Fashion

Silk muslin - not the holy muslin of our mothers - is always the order of the day - along with expensive and precious lace around the decolletage, more square than pointed.
Don't hold back on ornamentation in delicate gem stones; emeralds, rubies, opals, turquoises; and don't go and mislead yourself with false moral conclusions; your sincerity will not be damaged, your finery risks nothing by being seen beside its false sisters.
The hat delights in excess: large fedora, with huge plumes, blocking the horizon, displeasing your neighbour in the theatre! microscopic mantle; a little bit more and it will only be a walk on part on the bill; but your head will not show a trace of it. No matter! for the moment, a fabulous bird, emerald in colour, gold or blue azure, delicately unfolding its long wings in the middle of a medley of pearled tulle.

Mantle in black chenille, strewn with dark stones, tucked up at the back by a clasp in black diamonds, allowing a few curls of hair to escape, triumphant rivals of the tuft of little feathers, already worn so much. A simple little bow of a delicate shade, sky blue in preference, cast into this rather severe ensemble like a livelier, more cheerful thought in the middle of a serious dissertation: so much for the hat.

The most important question of all, the dress! Great anxiety: the short jacket abandoned. Where would you want the great basques to take refuge, if not beneath a long dress, in the form of a round cloak or large jacket in the Louis XV style? You gasp, madam; for the last year you have had a jacket in otter fur; it cost you an arm and a leg; and now this vile fashion is forcing you to abandon it! The short jacket banished, Romeo banished! No, my dear Juliet, don't worry. The situation is not as bad as you think; "he has made his peace with God"; we have agreed to leave the matter to the aristocrats, in otter fur, in astrakan, their usual cut and their relative length. The great pelisse in wool is all the rage; it is garnished with gold lace, with jet; Medici collar, decorated with feathers, so that the edge of the dress, which is lined with shot silk, brings to mind those fabulous dull coloured insects which, when they open their wings, suddenly hit you with sparkling reflections. This dress then is both sober and serious; but the way you wear it changes the character, the effect; and if I may be so bold as to offer some advice to the imprudent fisher who is approaching this Lorelei, I would say...
Nothing today; we will come back to it next time, and then we shall tackle the ball gown: that is to say the infinite!

The round hat is still waiting for the most blazing rays of the sun to brighten it up; but we can already predict that its brims will be large, the crown shallow and with boundless imagination in its positioning of feathers and flowers.
- Below that the clothing.
The large jacket is always preferable for the elegant figure; it can be worn long, in the style of Louis XV with lapels, in simple wool or richly adorned with a mixture of jet and matt embroidery.

The half-length cape is still all the rage; but, the shops supplying the latest fashions having taken over this creation, the mission of our dressmakers has become more and more delicate: to triumph over banality, that is everything! they have succeeded. - The cape in fine wool or in Sicilian with its Mephistophelian shape or, if you prefer, Henri II, with its trimmings a mixture of jet and gold, its fringes of jet or large sections of lace; its Medici collar but cut lower to allow greater freedom of movement for the neck, lined with a smooth fabric, either light or dark, that is "the last word". Above all avoid clothing embroidered with jet cobochons, the carbuncle of the season! it has fallen into vulgarity; it is yesterday's star attraction, as Sarcey said.
The spring dress has not yet made its appearance felt; but the few specimens I have seen from our great dressmakers give me license to talk to you about them with some conviction. Above all let us be joyful for the freedom that prevails there. One can wear anything; everything is acceptable in the name of elegance and taste, also good the large, flapped skirt with waistcoat embroidered with stylish designs, but the bodice with embroidered or plain waist band leaving it to the same material to play its little games in the form of pleats and frills.

I have seen a grey dress of impeccable taste. Where? How? I'll give you four guesses, I'll give you ten, I'll give you a hundred! I shall restrain myself simply to giving you a detailed description of it.
The dress in question is in a shade of light grey; the fabric of fine wool recalls the velvetiness of corduroy, so sought after this winter, and yet at the same time as light to wear as a headscarf. The skirt, with a short train, is lined with taffeta; this latest innovation avoids the bottom of the skirt and simplifies matters for those who have not been given the task of caring for the municipality and sweeping the streets.
Lace that imitates old Venetian trims the bottom of this skirt, the stuff of which is cut entirely on the bias, which adds much to its elegance. The trimming of ribbon that moderates the lace calls to mind that of the corsage all strewn with embroidered steel pearls, the front of which ends in pleats on a waitcoat of Venetian lace, which then continues around the waist in the form of a basque.
A dress in black was able to charm me equally. But wouldn't it be better to stop at the grey note? "Perhaps". It is on this word that one of Alexander Dumas' comedies ends (A Woman's Torment). Why say anything more but release you from Shooting Star?