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Show The New Bathing Suits Artistic Masterpieces I DO you remember the old-tlmo bathing suit, gentle reader, that garment that would havo made the Venus de MIlo seem do- formed? Do you remember the clumsy woolen goods of which It was made. Its long, full skirt, the bulging blouse I worn over the uncor.ue.ed figure. Po you recollect by any chanoo the bathing bath-ing bonnet which went with it, a hid- ' ecus thing like a straw coal-hod? If your memory does hold this pic-ture pic-ture then It will also piece out the de- j tails, the thick legs, shoeless feet and cotton stockings which finished off tho 1 grotesque figure which tho bather j presented. In the dark age? of which I write-bathing write-bathing In the sea was pursued strictly as a healthful exercise and not at all as a moans of exhibiting otherwise' concealed beauties. In the days when thli useful bathing suit was the fash-Ion fash-Ion ladles who woro it hid themselves as quickly as might be In the waves. are laced at the front, and somo at) the side, and some at tho back They are as shapely as leather ones and worn with silk stockings they make What may be called a glorious ensemble. ensem-ble. Bathing hats this year arc also of charming shapes; gone is the straw coal-hod, arrived has the Tommy At- , kins, or Tlpperary model. Time was when it was thought that the bright handkerchief knotted about the head was the last word In fetching headgear head-gear for the bather, but this Is no longer so. Now she may have the Tlpperary hat, or a Tarn o' Shanter, or a Turkish fez, all made of rubberized satin and as beromlng as anything that can be imagined, for, whisper it, a part of every bathing costume these days Is the false bang, which lies so engagingly on the forehead of the bather. 1 fflBHTWwBPKFKtfTBffHHFaMHBIrifi and mi emerging therefrom made with all speed to cover. But this was twenty-five years ago and In the quarter of a century which has elapsed the bathing suit has emerged from a chr sails into a butterfly butter-fly It is now the most gorgeous garment gar-ment In Mademoiselle's wardrobe. It is a poem; a symphony; a picture, and the zenith has been reached In this year's models. For instance the bathing shoes of this season are high ones and are laced quite as aro any dress shoes. They are made of salt water sotin with cork soles, and some of them As to the bathing suits themselves. they lit as perfectly as the ball-gown, j They are worn with corsets, and they ! . are as smart as your neighbor's little j ; boy. Black and white combinations aro ; used as much for them as for other ' sorts of gowns, and one of the most charming models seen in the shops is of black taffeta with a flaring skirt, ! ' and a snug bodice finished with white 1 satin collar, cuffs and waistcoat. The 1 olack satin high shoes which go with ; this are edged with white at the top; and have white laces. Who was the man w ho said that , A. black and white In combination Is the most conspicuous thing a woman can wear, more daring even than rod? Whoever he was he was wise, for after all the toilette Just described was really as much of a shock to the observers ob-servers as the 9carlet one worn last season by an American beauty at a Continental bathing resort. On this occasion a bathing machine drove down to the water's edge, and from It emerged directly a young woman with a scarlet coat wrapped about her. She advanced In it until the waves lapped her toes, when she threw It aside and revealed herself clad only in crimson satin skin-tight knee trousers and Jacket, with a perky scarlet cap upon her head. Of stock- ings and .shoes thc-ro were none, and to say that a thrill ran through the lookers-on is to put it mildly There is a fad this season among a certain set of bathers for wearing trousers instead of skirts and for abolishing abol-ishing stockings and shoes, but the now bathing suits and footwear are so charming that it is doubtful whether wheth-er this gains much headway. As for those who say that many of tho new bathing suits are never touched by water but aro used merely for what Is known as beach bathing that is a suspicion unworthy any but a degenerate mind. |
