The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 17, 1902, Page 7

50 YEARS AGO IWIDE' SKIRIS & DROOPING SHOULDERS HE evolution of fashion during ths t century was never better illus- > three photographs At a glanc the critical e than could reams on reams But what is not so conditions that are re- popularity of the mod ging gowns; for while cal side still adheres able to the up-to-date constant and persistent h for nov and variety. years ago, and even y fifty years ago, the orately colored skirts oved of the feminine the smooth and simple c, graceful ideas blouse, bolero and, implicity of outline aperies are tabooed. sion to anything in the , Panier or jupon. blouse, bolero or pos- the extreme length never long e no extra lemgth to ful form. skirt carried to such an cxireme must, whether clinging or wide, L f such simplicity as to be handled Never is it of constrained form or mposed draperies the general outline as devised practical side. These are of care- This is where s influence on the style of the day So whatever glamour there »out the reproduction of former th L t be tempered ventieth century restraint ere never was such a in the fril as is shown in this Woman desires magnificence—de- s it more now than ev She be beautiful—to be fascinating. st understand how who devise all T 0 have idle. y have gearched far and mear for just those beautiful ideas which will titillate the vanity of “her Ma- e P \ v spender.” And they®ave ceeued aamirably. The world is engrossed with regal do- ings on a regal scale with coronatic messages Engla and ) and heroi gentleme i ladies upon whose fauits t a misty veil, through which thel and their daring alone shi Dramatists in their searc elty in costumes and stage settings e ransacked every period since civilization began to record its do- ings in history 1 ing mate- es and heroines of the and ef] nth pirations from which her choicest ideas. 'he Du Barry, the Pompadour and the Queen Anne styles again reign suprem y stumes of the musketeer, the no- the marquise and the marechal ground work on which the novel styles for woman's dress in 1302 are built In paraphrase the hats, coats, facings, sleeves and other details’ reappear. Only at the skirts does the fashionable woman . draw the If The skirts of are. altogether too ungainly ake her own. This far-reaching influence of the drama o dern fashions was never more strikingly illustrated than in the costum- ing of the Miller company during the present season at the Columbia Theater. As shown in these three pictures of Miss Dorothy Tennant the repertoire of plays covered a range of over a century and a balf. Indeed, the dressy side of the re- pertoire has been a veritable kaleidoscope of all the styles of the past hundred and fifty years carried out with all that elab- oration of artistic detall which has given Mr. Miller an international reputation as an actor-manager. Every model was per- fect. Of romantic plays there is an unending variety, but of plays that display the fashions of a half-century ago *‘Trelaw- ney of the Wells,” with which Miller opened his engagement, is the only one that has made a lasting success. As a modern costume play it is one of the most interesting chapters in the evolution itself is simple to the point , but the costuming was well curiosity, and women flocked to the Columbia to see how Margaret Anglin and her sister ar- tists would manage the swinging hoop- s flat hats, the hair nets and the pegged-top boots of the without making themselves To contrast with “Trelawny as well as in costumes and settings, ‘“The THE SUNDAY CALL. & THE BERTHA. Gay Lord Quex’” was put on for the sec- ond attraction. The gowning was dis- tinctly modern, and the contrast between the soft clinglnfi robes and the unruly hoopskirts of t startling. Then came “The Adventure of the Lady Ursula,” in which the gownmaker had betaken himself back over a century and e first play was truly a half for the ac® e and appropriate wardrobe, and after-that the very latest examples’ of the up-to-date Parisian modiste’s art were displayed in “The Wil- derness,” which, by the way, will be re- vived again, to alternate with *“Camille,” for a week before the engagement closes. Following “The Wilderness,” “The Only Way".has. held the boards for the past two weeks, giving us a splendld opportu- nity to study the fashions created by the unfortunate Queen of France, Marie An- toinette, before the mob that was respon- sible for the Reign of Terror executed her This same period cor- responds with the stately gowns of our own revolutionary times. And later if Miller's present programme 1s carried out we will have still greater contrasts in the evolution of fashion dur- ing the past century, when “Frocks and and “Mrs. Dane’'s Defense,” both modishly modern, are staged to alternate on the guillotine. shows both the English and the colonial styles of Martha Washington's days. But whatever may be said of the fad for ‘“‘romantic” mains that the dressmaker's” those times was not Beautiful were the women no Queenly, gracious, superb and even regal Works of the old masters beyond reproac! ir. appearance. tell us that. But they tell us, too, that the gowns were badly cut, and fitted even worse. The corsets were worse than the modern straitjacket. Hence the romantic school is not fol- lowed to a nicety. We take what is de- sirable and leave the rest. What we take we twist and turn until only the expert could recognize its source. In this adaptation of historic styles the sieeve plays the all-important part, e the vast difference in In the elaborate cuffs and the puffed effects especially is the most pep- ular revival to be noted. Still much of ght, artistic wear that characterized he French court in the days of its great- est magnificence were made applicable to summer styles. The embroideries, garni- tures, light fabrics, dainty colors, lingerie touches, drawn effects and applique will be ela ted upon for winter wear, in a manner which even the richest Prin- cesses of past history could not afford. Indeed there are laces made by m: chinery to-day equal to those worth a XKing’s ransom in the olden times and tnese almost any woman can wear now. A circumstance that has made the: fashions so remarkably popular is the that to the present generation they triking in their newness. rying chapters. The rising tide of pros- perity has brought out the best goods from the plainest materfals for popular wear, to the magnificent silk-lined et mines of the rich. And while the famous arbiters of New York and Parisian styles can continue to draw upon the fashion plates of the roseate past the scale of extravagance and magnificence will con- tinue to ascend. Prosperity. indeed, means rare fabries, and this year the craze has been for th sheerest of sheer materials, in such amaz- ing variety that in the establishments of the most noted Parisian couturieres an entirely different collection of models is shown in the afterncon from those on view in the morning. These historic ex- hibits are literally panoramlec. In these displays, too, the most extrav- agant ideas imaginable have been work- ed out. This season Parisian women think nothing of spending from 3000 to 8000 francs for an Irish point lace dress, previding it combines all the most beauti- ful ideas that can be gleaned - from a study of the evolution of women's gowns through several centurles.