Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1875 — The Fashions. [ARTICLE]

The Fashions.

The regular Paris correspondent of Harper 1 Bazar writes as follows: “ The winter season has set in, and all our dressmakers are busy in the preparation of toilets for soirees, balls, dinner parties, and full-dress morning receptions ; for a modification has been introduced into Parisian life which it is important to notice. Formerly people assembled only in the evening, and fulldress toilets were composed solely with a view to the effect of artificial light; now there are a multitude of circumstances which give rise to day receptions, and for these there are devised special toilets, partaking of the summer through their tints and transparent tissues, and of the winter by their costliness and length. “ Among the caprices permitted by the present.fashion we will cite, after the adoption of velvet in summer, the wearing of white straw hats in winter, tat only for full-dress morning receptions to which one goes in a carriage, and never for the street, calls, church, or any public place, in a word. These bonnets are of the shape of those worn by Watteau’s shepherdesses; they are profusely adorned with flowers, and are trimmed with flowing light-colored ribbons, all matching the dress. “This season the fashionable caprice is woolen fabrics, and when they are very fine, handsome, soft and of light colors they are trimmed with white lace and associated with the most elegant Lyon? velvets. White laces, moreover, are very much in vogue for the trimming of full-dress toilets, even when the latter are dark-colored. All kinds are used, white Chantilly being in especial favor. Black Chantilly is considered as belonging to neglige toilets. “ For balls a multitude of pretty effects are created with shaded tulles and taiw tans. These fabrics are manufactured this season of ail colors from the palest to the darkest. The following dress, which has been ordered for Marshal MacMahon’s first ball, is a type of this kind: Skirt of yellow bronze faille, covered with tulle of a little lighter color, then with still lighter tulle, and then with silk tulle (the first two are cotton) of the palest shade of yellow bronze. The overdress is trimmed with flounces, ruches and branches of moss-roses. The rage this winter for full-dress toilets is lace woven of gold, silver and oxidized silver, the latter being the newest of all. Thus far these laces are- manufactured by a single house, and nothing can be imagined at once more beautiful and more sumptuous. I have seen the two following toilets made with lace of this kind: Dress of plain black velvet with cuirass waist and short sleeves. Tablier made of three flounces of black Chantilly lace. Each seam where the flounces were set on, and on the edge of the tablier, was trimmed with oxidized silver lace, pale pink belt fastening on the tablier. Around the neck and on the bottom of the sleeves was pale pink ribbon, veiled by the same lace, which also edged the neck and the bottom of the sleeves. The other dress was of Turkish red faille, trimmed with silk gauze flounces of the same color, edged with narrow oxidized silver lace, with wide oxidized silver lace above each gauze flounce and half veiling it. The laces are also made of gold and silver and used to trim silk dresses, the fabric of which itself is woven with silver and gold. Nothing cat be more beautiful by gaslight. This fashion at present is only beginning ; in three months it will impose itself on all women who love richness and elegance and who wish to be certain that what they wear will not be worn by everyone else. “As laces are made of all colors, so leaves of all tints are manufactured for ball dresses and coiffeurs. Flowers Are much used, even on high-necked fichus, in bows for the corsage and in the hair. This fashion, which was somewhat exceptional last winter, is now universal. “Another fashion which consists in suspending all sorts of articles about the person continues on the increase; during the day the watch and umbrella are hung from the belt, and at evening the cassolette with perfumes, the vinaigrette with smelling-salts, and, lastly, a miniature oval mirror with beveled edge, set in a richly-wrought metal frame, and often adorned with precious stones. Street dresses, those which are worn in the daytime for walking, are as 'simple, modest and humble, in appearance, at least, as drawing-room toilets are brilliant, luxurious and costly; woolen over velvet or softest vel-veteen-such is the uniform this winter. Very dark colors, when black is not chosen, is the universal rule. These woolen fabrics are trimmed with feathers, fur, or a light curled silk fringe. called marabout. Feathers are divided ’ into cock’s feathers, bristling, and dyed of the same color as the stuff, and flat feathers of the peacock or some other bird. Fur—who can enumerate all the kinds of fur that are manufactured and worn? We see it of all colors and lengths; to suit all tastes and especially all purses. I suspect Paris of turning her cats and rabbits to good account, and of dyeing and making up the furs of those domestic quadrupeds and elevating them to the dignity of trimmings for the toilet. “ Dresses even of cloth and wool often have the corsage laced behind like a corset, or like the waists our mothers wore some forty years ago, instead of being buttoned in front. Gauze woven of metal, steel, silver and oxidized silver is dow manufactured, and of this gauze are made coats of mail (with the corsage and skirt in one piece), or cuirasses and tabliers; these are worn over silk or velvet dresses, with high or low waists, according to the occasion on which the dress is to be worn. The effect produced is dazzling. These corsages are always laced behind and stretched smoothly over the bust. Nothing is lacking but the sword at the side to complete the costume of a knight of the Middle Ages. But if we have not as yet the sword, we have the revolver; a black leather pistol with steel lock is hung from the belt, and on pressing the spring a fan shoots from the barrel. “ At home high-heeled slippers are worn very ornate, and often trimmed with a bunch of flowers to match those with which the light gray stockings are embroidered that accompany the slippers. The bunch of flowers is often replaced by a large and handsome buckle of metal set with”precious stones. - M I will sum up by saying that the fashion*this winter demands at home a luxury the like of which has never been seen, and out of doors the greatest simplicity of which the toilet is capable.”