the rest.

(ULTURE has not always contributed to the economy Whereas, before the era of railways, women were content to dress in the country in the same simple fashion as the rustics about them, now that traffic with the world has enabled them to see how others dress, they demand new gowns as good as Though finery may be costly, a man does not care to see his womankind less attractive than their neighbours. A writer who knew human nature well, and had had opportunities of studying it in many lands, argued that this fact was a potent hindrance to plurality of wives. An extra wife who dressed well was an expensive luxury. Moreover, women who were arrayed like squaws, obeyed like squaws; but a love of finery armed women with the weakness of their sex-a most potent weapon. And this was a clever man's opinion, and an excellent argument in favour of chiffons.

Dress is peculiarly an object of interest at present, because so many varied styles are in fashion, and a well-dressed woman needs to bring knowledge and taste to bear upon it: a knowledge of materials, of form, of colour, and, above all, of what suits her own individuality.

Heavy brocades and rich materials are allowed to fall in straight lines or massive folds, so that the beauty of the stuff can be seen to the best advantage; but soft mousseline-de-laines, nun's veiling, Bengaline and Oriental silks, are chosen for the grace with which they drape. The two accompanying dresses show how well Bengaline and Oriental silk can be adapted to ordinary evening gowns. The Bengaline is of the new steelygrey shade, which is of the nature of an old-fashioned colour called erewhile lavender. It is intermixed with piece-lace, and a rich Pompadour silk with a shot gold and grey ground, having satin stripes of the two tones, between which floral brocaded bouquets appear. The harmony of the Bengaline and the tint of the grounding are among the good points in this dress. The front drapery is entirely composed of the Bengaline, falling in easy folds. The back is half Bengaline, half Pompadour silk, slightly caught up at the waist, otherwise falling in straight lines. A panel drapery of the piecelace at one side is secured by a tasselled bow. The bodice is made with silk draperies crossing over a lace waistcoat, with a ribbon bow in front. Pleats are laid on the back of the bodice. The severe plain fronts are giving place to folds and gatherings of the material,

which very much soften the hardness of outline; but the sides of a bodice are now rarely alike. The collarbands are worn high, for a long throat is considered a beauty in woman in these days.

The soft cream silk dress is delightfully cool for summer, and, with two bodices, can be made to answer the double purpose of dinner and day wear, being suitable for garden-parties and other dressy occasions. The material wears and cleans well, and the more nearly it approaches to

the creamy aspect of a thick soaplather, the more fashionable.

Low

bodices - in London, at all events -are worn at most

evening parties during the season, and this one is simply made with a short sleeve and a broad sash. It fastens at the back, and just a band of lappetting lace (viz., having both edges waved) is

laid round the top. In the present instance Valenciennes is employed to edge the draperies, and the wide flounces introduced on the skirt are visible at the sides. The silk in front is caught up by a long loop of satin ribbon, starting from the waist. The back is almost straight; indeed,

among them bands of leather four or five inches wide, laid round the skirt and carried up the front of woollen gowns; they are bordered with gold braid about an inch wide. Suède kid in bold Renaissance designs, intermixed with filigree gold bullion, the groundwork all cut away, when laid on the material makes a very handsome trimming. More splendid and showy are the coarse woven gold Russian braids, embroidered with Turkish letters in a variety of shades and tones of the

the arrangement generally can be accurately gleaned from the picture.

Ireland is making great strides in her dress industries, and during the past months there have been several displays in the metropolis of some of the newest specimens of her home-made lace. Those on whom the designing falls have not only improved and extended old makes, but have introduced new notions, such, for example, as the crochet reticella, modelled on the Greek patterns, and so fine, good, and moderate in price, that it is being employed on many of the plain coloured pongee silks and washing gowns, and is sufficiently durable to be handed down for generations. Carrickmacross appliqué is better suited for evening gowns, so is the Limerick lace, the kind now made being fuller in pattern than that hitherto used.

Several new trimmings have been introduced of late,

same colour, well combined on one piece of stuff. such trimmings are

All

chosen with a due

regard to the shot and jardinière effects to be found in the stuffs of the year, which are called "chameleon glacé," and any other name that may occur to the fertile brain of the manufacturer, but they are always soft and lustrous in hue. Into the silks and metallic thread galons coloured stones are introduced. "And thicker down the front with jewels than the sward with drops of dew, so thickly shone the gems," exactly describes the appearance of many of the embroidered breadths introduced into the fronts of gowns.

Some of the galons are worked on crêpe lisse, so that the colour of the dress shows through and thus deepens the effect of the many tints with which they are wrought. Cream flannel in several widths is worked in the same manner, ready to be applied to both tennis and teagowns.

Belts are always more worn with summer than with winter dresses, and some new kinds in leather show repoussé designs like fish-scales or fine ivory carving. Steel and oxidised chains round the waist confine the fulness of some makes of gowns; as, for example, a woollen of the blotting-paper tone, with wide stripes, the bodice and skirt all cut in one, the former made with a rounded yoke of shot silk to match the material, which is gathered over it in some six or seven lines, and again gathered in points at the back and front of the waist. The skirt is hemmed round and allowed to

fall over a plain petticoat, or it can be caught up to suit the wearer's figure. One of these chain belts over the waist-gathering is decidedly an addition. This style of dress is just one which could be applied to most of the requirements of life. Without the yoke it would serve for evening, and it is sufficiently loose and unrestraining to answer the purpose of a tea-gown, which, by-the by, was a garment originally intended to be worn without stays. The idea of cutting all bodices on one plan has become long ago exploded. An endless variety is now made by the clever disposition of stripes. We have illustrated one (see page 426) of the newest adaptations. The gown is made in red and blue check

and stripe combined. The

back of the skirt is on the cross, forming two wing-folds, car

ried out by sewing together the edges of one pleat; it is not gathered into the waist, but the jelly-bag point thus formed mingles with the drapery. Two revers edged with lace are attached to the side diagonally, and so appear on the

The silk

to the hem with figured piece-lace over green. sleeve ends at the elbow, and is met by a puffing of the lace set in a velvet band at the wrist. The darker tone of the velvet gives a great deal of effect to the dress, especially by its introduction at the side. It is made with a long train, and a pocket basque after the Louis XV. order at the side. The trains are lengthening, and we are still in danger of the story repeating itself here, told of a certain French woman, who, while greeting her

cross; the lace also forms the side basque, for the bodice is not only cut on the cross, but folds one side over the other, showing a waistcoat of pleated silk, from which two pieces of lace turn outwards like a collar. The sleeves are gathered into a wide cuff, and are new in their arrangement. The silk is pleated here and there at the foot.

The tea-gown displays some fine gold embroidery and multi-coloured silk embroidery laid upon a velvet band, which appears on the left side and reappears at the waist. A gold bullion-tagged fringe is introduced on the sleeve and collar. The gown is made of a cream Oriental silk, printed with a design of conventional grass in a tone which goes by many names: reseda, mousse d'eau (closely resembling the scum which rises on a marshy pool, and not so bright as pomme or the Sherwood green), &c. The front is draped from the neck

hostess, is reminded by the maître d'hôtel that her gown is caught in the carriage door below.

We rarely have too much

sun in England,

but it comes in

year. Nothing looks so well as white when Sol gleams through the trees in the country. Those who keep their hats on all day are apt to find them heavy, and, in lieu of straw, gardenhats are now made of embroidery on muslin,

some of the or-
dinary good
well-covered de-

signs, some of
guipure, but all

washable and
light, in the pic-
turesque shapes

of the Rubens and Gainsborough order. The drawn sun-bonnets now are made in pretty shapes too. A new tennis hat has this merit, that it is composed of a soft muslin which has been named "cloud," from its lightness, and that it can, by a touch of the hand, be turned up from the face during play, and be allowed to shade the face at other times. A parasol made of a good strong serviceable lace has been arranged in the same light summer-like fashion to go with them.

The reigning fashions favour tall and slender women, and the style of the gown with the front reflected in the looking-glass (see above) is one that would hardly be suited to a short woman. It commends itself by its simplicity. It is a blue voile, the edge braided in large palm-leaves with white braid, a red moire ribbon tied at one side. The bodice has white bands introduced,

of society have till lately been in town, receiving and gracing every gala gathering. To hospitable and splendid entertainments two or three thousand invitations are sent out by such hostesses as the Duchesse de Doudeauville, the Princesse de Sagan, the Baronesses Adolphe and Gustave de Rothschild. The theatrical The theatrical season is now drawing to an end, and at its close appears to strive to eclipse the brilliancy of its opening.

On all sides opportunities offer for the display of that taste in dress of which Paris is the fountain-head. The great houses are at work deep into the night, manufacturing original costumes for races, poetic dresses for

stuffs and colour to enhance the personality of the wearer. The costumes in which this supreme artist has lately appeared in Adrienne Lecouvreur, Francillon, Fédorah, Thérèse Raquin, and La Dame aux Camélias, were principally designed by Laferrière. One of these, for Francillon, was a delicately radiant dress of white brocade woven with silver and gold, and strewn with a pattern of wild roses. The long train was lined with moss-green velvet; this upper dress opened over a skirt of tender rose-colour, veiled with interlacing draperies of rose and green crêpe de Chine.

Another harmonious dress was of beige plush em