The Omaha Sunday Bee
PART TKRZE
FASHIONS
PAGES 052 TO EIGHT
PART THREE
SOCIETY
PAGES OKE TO EIGHT
VOL. XLI-NO. 4L
-Queer Spring and Summer Styles
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Evening 2ress tP "White
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ITH thought of Easter hats and the
latest styles In gowns, coats and
dress accessories filling the minds of
the feminine portion ot the com
munity, It la Interesting,! take a
peek Into the past at the spring and
summer fashions of seventy years
ago. What did our grandmothers and great-grandmothers
wear way back, long before the civil war.
when Nebraska wasn't -Nebraska at all, but only a
prairie with Indians and buffalo In complete pos
session and with millinery ahops, dressmaking es
tablishments and department stores a part ot the
unborn future?
In the Byron Reed collection In the public li
brary there la a copy of "Oodey'a Lady's Book"
dated 1840 a quaint little old volume, dry and
yellow with age which tells In picture end de
scriptions what was the very fast word In fashions
for the women of that day. Very queer In 1913
seem these fashlona of the past, with their enor-'
mous round akirts, tiny waists, drooping shoulders,
puffed sleeves, bonnets and caps and elaborate
bead -dresses.
' In this day of clinging materials and as little aa
possible of them, it seems as It our feminine pro
genitors wasted goods most extravagantly with
their tuckers, flounces and festoons, their bows
nd sashes. They even had pockets on the outside
of their dresses not the mannish, tailored kind. "
but pockets put on with a flounce all round.
And how they loved artificial flowers! Their
hats were covered with them and their dresses had
elaborate garnitures of roses. ' These flower acces
sories do not seem so queer, though, as the black
netting mittens, the klr chains and the feron
nleres which crossed the brow and encircled the
head.
In the column In the "Lady's Book" for March
of 1840 beaded "Chit Chat of Fashions" we read
that shawla are an important factor of the spring
styles:
"Those of China crape are expected to be the
most In favor this summer: they are without dis
pute the most elegant of all the fancy shawls that
have appeared for some years. They are embroid
ered In superb patterns of quite a novel kind; In
stead of being figured In the loom, they are em
broidered in silk and without any wrong side."
And ot the new parasols for carriages the
reader was assured that "tbey are perfectly calcu
lated for that purpose; of a very small size, and
with folding sticks, so they msy be used to shade
the face as a fan; they axe composed of pou de '
sole. Some are trimmed with fringes; others have
an embroidered border."
The Tiding habits described In the fashion mag
azine seventy-two years ago this month was aa
follows:
"The corsages differ, for though they are al
ways tight, some are made buttoned from top to
bottom and other with large lapels; the jackets
are short and not very full; the eklrt Is of the
usual width and length and the sleeves are tight.
The cloth that these habits are composed ot must
be ot a very light kind, either black or blue.
Habits made with the corsage closed down the
front have it fastened and buttons placed at regu
lar distances through which the high shirt Is seen;
it is plaited like that of a man's and trimmed with
lace; the aleeve la tight and the jacket very long.
These habits taay be made In caslmler or In double
merino. Some also are made with the skirt com
posed ot either ot .these materials and the corsage
ot velvet
The April number has a paragraph on that
ever-Important subject, hair:
"The present fashion ot dressing the front hair
ia either long ringlets In very full tufts, plain bands
or banda with the ends braided and turned up
again. The back hair is worn so low behind that
it touches the back of the neck, being coiled up In
braids at the very roots of the hair. Sometimes it
forms a figure ot eight placed the cross way; at
others the braids are twisted over each other,
forming one large mass; pearls or a gold chain are
frequently twisted into these braids, and the
feathers or flowers spring from this mass and
droop towards the left ear. Feronnieres are still
fashionable.
, The April number also give the last word in
caps: "The present fashion for cap ia very pretty;
the canla are verv small and ait almost close to the
head. The borders are very full and deep at the
sides; they come very low and are interntingled
with small bouquets of velvet flowers; those called
the bell borders are amongst the most fashionable;
the ribands for caps are of satin.'
The May number announces "something new:"
"From a ring on the little finger of the right
hand depends a chain, to which is attached either
an eyeglass or smelling bottle, whichever may be
the most asefuL
This number also brought the tiding that
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Evening 6suxoe
"coral ornaments are being revived" and that "In
some Instance the back hair' is encircled with
wreaths ot coral and 1 retained by pin of the
same kind."
There Is further Information on hair:
"In a front view of the hair, as It Is sometime
now dressed, neither curls nor flowers can be seen.
The tresses full, loosely put together, a couple ot
Inches on the neck. No comb Is used to fasten
them, but' bodkins ornamented with pearl or
Jewels."
The women who tbl season are waiting with
subdued excitement the newest developments In
headgear can Imagine with what keen interest
the women of the spring of 1840 read in the
"Lady's Book" that "the Caroline or Marine Moss
has been Introduced as a trimming for bonnets."
and further that "black lace hats are now in vogue.
They are prettier when trimmed with a wreath of
roses or carnation pinks. They are certainly the
most beautiful articles' ot the season."
That June of 1840! What a month for flowers
It was. The sweet girl graduate and the June
brides must have looked like moving flower gar
dens. The "Lady's Book" says:
"The most fashionable for hats are two
branches of the camella, pink acacia two dahlias,
roses or a wreath ot mixed flowers. For straw
bonnets, a branch of lilac, violets. Illy of the valley;
nd for silk hats, all the above, with bachelor'!
buttons, daisies and fancy drooping flowers, pink
or blue consisting of large bells, one inside the
other; they are placed quite at the side; wreath
going all round are sometimes worn."
Later In the summer the "Lady's Book" gave
forth the dictate that "the hat are getting smaller
and a more becoming shape. The front and crown
seems all of one piece, and towards the back the
form gradually slants, so that the back of the
crown is even lower than the bonnet. These little
bonnets sit very round and comfortable to the face;
they come very long at the sides; the trimming is
aa simple a possible, or quite the contrary. Some
have flowers and lace; others only a trimming of
material."
A head dress Is pictured in the August number
which sounds very attractive to the connoisseur of
1912. It is called a "head dresse" one of the
prettiest caps that has appeared for some time, ia
composed of rose-colored gauze; the caul is so very
small that it does little more than cover the knot
of hair behind; the front ia formed of three rows
of gauze bias, quilled full, and encircling the caul
in such a manner as to form a diadem on the sum
mit ot the head, descending at the sides and turn
ing up at the back of the caul. A full knot of satin
riband, with floating end, adorns one side and a
rose with buds and foliage ornaments the otter.
The August number also tells that "Cap are
more or less ornamented with flowers. f here are
other pretty coiffures, between a cap and a tur-
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 31,
it.
Tlali, Silk 2rvsi -Uotjuh f lfc$lgc
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Unique Cloak.
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baa; the crown is that ot a cap; but in place of
the blonde border there la a roll of gauze exactly
uch a would be to a turban it may be with or
without a falling end. The. flower adapted to
these cap are hop blossoms in every possible
color; they are placed aa low a where the cap
string should come on each aide. Indeed, all the
trimmings are worn unusually low at the sides."
The trend toward a decrease in size affected
sleeves, too. The "Lady's Book" prophesied thst
"the plain, tight, long sleeve are coming again
decidedly, notwithstanding all that baa been said
against them; it must be admitted that they are
sadly disadvantageous to some figures, viz., to
those remarkably tall and thin, or to those in
clined to embonpoint and low in stature."
One of the woodcut in the March number of
1840 picture a cloak "a perfectly unique cloak,
and more particularly adapted for the month of
March, which," the designer adds, "although a
spring month is apt sometime to be very bleak.
It 1 a garment holding a position betwixt and be
tween the remnant of winter and commencement
of spring. It ia of cream colored cashmere or silk
lined with blue satin, bordered with a rouleau of
the same." With this cloak goes a hat of open
shape "Interior trimmed with morning glories and
exterior to suit fancy."
Another March fashion plate is a "dress of white
cambric, figured With sprigs. Also, .waist ribbon
1912.
of Seventy
Whi(e Csxabrj'C Jjfured wi
a&Je cj-Green. Y ZtasJin
to match black lace. Hat of whit satin, trimmed
with flower."
One of the June dresses) is of "lilac silk, cor
sage high, made in coat dreas style. Bishop sleeves,
demi-large, skirt trimmed with two flounces."
With this goes a "chip hat, ornamented with roses."
A child' dress of white cambric is ornamented
with pink bows and with it the small girl is sup
posed to wear a "mantilla cape of black satin
trimmed with black lace and a straw bonnet orna
mented with ribands and flowers."
White cambric was a very popular fabric that
summer ot 1840 as was also white muslin. The
accompaniments for on ot the white cambric
dresses were a green silk cape edged with white
lace, green sash to correspond, a "calsing hat with
a bunch of flower drooping at the aide" and a light
silk parasoL
The description and picture of an evening
dress of white crape are quite attractive. It ia
made "over satin skirt trimmed with flounces fes
tooned at tb aide with rose. Grecian corsage,
confined in front with a single rose. Short, full
sleeve, plaited down at top and festooned at the
tde with a rose to correspond with the general
trimming of the dress. Headdress formed ot
flowers and ribanda."
There ia a picture of a riding habit which has
so description, but only the mention that It ia the
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SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS
Years Ago
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of Whit 3"
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"one worn by Queen Victoria and 1 copied front
the World of Fashion, In which publication the face
1 said to be a portrait of her majesty."
Tb soft, clinging, although elaborate, matinees
for this season, fashioned on long, straight line,
and the close-fitting boudoir csps of 1912, make
the house dress of 1840 seem rather stiff and awk
ward. Here Is the description of a "home dress"
in tb Oodey's book:
"Dress of whit muslin; corsage half high; the
back has a few gathers at the waist; the fronts
cross and are In large set fold or plaits. Round
the neck 1 a narrow lace; the aleeve are short
and do not even cover the elbow; they are quite
tight and have five double tuck (which are cut
the cross way), put on as plain as possible and
close together, so that the upper tuck covers the
putting on of the one below it, and so on. The
skirt has rather deep flounce at the very bottom.
Apron of broche silk, with a flounce ot the aame
all round and a double one at the bottom. The
pockets are on the outside, rather pointed at the
bottom; they are put on with a narrow, flouce all
round, except at top."
Then comes a description of the cap, which
was to be worn with this borne dress, which will
Interest the girl who has been making boudoir
caps for Easter gifts this season: .
"The cap la of the kind denominated "The
Feasant's Cap;" ths crown Is like a half handker
chief, plaited into form at the back; the lappets
In front descend, below the ears and are turned up
again and fastened amidst the plaits at the back
of the cap; they are considerably stiffened and in
three or four deep plalta of folds. A colored rib
bon, after forming a rosett-bow in front, encircles
the cap and finishes in a bow with long ends at
the back; a small boquet ot roses Is placed at the
left side."
The hair was to be arranged "in smooth bands,
the ends braided and turned up et each aide ot ths
face." A "bow of eclorcti ribbon" fastened the
corsage in front and ths accessories ot the dress
were a hair chain and "'halt-long black netting
mittens."
Another house dms called a "morning neg
ligee" or "robe de chamb.-e" was "of china foulard
silk, s nankeen-colored ground with a showy east
ern pattern In bright colors. It Is made with a
piece put in at the neck, which is covered with a
flat collar, the remainder cf the dress, which is
all In one, is gathered to the neck piece; the
aleeves are gathered down in three places at the
boulder, the rmaalnder of the sleeve, which is
Immensely wide and long, is drawn ap by a silk
cord at the inner part of the arm. The entire
dress l lined xitt. bright blue Florence (sarsnet).
It is fastened round the waist by a cord and tassel
the color of the lining. Long white glove are to
be seen underneath the others. Bronze shoe of
peau Anglalse, embroidered handkerchief