rather than of white satin. When Richard II was king his French queen brought over the fashion of the low neck, and so, after centuries, women dropped the neckband of the gown from chin to collar. bone. ,•{ When Elizabeth was queen of England the delta..deeolletage, was - invented, and it ran along with another neckline that exposed all the chest and half the shoulders, and then, as if by a sudden spasm of prudery, hid the neck and ears by an immense ruff. , ■ When James I came to the throne of England his queen introduced the very decollete, tight bodice with its immense, flaring collar, of wired lace at the back, and when Charles I -allowed Heariette of France to lead the fashions for his court, there was the low. round neckline that dipped well, downward in the back and was finished with a deep vandyke, collar that extended over the sleeves. « In the picturesque days of Queen Anne women introduced the low, -square cut decolletage, guiltless of collar. which our women hgve worn for two decades: and in the middle of the eighteenth century, in the Georgian era, women used a simple deeolletage In a founded V outlined with a wrinkled handkerchief as,®’ part of their street attire. Running the mind over this slight

summary of historical changes In the decolletage, it is easy to see that we have done nothing new; but here Is what we are going to do at the. immediate moment: Revive the delta of the Elizabethan times, the deep square of Queen Anne, with its tight, high line at the Side of the neck, and the! l.'-shupi d sh volletage pf the end of the eighteenth century, with its modesty piece of luce. Return of Lace Collars, We have gone through a season of medieval severity in the neckline. Women have'aided nature which made them ugiy or cheated nature which made -them beautiful by going about without any softening effect ut the neck, by wearing coat collars of heavy homespun unrelieved by while.. and hy the use ofi V-shaped lines of heavy velveteen and crepe which fashion kept unadorned^-—,—— True to history this was, hut not true to art. There were few women who looked their best in such severity. Today collars return slowly. There are still those who tell you they are not smart, but at the exclusive, house there is a tendency to put precious lace on the new neck- v line. It is not a V-shaped neckline; I it is a deep U which calls for a softening outline and an extremely soft bust. The Queen Anne decolletage which hugs the side of the neck and runs down into a narrow L-shaped opening is extremely smart, and it is banded with fur and then filled in. with fine folds of silk net. It is felt by those who have their bands on the pulse of fashion that the oblong neckline of the Renaissance is. no longer s*mart, although it is worn by some well-dressed women. Double Neckline. There is a disposition on the part of some designers to make a double neckline, and this they do by a subtle

arrangement of thin fabrics. A certain designer has turned out a remarkably brilliant gown of raspberry ’chiffon having a deep U-shaped deeolletage outlined with chinchilla which swings the chiffon with the movement of the figure, as, though it were a necklace. Beneath it, and hugging the bust in the eighteenth century manner, is a bodice with a rounded deeolletage. s There will be an oblong Renaissance neckline that reaches from shoulder to shoulder, ctft on a tight satin bodice, and over that will be swung a looser bodice of colored chiffon or tulle which is high at the back and has a long, rounded line in froutjhat drops to the waist. Black and seal brown velvet afternoon gowns have the Queen Anne decolletage, which follows the exact line where the neck is placed on the body, until it gets to the collar bone, where it dips into a straight, open space half way to the waist. This is outlined with fur. Again, it may be outlined with Venetian point. ; The delta deeolletage is considered the most becoming of all for evening wear. Get out any picture of Elizabethan times and you will see what is meant. In that gorgeous era the women wore a Jew eled piece of open net over the shoulder to the base of the neck at each side, and then the deeolletage spread downward and out-, 4vard to the arm-pits. \ Take this change in the neckline seriously. It will govern the clothes of the next few weeks. - (Copyright, ISIS. by McClure Newspaper ■ > Syndicate.) V

V-shaped decolletage in hack of a black velvet evening gown which is cut high in front. This idea is.worked out in many types of gownspeven those for street. Delta decolletage shown in new brocade evening gown in white and gold. This neckline originated in the Elizabethan days.