Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 306, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 December 1919 — LATEST STYLES IN GOWNS AND HATS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LATEST STYLES IN GOWNS AND HATS

Pannier Returns and Hoops About Hips May Be Seen— Sleeves at Vanishing Point BLACK AND WHITE POPULAR i Colors Form Favorite Combination at French Resorts—Stripes in Narrow and Wide Arrangements— Skirts Are Very’Short. From all signs this will be a decisive season in Paris Tn so far as fashion creation is concerned. The designers seem to have taken on their old accustomed stride. They have turned their efforts, unreservedly to leadership in the world of style. «• To aid them in this crucial moment there are arriving ‘ froip. the United States, from South America, and from England hosts of buyers and fashion experts to watch the latest; develops me'nts. This is almost a new experience. At least it is a revived experience, for throughthe last five years, only the most favored of buyers have been allowed cross the water and only a few s os the dressmakers have kept up their work with anything like pre-war vigor. —' American women during the, w’ar have developed a style all their own. They are dressing now as suits the climate and their lif& and their, pursuits, which are quire different from the French woman’s. /And one sympathizes with the buyers, who wonder whether their clients‘at home will refuse to accept the wonderful things brought over Trom France. If their eyes are trained only for beatrty-they will be dazzled into letting all their accumulated notions of dress go by

the board and the conservatives at home will not be suited. At this time of the year all of France, as all of the rest of the world, seeks a cool spot; and so it is at Deauville and the other resorts by the seaside that one looks upon the fashionably arrayed crowd of wOmen and is able to gain some idea of the trend of the times as regards dress. Thtey are wearing the very latest things from a French point Of view, and, of course, the majority of the fall fashions will follow in some respects the lines favored just now. Skirts Are Very Short. Well, the tendency Is all in the direction of the skirts that are shorter than anything America has ever worn or even dreamed about. You hear it said that the Parisians are wearing their skirts very long, but when you see them with their skirts actually extending just below their knees, sb that when their arms are raised the skirt pulls above the knee, you know what a short skirt really is. It is easy on material and is extremely good-looking when the figure of the wearer can stand the strain. The skirts are tight, too, but what matters that when their length is what it is? ,No trouble about taking a good, long step in'a dress of this character. Then the coats, wlteh it is a suit, reach almost' to the bottom of the skirts, leaving, in fact, only about two or three inches of the skirt to be seen. The coats are either strictly tailored or they show a little fullness about the hips. That tells a story of forthcoming fullnesses of even greater volume. ■ It is so with the dresses. Always there is a slight gathering of extra material where the hips join the waist. It is the pannier that is greeting us on the broad highway of fashion. As .yet it, is not large enough nor full enough to be alarming, though there are ru-

mors of hoops about the hips and even about the bottoms of the shirts. The sleeves now in vogue can hardly I|>e called sleeves. They actually are just a little strip of material over the top of the shoulder. In most instances that is all, and the Parisians wear them fearlessly for morning and afternoon. In the evening there is no sign to be seen of sleeves. j f Even the blouses for 'wear with tailored spits rfte scantily equipped as. to sleeves. They will be quite high at the neck, buttoning up under the chin most uncomfortably on a hot day, and then they will have these little, inadequate sleeves —that is, they are inadequate for anything except setting off a good-looking arm. , . < Indeed, a Frenchwoman’s dress of . the present mode is little more than two strips of material sewed together and cut kimono fashion, though the lines of her frock are not flowing; they follow the outline of her figure. Evening gowns, far from being an exception to this rule, carry things to an exaggerated degree. The economical ’ use of-material there extends to the neckline, which not only opens at back to the waist, but sometimes below that point. These gowns are low in front also. All that is used, for the bodices are two pointed strips of material on either side of the front. In order to keep this on\here are strings of jewels or beads attached to the points strung around the neck, and from the back of the neck strung to the waistline again. It Is the fabric of the evening gown that counts for everything and its draping. Favorite Color Combination. Black is by all odds the favorite , color combination at the French resorts at this time of the year. Black and white stripes, since early spring, have been very good for sepa-

rate silk dresses and for suits, as Well as for topcoats. Now the new woolly fabrics are appearing, and they show these stripes' in wide and narrow, arrangements. Then there is the black gown'with the white hat; that is the most effectlve. This season they are wearing over the white hat, which is sans trimming, a black, lacy veil. This makes the costume even more effective. The veil does wot necessarily cover the sace —in fact, it rarely does —but its lacy pattern is so distributed that the white showing through the black transparent pattern makes a trimming of its own. Hats Without Trimming.’ The hats, as a forecast of fall head gear, are mostly without trimming The style is all in the Hpe, but how that line is obtained 4? a complete mystery. Upon examination the riddle only becomes more complicated. There seems to be nothing there except a band of something stiff to fit about the head. The crown and the brim are entirely without, inner stiffening or frame. The trick does not allow for explanation. It is all in the wizard who causes it to be. Yet, when this seeming mass of velvet dr satin is put on, the head it takes a shape and form .that commend It to any wearer. ;Itseems to have been made to set off at its best alone, and while you cannot say That the hat is round or oval or square or long, still it has shape. The felt blocked hats worn with pitdaeason gowns are round as to crown and as to brim as well. The brim turns up at the same distance all the Way round and the only trimming for the hat is a silk band of the same color. „ Hats of this character in beige and taupe worn with navy blue suits are effective. Then there is .another variation of this hit done in duvetyu

An afternoon hat of unusual merit. The skeleton ostrich feathers make a striking trimming for this exquisite headgear of velvet.