TRYING TO LOOK DOWDY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 512, 20 May 1909, Page 3

TRYING TO LOOK DOWDY.

- -The latest cdiot of fashion from Paris is to •look "dowdy,'.' and tho modists in the Fronch capital we endeavouring to teach their clients, this difficult lesson (says the London correspondent of a Sydney paper). There .is no getting away from the fact-, . .dowdiness'is'one . among many of the. whims to which fashion is giving expression this :iHence. it'' behoves women to know - how they can contrive to look dowdy and at . -,'tho samo tiino'a lamode. As .it is,a phase' of dress with which women will have to .reckon , this spring, it clamours for respectful consideration and . due . explanation. Is r.'' •it ■ worth'while' to ask why .the: uncouth and rathor badly hung skirt and tho creased ooat -of m awkward length-has been raised "to the : eminence they occupy now? The story is not-long, and has points of interest and a "'Bpiw'pf sermonising in;rt .as well. pSo' let us _ havo it. .Imagine a day-dress for the house '. .' thsit outrages all the canons. of. ordinarily .-. -accepted tasto in dress, flagrantly , and with ■ obvious intent. It' has a plastron and a deep, flounce, and despite the fact that the laws of elegance dictate that stripes should : not run aoross the figure,.they do so. Those stripes are gauged so aB to thicken the waijst, . thon tho square gmmpo is' another trial .' added toV sleeves cut midway between the ' ol'oow and the wrist, without any softening lace. > ■ Not every, woman can be a dowd purposely,- ~ i and cortainly l not every woman should try to be one.: It is only , she who is known to be addicted to smart dressing, and to be successful as a mirror, of,the models, who should ""essay , the difficult task.'. Otherwise, she will ■ simply bo put down as,an everyday dowd, a 'dowd by nature, not of .intention. The -voguos , that - most attract some women are those that;a'rb. absolutely different.irom' tlie . ones; to whioh;•they';,have -been, accustomed. That is tho prominent reasop why, after tho ■ clinging,'scabbard costume and the classical , draperies of the winter, the doydiness of the mid-Victorian modes is likely to appeal. How else account for tho sudden appearance of .the 'wide,skirt/the:'return. o'f'the flounce that has - forso long. been banished; tho .abolition of >. tho 'short-waisted dress and tho return of \tha;; natural: one;: the introduction of ; the • •sharply-pointed corsage and other designs as . utterly opposed as. those are 'to', what'has been , for. some timo past registered'as fashion's favourite scheme? : The modem - woman has ... b^on-taught; to' believe; that' art in every . form was at a'low ebb in mid-Victorian days, .... and ■ • certainly ',this : ;hark-back to. tho ' f 1 genteel",'fashions: of .that period will' help to ■ confirm her faith in!this dictum.- And : yet— and yet it may-arrive. .