Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1875 — Paris Fashions. [ARTICLE]

Paris Fashions.

If the fashion persists in the present course, and even exaggerates it, as seems likely to be the case next winter, ladies will look as if they were dressed in motley —true harlequin’s—garb. A piece is cut of plain stuff, another of the same stuff striped, a third of the same stuff plaided and a fourth of ribbon to match, then these pieces are all sewed together to lorrn a picturesque toilet. Here is a type of a dress of this kind. Mahogany brown cashmere, with plaids of the same brown, but shaded from the darkest tint to white; faille of the same brown, and ribbon of the same brown, two inches wide. Of the plaid cashmere is made the front of the dress (the tablier and side breadths), which is trimmed on the bottom with > a thick faille ruche. Over this front is draped an apron overskirt, made of strips of plaid cashmere four inches wide and plain ribbon two inches wide, the ribbon and Cashmere alternating, and the ribbon being cut at the bottom in a reversed triangle, which comes a little below the bottom of the over-skirt. The dress is finished in the back by a series of poufs made of faille, and occupying the whole length of the dress from the belt to the bottom. Between every two poufs is set a large bow of plaid cashmere. The waist is like the rest of the dress, of the composite order of architecture. Tlie fronts made of strips of cashmere and ribbon, arranged like the front of the overskirt; the middle of the back is of faille, and simulates a large pointed collar. Tlie rest of the back is of cashmere; the sleeves are of cashmere, with faille cuffs and ribbon bows. This toilet, which seems so complicated in the description, is exceedingly simple in appearance, owing to the dark shades of tlie plaid cashmere, which run the whole gamut of mahogany brown, from the darkest to the lightest tint. Most of the dresses for next winter will be made after this model, or at least after the same kind of combination. We shall no longer see dresses all plain, all piaid, or all striped; they will partake instead of all these styles, and will be made of plain stuffs combined with plaid, striped or embroidered fabrics, for embroidery will be the rage for all dressy toilets—embroidery of steel galloon on white or black, of silver galloon on gray, and of gold galloon on brown Even red copper galloon is in preparation for the embroidery of black or white fabrics, for all the metals arc employed for this use. There will be, moreover* mixtures such as silver and oxidized silver, steel and gold, and yellow and red gold; and with these rich materials the deft fingers of tlie skillful Paris embroiderer will execute tissues that might have been woven on the looms of the fairies. It, must be noted, however, that the dress proper is never embroidered, hut only what forms the trimming; for instance, the plaid fabric combined with the plain material of the dress. We already see fall wrappings of white, gray, brown, and bla«L cloth trimmed with these embroideries, and partaking in shape of the ancient paletot and the more recent Dolman. Loose fronts, tight-fitting behind,

with large sleeves, neither very long nor 'Very short—such is the neutral model that is offered for the coming season. Waists will be longer, plainer, and more closely-fitting than ever. The cuirass waist, which has ruled so long, will >i mtinue to rule during the following wiu jt, but will be modified by the addition of a pleated basque behind, while it will remain as plapi as possible on the sides and in front. Sleeves will be close-fitting, while’their trimming—ruches, flounces, revers and cuffs—will be more voluminous than ever. There is no longer any crinoline. At most the skirt is arranged so as to form a small tournure; all the volume of the toilet below the waist is due (o the pleatings, drapings and puffings of the stuff, which are made as bouffant as possible. Many waists and over-skirts will be closed diagonally, either on the right or the deft side, and the trimming will complicate the general effect still more by simulating a second diagonal closing and buttoning on the opposite side. Numerous oyer-skirfs will be composed simply of a trimmed strip of material draped over the skirt, crossed on one side, and arranged with the greatest possible picturesqueness.

In a word, and to sum up these hints, I will say that we shall have next winter many variations, but all on familiar themes, and many deductions, but all from well-known bases; and that we must not count on a visible, radical and wellmarked change in fashion, so long as there is no visible, radical and wellmarked change in politics, which we certainly do not desire.— Paris cor. Harper's Bazar.