MODELS
An historical interest attaches to fashions in women's costuming, which
the practised eye is quick to distinguish, but not always that of the
novice. Of course the most casual and indifferent of mortals recognises
the fact when woman's hat follows the lines of the French officer's cap,
or her coat reproduces the Cossack's, with even a feint at his cartridge
belt; but such echoes of the war are too obvious to call for comment.
PLATE XXXII
Madame Geraldine Farrar as _Carmen_.
In each of the three presentations of Madame Farrar we have
given her in character, as suggestions for stage costumes or
costume balls. (By courtesy of _Vanity Fair_.)
[Illustration: _Courtesy of Vanity Fair_
_Mme. Geraldine Farrar in Spanish Costume as Carmine_]
It is one of the missions of art to make subtle the obvious, and a
distinguished example of this, which will illustrate our theme,--history
mirrored by dress,--was seen recently. One of the most famous among the
great couturières of Paris, who has opened a New York branch within two
years, having just arrived with her Spring and Summer models, was
showing them to an appreciative woman, a patron of many years. It is not
an exaggeration to say that in all that procession of costumes for cool
days or hot, ball-room, salon, boudoir or lawn, not one was banal, not
one false in line or its colour-scheme. Whether the style was Classic
Greek, Mediæval or Empire (these prevail), one felt the result, first of
an artist's instinct, then a deep knowledge of the pictorial records of
periods in dress, and to crown all, that conviction of the real artist,
which gives both courage and discretion in moulding textiles,--the
output of modern genius, to the purest classic lines. For example, one
reads in every current fashion sheet that beads are in vogue as
garniture for dresses. So they are, but note how your French woman
treats them. Whether they are of jet, steel, pearl or crystal, she
presses them into service as so much _colour_, massing them so that one
is conscious only of a shimmering, clinging, wrapped-toga effect, à la
Grecque, beneath the skirt and bodice of which every line and curve of
the woman's form is seen. Evidently some, at least, are to be gleaming
Tanagras. Even a dark-blue serge, for the motor, shopping or train, had
from hips to the bust parallel lines of very small tube-like jet beads,
sewn so close together that the effect was that of a shirt of mail.
The use of notes of vivid colour caught the eye. In one case, on a black
satin afternoon gown, a tiny nosegay of forget-me-not blue, rose-pink
and jessamine-white, was made to decorate the one large patch-pocket on
the skirt and a lapel of the sleeveless satin coat. Again on a
dinner-dress of black Chantilly lace, over white chiffon (Empire lines),
a very small, deep pinkish-red rose had a white rose-bud bound close to
it with a bit of blue ribbon. This was placed under the bertha of cobweb
lace, and demurely in the middle of the short-waisted bodice. Again a
robe d'interior of white satin charmeuse, had a sleeveless coat of blue,
reaching to knees, and a dashing bias sash of pinkish-red, twice round
the waist, with its long ends reaching to skirt hem and heavily
weighted.
Not at once, but only gradually, did it dawn upon us that most of the
gowns bore, in some shade or form, the tricolour of France!