Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1875 — The Fashions in Furs. [ARTICLE]

The Fashions in Furs.

Seal remains the fashionable fur for sacques, and is also much used for inexpensive seta, consisting of a muff and boa. Seal sacques differ from those of last season in being more shaped to the figure and in having from two to four inches additional length. A stylish saeque is from twenty-eight to thirty-one inches long. The neck is finished with a full re vers collar. The sleeves are quite large, iud some models are wide enough to allow a Cliff of the fur beneath. Plain seal sacques are still worn, hut those trimmed with otter furs are most fashionable; lienee ladies wlio have short plain sacques left over from previous seasons are having them lengthened by adding a tliree-incli band of some other fur as a trimming. A sealskin boa that is to be worn with a seal saeque should be only a yard and a half long; but if it is to be worn" as part of a set it should be two yards long. Seal muffs are of medium size, like those of last wintgij, and are .trimmed with ribbon bows that are embroidered; others have tassels, and some are perfectly- plain. Among the most desirable wraps are those lined with fur while the outside is very heavy repped black silk or else Sicilienne. The shape mostly worn is the plain circular, froiii forty-six to fifty four inches deep, and forming a perfect "semicircle. They are. made of silk of extra width, manufactured for the purpose. Notwithstanding all changes of fashion, the crown Russian sable remains the choicest fur: it is as high in price as ever and becomes more difficult to obtain each year. Perhaps the most dressy of all the fancy furs introduced lately' is the silverfox—a light, blue-gray fur, . interspersed with those “ silver points” or white tips that are now thought to add so much to the beauty of any fur. Another fashionable gray' fur for sets and also for trimming is the Ari'ca chinchilla.' The sets of fisher-tail fur that were so highly prized last season are very difficult to procure now. Sets of black marten fur,’ sometimes called Alaska sable, remain the prevailing choice in low-priced furs. The demand for mink furs becomes more limited, every season, yet the-fine dark grades are still worn by those who do not care for changes of fashion, and consider instead durability and comfort. Ermine, which was considered the most dressy' fur, looks passee now tliat fox and chinchilla furs are used. Astrakhan, Russian lamb-skin, krimmer and other black furs, though no longer novelties, are still liked, for their soft, rich fur, and may now be obtained at very reasonable prices. Fur trimmings are the most fashionable garniture for sacques, cloaks, and heavy wraps of all cloths, silks and velvet. There is an endless variety of trimming furs, some of which w r e have already quoted, but tlie caprice of the season is for dark furs that have white-tipped hairs; and so popular are these that furriers have resorted to sewing gray or white hairs in the dark furs when; nature has not supplied them. Of the latter is a fancy fur called silver otter, which is a black fur with silver hairs sewed or even pasted in. The new seal hats are no longer turbans, but are shaped precisely like the English walking-hats now worn in straw or felt, except that the crown is round, in Derby shape. A long ostrich feather of sealbrown begins in the front, passes over the crown and drops behind. The hat costs from $lB to $25. — Harper's Bazar.