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Show , MODERN DRESS SUITS. The Evening Attire Common to Gentle-man Gentle-man and Waiter Vagaries of Dissolute Fashion. 1 i OBSERVATIONS BY A FEMALF, The Dress Ooat of Today Has Neither the Coloring Nor Pictunsquenaei of Former Yearr. J occasions demand bright colors; dresa reform people have tiilkod themselves black in the face on the subject; even the tailors have tried to introduce changes, but to no effect. The brown and blue dress coats of a few seasons back were distinct failures. Even tho I Tuxedo, which was a variation if not an improvement, has been relegated to staff partiesand informal gatherings. A dresa coat is a very solemn piece of furniture. As many rules govern its manufiicture, j Its fit and its use as of old governed the construction of religions paintings. It ! is a positive crime to put it on before 6 I o'clock. ? E WA S a'Co-1 a'Co-1 n m b i a freshman. fresh-man. It was hie first dress suit. I knew it by tha nervous way in which he tried to avoid brushing , aside the coat ' tails when we sat down after the waltz, and by the conscious glance ho "occasionally gave nt the unusual un-usual expanse of shirt front. "How does it feel, Tom'f" I asked sympathetically. sympa-thetically. "Oh, fine," he replied blnshingly; "just a little as though I were not all here, though. Say, don't you think the vest is cut too low' Seems to mo 1 look all shirt. Who ever invented in-vented it, anyhow? The coat's bad enough, but why not have it buttoned up properly'" Then I explained to him how the only THE FASHIONABLE COAT OP 1S00. It is only a misdemeanor to wear it after sunrise. In the best circles such an eccentricity is charitably overlooked. Ward McAllister, in his great book for tho guidance of American youth, lays down one very important dictum. One must never be able to see the tails of his own coat. How one is to manage when the coat is taken off Mr. McAllister does not say. But really there is a great ad-! ad-! vantage in having a universal, unvary-j unvary-j ing evening dress. Would that woman-I woman-I kind were similarly blessed. Imagine a ' business man pondering, "What shall I wear to the Charity ball?" Just think how mortifying it would be for the impecunious im-pecunious youth to overhear cruel remarks re-marks such as "There goes Jones in that everlasting old pink and white," or "I wonder when Brown is going to shed that pale blue thine?" It is hard enough beauty of masculine garments lay in the correct keeping of a balance of lines aud curves, which was an inspiration on my part, and delighted me as much as it did him, because 1 never before saw the least beauty in what tho newspaper description de-scription of weddings call "the conventional conven-tional black." Who did invent it? In . looking over old books of costumes it is easy to seo that the swallowtail is merely a natural evolution of the cutaway. In England, as far back as 170, the gilded youth disported in a long tailed garment without any front. It flared open to show a waistcoat of gay silk or satin, laid iu folds. A huge stock en-veloped en-veloped the neck of the wearer quite up to his ears, and his long Fauntleroy curls fell around his face from under a cocked hat. The sleeves readied nearly to tho tips of the fingers, and the enormous enor-mous lapels of the coat extended wider than the shoulders. In France, however, how-ever, which is supposed to rule in matters mat-ters of dress, men still wore the elaborate elabo-rate court costume. With the close of to induce the men to go out as it is. If the extra burden of worrying over their clothes were laid upon them society would totter. There is one reform that might be effected. The waiter might be debarred from wearing the same kind of clothes as the gentlemen. It is annoying to ob-servo ob-servo a mere waiter wearing a better fitting fit-ting coat than your escort. To be sure there is a tradition that none but gentle-' men wear shawl collars, but as very few gentlemen ever wear shawl collars, and as the average woman doesn't know a shawl collar when she sees it, that distinction dis-tinction is of little practical value. Something ought to be done. Even a little difference in the cravat or the shirt front or the cut of the vest would be sufflciei!; or if the waiter could be induced to wear an expression a trifle less distingue and overbearing. Let Low forget that he is an Italian count THIS WAS STYLISH IN 1760. the Eighteenth century fripperies of eatiu, lace und jewels were laid asido. After a great war everything is fashioned fash-ioned a la militaire, so it is not surprising surpris-ing that during the reign of the first Napoleon Na-poleon coats with skirts buttoned back, or entirely sloped away, after tho grenadier grena-dier models, should have become popular. popu-lar. Tho dandy survived the Revolution, of course, but as dandies are the slaves and not the leaders of fashion, they con-tentod con-tentod themselves with exaggerating, but still following, tho new style. The dudo of liSOO wore skin tight fawn colored trousers with high tasseled boots, Varnished to the last degree, a belted coat with tails to the knees in the back, buttoned up to the neck in front. The immensely high collar was cut away to Bhow tho muslin stock, still worn, but not so aggressive as formerly. There was a quautii- of gold or silver embroidery em-broidery about his clothes and he wore any number of rings. It is not easy to trace tho adoption ol tho swallow tail as the only correct coat for evening wear. In the fashion plates of the fifties und sixties it was part of what was described as "the dress of ceremony," but it was properly worn on any dress-up occasion, no matter at what ! hour of tho day. It was almost always j made of colored cloth, green, brown or blue, and was worn with white drill I trousers, gay waistcoats and brilliant i 1810 WORN BY THE PRINCE REGENT'S SET. temporarily reduced financially, or else let the gentlemon contrive some way to label themselves when they go out evenings. even-ings. Rheta Louise Ciiilde. ' cravats. The muslin stock still lingered, giving place later to high pointed collars. col-lars. The coat collar was very high in the biick and rolling, like the collars now in vogue on ladies' jackets. The tails were very long and brass buttons were plentifully used Gentlemen wore their hats two or tiiree sizes larger than they do now. . The hair aud beard were less closely cut It is curious to note how the less conventional con-ventional the cut of the clothes the more the hair is neglected. In the days of flowing garments, Greek draperies, etc., the beard was religiously cultivated. Imagine Socrates with mutton chops ! or Plato with u waxed mustache! War- ! riors with their scant tunics of mail sac- j riiiced their beards as a matter of safety. I Since then men have shaved for style. ! As masculine dress grows more and more rigid aud plain the hair is cut shorter ( and the face more cleanly Bhaven. ; Among Englishmen, whose clothes are : trimmer than Frenchmen, the smooth j face predonuuates. Artists who affect cape overcoats and flaring ties naturally wear bangs and Van Dyek beards. The splendor of the days of George vi ie rourrti u..s neensnown in Mr. Mansfield's Mans-field's excellent delineation of the character char-acter of Beau Brummel. Of course in this workaday age wo don't want quite so much brilliance, but it is a little to bo regretted that all beauty has been elimi- ; Dated from men's clothes. It seems as though a littlo variety, if not in the cut at least in the color, of evening dress might be tolerated. It. is indisputable: that dead hlackwid white are m'wt try- i 'uij; to wear; every one admits that festi v ! |