Tee Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
The
Corner
Figure
I, a
Color
Sketch
of the
New
Mannish
Skirt
Combined
with
the
Extremely
Feminine
Waist
and'
Headdress.
LOOKING forward la over more 4nterosttng
to tho young than looking backward. When
a human being begins to reminisce-. It Is ac
knowledged as a sign ot ago. Tho human who Is
ever looking forward, whoso eyes ore always
fixed on somothlng In tho future, la not only
young, but;, will remain young Just as long as
lite lasts
Butwhat has thin to dowlth fashions of the
past,( present, or future? Perhaps not very
much, but aa I was casting my mind's eye about
to ooo;just,twhlch Interesting subject I should
choose 'to' write on this weok, hoso thoughts
came to mo. I seomod suddenly to Tcallzo that
we in Paris, are at tho momont a omall body
of women.'entlrely surrounded by "period"
fashions and that among them overy period of
time " Is " represented. Tho early Greok, the
"Etruscan," (he Egyptian, the Roman, rub elbowa
with tho Elizabethan, the Medici, tho Empire, the
Plrectolro and tho early and mid-Victorian.
Every ago or history, every whlmsey of fashion
Is represented In what we call, for lack of a
better term, the "fashion of to-day."
This It so uttorly
absurd. There Is no
fashion of to-day, but
a most glorified mixture, a most won
derful mingling of the fashions of all
agos Wo have takon whatever de
tails we choose and havo woven
them together to pleaso each our
own fancy The results aro startling In man)
instances, but full of a delightful charm In
othora.
Never. ' I think, havo tho little tailored cos
tumes been more quaint, never havo they been
more wearabto. And equally novcr havo what
1 term "garden party dresses" boon so charm
ingly chic and bo universally bewitching Tho
roost attractive of these are those that show the
Wattcau influence. Watteau certainly understood
how to compose bis lords and ladles fair, all
in a garden.
Had anyone asked me Ave years ago whether
or not the Victorian ages, early, mid and late,
held anything of beauty in fashion, I should
have raised horrified hands and cried, "No, no!"
But 1 have changed my mind, and why should
Iff I ' 0t n interesting Pl9L Jl).
Jffl k;ili f' j.1 forecast of theDresser l&ife y
&f jS j ADY DUFF-CORDON, the f.moui "Lu- jW v - D rp 9 SfffF "
' v LtfAKfc-Tk'i. &riHfc- or the future by 77-, m.
fashion article for this ntwpnptr, preitnting all VtIPF (Ist fl I ' ' ' flf'. f-
thai i ntweit and 1I in ryle for well-drttitd JafSf ft l I t ' 'ft '"'
' '
"Spring Maid of 1914."
"Lucile" Costume of Pale Green Chiffon
Over Pale Yellow Satin.
I not? Am 1 not ot the feminine persuasion?
I find that I am able to discern some rare
and beautifying suggestions. In these ages,
many of which I am able to incorporate In
designs of my own Tho whole trouble with
those so-called ugly ages was that men's minds
were ugly, and women's lives were narrow.
Therefore their clothes expressed tho life and
thought about thorn'
In this age of freedom our clothes express the
broadness of our life and thought, as well as Its
beauty and grace. Narrowness, In everything
but aklrts. Is ugly! It Is this great change In
our mental outlook that makes It possible for us
to see that there was some beauty, after all. In
what we have boen brought up to consider tho
ugliest of all ages,
.1 hope 1 make myself
clear. For instance, the
bustle as it was was too,
too utterly ugly. Then
why Is it not ugly to
day? Because Its purpose
was ugly In those narrow
days. It was used then
to hide woman o curves.
Hide them! It drew atten
tion to them!
To-day we use the bustle as an addition to
the costume, we use a slight extension In ordor
to make the drapery fall more gracefully. In
some designs this extension is in tho back. In
others In the front, and still others have It on
their side Thus, you see, we are able to take
supposedly ugly things and make of them things
of beauty.
And this 'brings me back to the beginning of
my story, id, my alight dissertation on looking
backward and gazing forward. Even now, when
we aro using the past to help tho present, we v
are already casting long looks forward. What
will tho gowns of the future foe? With the
present to build on. what will the gowns, for
Instance, of 1020 he?
While I am Inclined to think that my "Spring
Maid of 1914" will harmonize delightfully with the
This
Comer
Figure
Shows
the
Mannish
Treatment
Above
the
Waist
Combined
with the
Feminine
Treatment
of the
Skirt
the Two
Sketches
Show the
Future
Trend of
Fashions,
Thinks
Lady
Duff-Gordon,
"Spring Maid of 1020," I am rather sure that many
startling Innovations will mark the gowns of the
future. In tho operatta "Sari," which Is now
playing In New York, some gowns aro worn
which, L think, in a way typify the spirit of the
coming years.
There are several backless costumes, which I
understand havo startled New York. I do not'
for one moment believe that the mondalnes of
Now York and Paris will unqualifiedly adopt
gowns of this nature, but I do believe that logi
cally tho fronts ot evening gowns will be higher
and the (backs lower. I am sending you a photo
graph of one of these gowns, because I want you
to see (If you have not already seen the opera)
what I consider a type of the 1920 costume. The
skirt Is particularly good. Tho lines are long
and the combinations ot color very effective.
Tho backles3 eff6ct startles, of course, but it is
not quite so sensational as It looks. Again, it
all depends on the spirit in which it is worn.
From present tokens a gown of this order will
express tho spirit, of 1920, just as the buff and
bluo expressed the spirit of 1776.
It Is In the "Spring Maid of 1920" that I think
"Sari" moat successfully points to the future.
This costume is in Spring colors, green and yel
low. The touches of blaok In the deBlgns are
necessary and not unsprlngllke, after all, for
Spring flowers come from the black earth.
Science Fixes the Actual Date of Death
By Rev. Abbe T. Moreux,
.Director of the Observatory of Bournes.
THE sun is a mass of blazing heat gases
1,300,000 timos larger than the earth.
Its temperature varies between 8.000 and
12,000 "degrees. However vast its heat may bo.
it, can be no exception to tho common law of
matter. , Every day it loses some of Its boat and
Is gradually growing colder. A moment will
come -Inevitably when its radiation will grow
weaker and after that will ccaso altogether.
That will mean death for us In cold and dark,
ness,'
"Trtere Is nothing surprising in this deduction.
Millions' of extinct suns which were once like
our luminary are known to exist in the heavens.
Every star It born and lives to die. The prob
lem is to Ax the date ot Its extinction.
In my opinion, the American astronomer who
has threatened us with death in five million
years has added nothing new to this subject,
which scientists have discussed -with good argu
ments for some fifty years.
.The first question we must ask Is, where did
the sun obtain the heat with which it maintains
our life in a manner so constant? Without
doubt we can observe in tho sun certain varia
tions of beat Our Winters and our Summers
tfre not exactly alike, but these variations are
comparatively small. They are subject to a
periodic flux, which brings back nearly tho same
condition after a certain lapse of time. The
climate of the earth baa not changed, within
historic times 'Before long we shall experience
exceptionally severe Winters and torrid Sum
mers. What colossal eourco of power keeps up
the sun In this manner? With what mysterious
substances in this enormous furnace is fed?
The physicists Mayer and Helmnoltz hav
irivcn the best answer to thU question. The
sun was originally much larger than It is at
present. In obedlenco to tho laws of attrac
tion gaseous masses contract and become
smaller. The laws of physics teach us
that under those conditions a gas may
recover the heat which radiation causes
it to lose and which ts distributed In sur
rounding space. Calculations show that a
contraction of 25 inches a year in tho diam
eter of tho sun would cause Its heat to
remain constant for thousands ot years.
The sun has a dlamotor of 926.964 miles.
Even supposing the diminution mentioned
occurred, no Instrument could reveal the
change In its diameter in a period of ten
centuries.
Thus, according to the mechanical theory
ot heat, astronomers who may live in the
year 12000 of our era will be ablo to know
that the sun's diameter has diminished
about five miles since the beginning of
telescopic observation,
in seven million years the sun -will still
radiate the same quantity of heat, but its
disk will appear to man one-fourth ot Its
present else. From that moment nothing
will bo able to check the loss of heat which
it will undergo through radiation. The
of Our Shrieking? Sun
average temperature of the earth 'will show the
effect. In our northern countries vegetation will
lose a large part of Its vitality. The crops will
no longer ripen, and the people will press toward
the equatorial region. A few million years after
that all earthly life will become Impossible. The
sun will be covered with dark spots, which will
gradually grow larger and larger.
When the Sun Is Dead. An Interesting Picture of a Scene on Frozen Earth by a French Artist.
In a few tens of millions of years after that,
the sun will have lost its place among the light
giving bodies of the heavens. It will .become a
black and Invisible body, a dangerous derelict
to the millions of stars moving
through space, but It will still con
tinue its course through apace.
From those facts and arguments
wo may conclude that humanity
will still exist for ten million years,
br porbaps fifteen million at tho ut
most. Wo must, however, remem
ber that accidents may occur to
shorten this life. A. healthy man'
may reasonably expect to live to
eighty, but an automobile may end
his career in an hour or a day. So
it is with our earth..
If the earth dies in the fullness
of time it will die from cold In, say,
ten or fifteen million years from
now, hut there is a host ot other dan.
gera that menace humanity, In the
ceaseless Journey which the earth
makes around the sun at the rate of
90 1-3 miles a second, may it not some
day come into collision with the heart
of a coloseal comet? In such a case
humanity may witness a frightful
spectacle, a, dreadful prelude to uni
versal death. 'What astronomer can
assure us that such a collision will
not occur within a few years? Barr
ing such an accident, hnwnvnr. thA
end of the earth from rnM mt
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