Woman as Decoration

est destroyed. Who has not witnessed the mad mental confusion of women and men put to it to decide upon costumes for some fancy-dress ball, and the appalling ignorance di

costume is not a tragedy? Yet we know that the average woman, more often than not, stands stupefied before the infinite variety of materials and colours of our twentieth century, and unless guided by an exper

lanning a costume, whether for a fancy-dress ball

eness to occasion

kground you are to appea

ish to present to observe

those in use during period

those characteristic

obvious contributions to the costume, and those which a

spends far less money than she who has contracted the habit of indefinitene

annot wear, thousands fill the streets by day and places of amusement by night, who blithely

shionable outline, but so subtly adapted to her own type

It is a question of background again. Also you will observe that the costume which counts most ind

e best suited to each occasion when that occasion presents itself. Accepting this definition, we must all agree that beyond question the smartest women, as a nation, are English women, who are so fundamentally convinced as to the invincible law of

ut to be a tragedy, as they saw it, for though their cloth skirts were short, they were silk-lined; outing shirts were of crêpe-not flannel; tan boots, but thinly soled; hats most chic, but the sort that

AT

just below waist line in front and hangs in long, fine pleats (sometimes cascaded folds) under the arms, the ends of which reach below knees. The material is not cut to form sleeves; instead two oblon

of Art Woman in Gree

sy grace, tea-gown and evening dress. Both how and when still annoy us as a nation. On the street we are supreme when tailleur. In carriage attire the Fre

arly she can approach the outline demanded by fashion without appearing a caricature, which is another way of saying that each woman should learn to recognise her own type. The discussion of silho

one and all free to enjoy and learn. Nowhere else can the woman see so clearly presented the value o

st, Reinhardt, Barker, Urban, Jones, the Portmanteau Theatre and Washington Square Players, is values, as the artist uses the term-not fashions; the relative

t done so already, buy or borrow the wonderful Bakst book, showing reproductions in their colours of his extraordinary drawings, the originals of which are owned by private individuals or museums, in Paris, Petrograd, London, and New York. They are ou

ed in 1914, by G. Van Oest & Cie., of Brussels and Paris. The author, with a highly commendable desire to perpetuate for students a record of the most ancient speciments of Chin

s a generic term-finds inspiration through museums and such works as the above. This is particularly true as our little handbook goes into print, for the reason that the great war between

hown on the imported fashion dolls and made up in brocades from Ch

ng the Orient because it is remote from the great world struggle. We hear that Edmund Dulac (who has shown in a superlative manner, woman decorative, when illustrating the

re are many ways of getting valuable points. One of them, as we have said, is to walk through galleri

t this does not affect values. It is la ligne, the grand gesture

g, and for suggestions as to interesting colour against colour, she can have no higher author

f your house gowns in the same key as the hangings and upholstery of your room. White is safe in any room, black is at times too strong. It depends in part upon the size of your room. If it is small and in soft tones, delicate harmonising shades will not obtrude themselves as bla

ity of material. Beyond these points one may follow the outline demanded by the fashion of the moment, if desired. But remember that a beautiful, interesting room, furnished with works of art, demands a beautiful, interesting costume

AT

tries at certain periods of history, a sign of modesty), round necklace and

at which head-

itan Mus

in Got

owing point

eenth centuries), missals, "Hours" of the Virgin, and Breviaries, for the sole purpose of studying woman's costumes,-their colour, line a

possession of a Cistercian monastery, but now one of the treasures in the noted private collection made by the late J. Pierpont Morgan. The pages are of vellum and the illuminations show the figures of saints in jewel-like colours on backgrounds of pure gold leaf. The binding of this book,-sides of wood, held together by heavy white vellum, hand-tooled with clasps of thin silver, is

greens of the old illuminations in her hangings, upholstery and cushions, and as a striking contribution to the decorative scheme, costumes herself in white, some soft, clinging material such as crêpe de chine, liberty satin or chiffon velvet, which take the medi?val lines, in long folds. She wears a silver girdle formed of the hand-made clasps of

enaissance, not Gothic, and some think Memling had a hand in the work. The borders of the illumination, characteristic of the Bruges School, are gold leaf on which is painted, in the most realistic way, an immense variety of single flowers, small roses, pansies, violets, daisies, etc., and among them butterflies and insects. This border surrounds the pictures which illustrate the text. Always the marvellous colour, the astounding skill in laying it on to the vellum page