ORIGIN OF FASHIONS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2254, 18 December 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

ORIGIN OF FASHIONS.

One of the prevalent impressions regariling ti fashions 1- that they are created ami started by a -^nd" ate of the great dressmakers of Paris aitiug in < oncer t ; hut this impression is an erroneous one Theie are some five or six leading dressmakers who strain every inventive faculty that they possess to produce novelties, most of them twice a year, and Worth continuously throughout the season. For Worth still remains without a rival as the great artistic dressmaker of the world. It was he for instance, that invented the exquisite little wraps compounded of coloured velvet and black lace an 1 coloured be id embroideries and fringes. He brought them out two years ago, and they have just made their ap pearance in ihe cloak departments of the Bon Marche and the Louvre. It was he that iutroducel black lace dresses, and that devised the lotiij plush paletot as a ball wnp. His influence is generally extended o\ er the world of evening dress and of gorgeous trutetial and artistic blending of colours. Sometimes a single unforeseen event will have a powerful effect on the world of fashion. Thus the deaths of the King of Spain ani of the Baroness de Rothschild induced the creation of new and beautous tints of purple for the half mourning that then became the fashion. Long years ae;o the overthrow of the empire of Maximilian of Mexi.o brought about the suppression of a new and splendid shade of yellow which had just been created and had been christened 'Mexico.' The failure of the attempt to seat the Count de Chatnbord on the throne in liks manner led to the disappearance of a peculiar and very rich dark blue, which had been prepared and named ' royal blue ' in anticipation of that event.