DRESS FOE ELDERLY LADIES.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2685, 15 November 1882, Page 3

DRESS FOE ELDERLY LADIES.

It is difficult, in these flays of kilted and flounced skirts, bunched up paniors, and extremely close-fitting bodices, to arrange costumes suitable for eiderly ladies, gracefully as well as fashionably, light to wear, and yet of handsome materials. A great many elderly ladies wear Princesse polonaises over skirts with two or more plaited flounces. The skirts are of satin of’silk, and the polonaises of cashmere, broche silk, satin Merveilleux, foulard, or grenadine, according to the occasion or the weather. Black lace and jet passementerie are used profusely, or sparsely, according to taste, and loops of satin, moire, or gros grain ribbon. Many polonaises are open in front below the waist, drawn back, and caught up in a few horizontal folds on the hips, the back being slightly draped in two or three places. The side pieces, drawn from the front, form points; the trimming, whether lace or a silk band, is carried down the front on each side from the neck and back to the hips. Sometimes the skirt worn with this has a few very deep plaits in front to give a finished appearance to the space left by the open polonaise, or it has two narrower ones above those which go round the entire skirt. The polonaise is usually long enough to roach these flounces. Panier drapery can be worn over the same style of skirt. Nothing can be easier and lighter to wear, or more becoming to any figure, than this style of dress. Elderly ladies wear jackets and pointed bodices, and also roundwaisted, full ones, according to their size and figures; but polonaises are more popular than bodices. Sateens, with a large pattern over them in black and grey for mourning, and all dark colors for ordinary wear, are much worn in the early daytime. The steel-colored satin Merveilleux in several shades, the plum colors, browns, olive - greens, vie with black in popularity for smarter wear; and silk or woollen grenadines, thin nun’s cloth, and bareges for the evening. These are mixed with Sicilienne and lace, and have generally square or Y-shaped bodices, sleeves reaching below the elbow, with trimmings of gold, steel, or jet beads, and black or white lace, or white crepe lisse. Many elderly ladies, of slight figures, wear black or cream lace capes, either fastening them round the throat with a ruche, or turning the front back into the V-shaped bodice, and finishing off with a bow composed of loops of ribbon. If the capes are of old real lace, all the better : if not, they are of soft, delicate looking lace, and are either plain or trimmed with a full edging, or with several rows of narrower lace. In black lace they are worn in the daytime. Many dressmakers make pretty capes, matching- the costume, and send them home with the dress. These capos scarcely reach the elbow, and are trimmed with fringe or lace. They are removed when the mantle or shawl is put on. Skirts, as a rule, just touch the ground, but they are longer in the evenings, and shorter for the morning and walking. Some ladies wear plain full skirts, sewn on, in gathers round the bodice, in the old-fashioned way. Others have a deep jacket bodice, and skirt with two deep gathered flounces, the jacket from the waist, and the flounces being of the same depth. The stripes of alternate satin and moire, and all watered silks, are in request now. For thin mantles or shoulder coverings, black lace shawls and mantillas are arranged with satin ribbon. The shawls have one corner turned back and gathered up to form a hood, and the other caught up towards the waist with a wide bow, the rest is drawn over the arms, arranged in a few folds in front, and fastened with a narrower bow and loops. Soft silk shawls are arranged in much the same way, and silk shawls with colored flowers on them, are sometimes draped to form the back of a skirt, the front and the bodice being black satin and lace, with colored ribbon to match the shades of the flowers. The large black Chantilly and other lace veils are arranged as the front of a dress, or worn as aprons. Over mauve, grey, violet, or deep red they are effective. Steel and mauve are favorite colors this year for flowers and feathers and bonnet strings. Black lace and Leghorn straw and beaded bonnets of all kinds are fashionable. Caps of black lace, with gold headed or pearl pins, are popular in the evening for quiet wear; but for dressy occasions cream, “ ficelle,” and white lace, with or without flowers, are most becoming. Some pretty new caps have the front arranged with a wide lace Alsatian bow, fastened back at the sides with pins. Tulle, dotted over with beads, and marabouts or two crossed ostrich feathers forming the entire cap, are worn for full dress. The double pins, connected by a chain, are being used for caps, cravats, bonnet strings, and even on parasols, when of lace. The parasol lace covers, now so little seen, have been brought forward this summer again, and are arranged over white, black, or color, supplemented by a lace edging all round, laid just underneath the edge, to make them the requisite size. Another old fashion is being slowly revived, in the full open-worked .and lace sleeves, with the plain wristband, once so much in vogue. The silk jersey gloves are very fashionable, in black and all colors, and are cool and pleasant for summer wear. —“ Queen.”