BRINGING IKE WARDROBE UP TO DATE,

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 1, 26 September 1907, Page 3

BRINGING IKE WARDROBE UP TO DATE,

An clastic dress allowance is what eycry woman requires nowadays if she can hope to gain a reputation tor dressing simply and suitably, without any pretensions towards being particularly v.'oil ''turned out." lieonoinists may lny slie.cts of dry-as-dust statistics bolero us to prove tliat luxuries are far cheaper thaii in the times ot our ancestresses; that cilk and satin, muslin and ribbon have conic down immensely in price since tno days of yore, lint the fact remains that unless a woman is resourceful nowadays she is apt to find that with what would .have once been considered. a libera! allowance it has become a serious problem to attain'the standard of dress demanded by the society to which alio belongs. The girl of the day, although she may bo far behind iter groat-grand-mothers in the artistic skill and patience with which she does embroidery and lino needlework, is .far cleverer, however, than those ancient dames in the many practical uses to which she puts her nei'ille; and it is an exception nowadays to find a girl who does not evolve with her own hands many of the minor accessories of dress which count for so'much according to modern views. With such allies as the fashionable bretelles, much can bo done to give different aspects to one white muslin or embroidered lawn gown, the simple broad band of lace, net., or ribbon .beinp either elaborated to form a species ot polcrine or simply cixisir.ting of shoulder straps of ribbon witii belt. Three yards of ribbon—six inchrs in width— aro sufficient for the broteilcs. whilst three-quarters of a yard or less, depending on the waistmoasuro, will be. required for the folded waistband, any odd remnant of ribbon being made into rosettes to conceal the juncture of belt and bretellos.

To mako supplementary kimquo over-sleeves, which do much to disguise the shape of last .year's nianelie, throe-quarters of a yard, will bo required for each slcevo, this being carried cut in circular form with the seam hidden under tho arm. When made, tho sleeves- should bo sewn to the breteltes for a distance of eight or nine inches at the top of tho shoulder. Never has the belt assumed such importance borVo in tlio annals of dress as it docs this yeai, when, by means of colour contrasts, hand embroidery, and many other devices, tho coveted goal of individuality may be rcachcd v/ith a little originality and ingenuity. Somo of the most oifectivo holts to supplement linen costumes or skirts and b'tans:s for tennis or morning wear arc those which are simply fashioned of ordinary upholsterer's cretonne, a simple old-world pattern of rose buds, rose sprites, violets, carnations,. or other small design being bast for the purpose. A piece of crctcnno about I eight or ten inches in width should cither ho simply nemmed or be j finished with rows of stitching•. .in j coloured-sill; to match, or with .a pip- [ ins of washing ribbon, the belt being ; mounted on to a slide or bucklo which i may have dono duty in its time on r. discarded ribbon or clastic belt,-or it ■ may bo boned and supplemented with a stitched bucklo liiaao cither of the J material or of patterned ribbon stiffened with whalebone. iiolts of plain white linen can ho immensely improved by embroidering French dots _at irregular intervals over tlio surface in lustre thread and bordering them with a row of white washing braid worked over in a waved design with Russian braid, or a smart cucct may bo sained by means of a straight narrow band of black patent leather, outlined with gold cord, and machine | stitched to the edge of the belt. i

IS THIS' mm DRESSING?

- Under.this heading the.editor of tho "Ladies' Home Journal ciic.u<isu» American woman, in her dressing in a way that'surprises the. "foreigner" trained- for so long to believe that tho American girl has mastered the art of dress, Take any company of women that you will, says he, and a more hopeless scone of. uniformity it .would bo'difficult to imagine.. Like-an oasis in the desert, the oyo may bo refreshed by a single woman who looks dilferent lrom tho rest, but'how very, very occasional is such n'woman! - For . tho rest, it is a scene, of absolute similarity, and not only in appearance but in actual material and detail as well. It is not only that every' woman has bowed to the dictum that green is tho prevailing colour, whether green makes her look like 'saffron or not. It is not enough that, short sleeves it must be and short sleeves it. is, whether some women suggest so many spiders or not. It is enough that every hat must bo and is a "flower hat," but the eyes behold tho most glaring floral iniquities that the human mind can conceive. 15ut. materials, trimmings, tho most minute details present the same monotonous uniformity until every mark of individuality is ironed out of the. American woman's dress. Is this good dressing ? ■ ■ j

A fashion edict seems to.pnralyso tlio brain of the average American woman. Before what she thinks is "good form" slio is _ absolutely cowed: sho dare not be original, because she-fears to be thought odd! Yet, pray, what is, ill truth, morn odd than the grotesque submission of a saffron complexion to a green genvn? Has tlio American woman lest all sense of tho consciousness of the individual lilies of her own body, eic'i different from other women, that she must clothe herself like nil others? Surely, this is not [rood taste, nor is it good art. . Why should ."'lO lose her personality? Yet that is what she is iVxc doing: becoming a mimic, slavishly copying what others, ami these, others generally French women, who arc in no wise or so:ise related to her methods of life or feeling, chooso to set up. for her..

.A woman need not ho grotesque m her dress: eccentricity or dovrdinoss, is tho other side of the crime of mimicry and slavery. But what every .woman shoul.l feel a pride in doing, and what ?ilie can do with tho cleverness and brains that have boon given her. is to set a standard of dress for herself.; not a 'standard' of uisurganisation for others, but a standard of tho best, the m ! Dst appropriate dressing for herself; a standard that will adapt her clothes to her own personality; to what is most becoming to her; 7/l:at is possible to her means; what is most bctitting her position.' Then it will be a truth, rather than the flattery it now is: that the American woman is tho bestdrcssj:! woman in the world. •