Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 March 1919 — Quick Change in Style of Gowns [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Quick Change in Style of Gowns

1 New York.—lt Is time to change a few things in women’s apparel, asserts a prominent fashion authority. Women are leaping from .unifor ms - into. medieval gowns of gold, and crystal, and tulle in brilliant colors, and into smashing furs and red street appareL—There m<j idgiilfleaiit elmnges working up from the ground. There is the new decolletago which was prophesied In this department vVeeks ago and which is coming in;>> view as s:nart_ Women exploit it. Ha.lf a ddzen new ways of cutting the neckline have leaped into existen<<’ and :t dozen new collars claim the him 1 rildion of excellence. No matter whether we dress differently about the hilts and feet,, we are dressing deetded’y dTfferently about the neck and even the wrists. Tr is in these significant—changesthu>. the great tnass of women are Intercsted wiio do not feel, that they can afford entirely now gowns for tin- midsc.'.son. The artist who said that all changes in' fashions for won;t-it coiisjsted in the placement of the bulge, or the.absence of it, should have added that the open spaces in costumes were second J in importance. Cut to the bone, there is no doubt that he was right. The contour is the thing. It is where a garment goes Id or out 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 neckline is~pef~ haps the most important to the average woman. She has belief in herself j when it comes to cutting a new kind | of neckline. She feels that a good I 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 thb ciiin and the back of the head.\ This was introduced to 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 decolletage was invented, and it ran along with another’heckllne 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, of wired lace at the back, and., when Charles I allowed Henriette of France to lead the fashions for his court, there was the low. round neckline that dipped ' well downward in the back finished with a deep vandyke collar that extended over the sjeeves. In the'.picturesque days of Queen Anne women introduced the low, square cut decolletage, guiltless of collar, which our women have worn for two decades; and in the'middle of the eighteenth century', in the Georgian era, women used -a simple decolletage tnr a rounded V outlined with a wrinkled handkerchief as 3 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 1 t'-shaped decolletage of the end of j the eighteenih century, with its mod- 1 esty pit co of lace. Return of Lace Collars, 7We have gone through a season of medieval severity in the neckline. Women have aided nature which made them ugly or cheated nature which made them beautiful by going about without any softening effect at the neck, by wearing coat collars of heavy 1 homespun unrelieved by white, and by t>he-use of V-shaned lines of heavy velveteon ant! crepe which fashion kept unadorned. _ .- True to history this was, but not 1 rue 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 neckline. It is not a V-shaped neckljne; it is a deep U which cails for a softening outline and an extremely soft arrangement of laee or tulle across the 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 hands on the pulse of fashion that the oblong neckline of the Renaissance is no ionger snmrt, 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

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

arrangement of thin fabrics. A certain designer has turned out a remarkably brilliant gown of raspberry chiffon having a deep U-shaped decolletage 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 decolletage. There will be an oblong Renaissance neckline that reaches from shoulder to shoulder, cut 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 front that drops to the waist. g .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. Thjs is outlined with fur. Again, it may be outlined with Venetian point. / The delta decolletage is considered the most becoming Of all for evening wear. Ggl-out any picture of Elizabethan times and you will see what is meant. In that gorgeous era the women wore a jeweled piece of open net over the shoulder to the base ofthe neck at each side, and then the decolletage spread downward and outward to the arm-pits. Take this change in the neckline seriously. It will govern the clothes of the next few weeks. (Copyright, 1918, by McClure Newspaper * Syndicate.)