A LADY'S PYJAMA.
From a recently-published book I gather the following ideas, and as they coincide with what I am always impressing on my readers with reference to tight dresses and stays, I quote them gladly, as showing that there are other sensible women in the world, a class which I hope will every day increase:—"If you lace tightly, nothing can save you from acquiring high shoulders, abnormally large hips, varicose veins in your legs, and a red nose. Surely such penalties, to say nothing of heart disease, spinal curvature, and worse, are sufficiently dreadful to deter either maids or matrons from unduly compressing their waists? No adult woman's waist ought to measure less in circumference than twenty-four inches at the smallest, and even this is permissible to slender figures only. The rule of beauty is that the waist should be twice the size of the throat. Therefore, if the throat measure twelve and a half inches, round the waist should measure twenty-five. The celebrated statue know as the 'Venus de Medici,' the acknowledged type of beauty and grace, has a waist of twenty-seven inches, the height of the figure being only five feet two inches."
And, while on this subject, I must mention that some new stays, made of elastic material, have recently been advertised, which I should imagine were comfortable. Dr. Jaeger also has an elastic knitted bodice on his list, which is in reality a description of stays, and would afford sufficient support to a slight figure.
The illustrations to our dress instructions of this month show the prevailing characteristics of the gowns of the month, and also demonstrate how little change there is in them. As the majority of the community is still moving about at this season, most of the dress thought about and worn is suitable for travelling, as well as autumn. Now that we no longer think it needful to put on all our old clothes and to make our appearance grotesque, as was formerly the case, we very frequently follow the French and American plan, and have a special dress made for the tour we are about to undertake, which will do for day wear, as well as for journeying while we are away; then, furnished with a second nice black silk or satin for very best occasions, we are sufficiently well clad for every purpose. A dust cloak, travelling cloak, and short jacket are added, and some wise people take their fur capes; in fact, for short expeditions of a month or six weeks we do not like large trunks nor encumbrances, so we curtail all our wants, and are so much the happier, having less anxiety and worry. In addition to all this, we save our shillings in fees, and charges for over-weight, very considerably, and, when we are rid of the heavy trunks, last, not least, we break no backs.
While I am on this topic, I must mention that the late Exhibition (the Healtheries) was of great assistance to travellers in showing how much can be done to decrease weight and bulk in every way, and setting wits to work to improve in all directions. Thus we have wonderfully improved waterproofed cloaks, hygienic boots and shoes; and the improvement in trunks and bags is immense, in addition to their moderation in price.
The greatest unanimity prevails with regard to the small jackets, which seem patronised by young girls, as well as married women of every age. They are generally loose-fronted, but tight-fitting at the back, the fronts being lined with coloured silk. Many of them are braided, some gold braid being used, and many have a flat braided plastron in the front to button over and give a double-breasted effect. Serge in all hues seems very much liked, but the most popular are dark navy-blue and cream-white. Short cloaks, with sling-sleeves and hoods, are very much worn, also short mantelettes, like our paper-pattern for last month. These may be made in the material of the dress.
This autumn I must again mention the numbers of slightly full bodices of the "Garibaldi" and "Norfolk jacket" class that this season has brought out, to be worn with skirts of different materials. The different ladies' tailors of renown have taken up this idea, and it is probable that we shall see them greatly worn during the winter season. Some of these have a yoke, and some have a straight band on the shoulders, into which they are fulled. They are made in flannel, linen, and twilled silk, in all colours, striped, spotted, and plain, and with them the becoming fashion of the full basque has come in. Yoked bodices will be a decided winter style.
With these bodices there is generally a turned-down collar and long cuffs of velvet, and the belt should be also of velvet. In other cases the belt matches the full bodice, and is of moiré or Petersham ribbon.
The fancy for stripes as well as plaids is shown by the dresses in the illustration of the autumn fashions. The figure standing in the centre of our boating picture at the English lakes, shows a blue flannel or serge, made up with a striped material. The vest and revers show the stripe as well as the underskirt. The back of this dress is shown by one of the distant figures. The other wears one of the new blouse bodices, which will be the style of the winter. In the larger of our illustrations is shown the general tendency of the day. The cloaks and ulsters are of plaid, and there is but little change in the shapes. The girl in the sailor's hat shows one of the full white under-vests, the jacket being almost of a Breton style. The edge is braided, and so is one panel at the side of the skirt. The two bonnets, one in each picture, show one with strings and one without. They are not quite so high, and both have the horseshoe crown, which, as the last summer novelty, bids fair to be adopted for the autumn and winter.