No. 736.

Vol. 62.

ON

Observations

LONDON FASHIONS.

The leading styles for Spring appear. to be now settled, but we are fain to confess that there is nothing very new or very original about them at present. What the more advanced season, settled weather and warmer days may do, remains yet to be seen; at present it may be truly said that a lady can wear anything.

But this remark, which has grown from oft repetition into a truism, must be accepted with the proverbial grain of salt, and above all, it must be acted upon with scrupulous care, forethought and discretion.

A lady can wear anything, yes-anything that becomes a lady, and every female of good taste may at the present time allow her good taste full scope without fear of "being out of fashion," whatever be the style of dress in which she chooses to appear.

But good taste, by which we mean artistic taste, educated taste, refined taste, and above all, quiet taste, must reign supreme.

No extravagances must be indulged in, no humpy sleeves, no undue distention of the back draperies, no violent contrasts of colour; and in the street, the blending of even harmonious shades must be used cautiously.

Blendings of colour and arrangements of drapery which harmonise, are in perfect keeping with a drawing-room or artistic boudoir, and can be worn with propriety in a carriage, are out of place on the promenade, or at a railway station, and on these occasions, it is the quiet dress, subdued in tone, and not remarkable in cut, which points out the lady.

Our Journal has for many years been the recognised medium for the diffusion of those quiet and elegant styles which now more than ever mark in her dress the English gentlewoman, and our plates for this month show that our aim to lead taste in this direction is very faithfully followed.

Plates 1, 2 and 3 contain the latest ideas in

style and colour both for home and promenade dresses, and are full of interest to the dresswearer and dressmaker, enabling the one to see at a glance the style which will best suit her own taste, and giving unusual facilities to the other in the art of making up the costume selected.

On plate 4 will be found our half-yearly Mantle Plate, which has been prepared this season with unusual care to suit the requirements of our largely-increasing supporters. A glance at it, and at the reverse views of the garment on plate 7, will give our readers a just and conclusive idea as to the styles of outdoor garments for the coming season.

The new and elegant cape, an illustration of which is shown on page 3, is likely to be an immense favourite. It can be made in any material, and affords great scope to ladies of artistic proclivities in its embroidery, or other ornamentation.

Black is much worn this season, not only by those in mourning, but from choice.

It is not unnatural that this should be so, as there are many reasons why the sombre hue should be chosen though the wearer herself have not lost a relative.

The fearful thinning of our ranks in Egypt, the private bereavements in many noble families, the appalling disaster at Shoeburyness, in which two brave officers found a violent death without the glory usually attendant on a soldier's passage to the great Beyond, have had an effect on public taste, and though life and society must go on as usual, signs of these calamities are observable in the costumes exhibited on many occasions.

But black, though it is sombre, need not be doleful wear.

Jet is abundantly used to brighten black dresses, both for day and evening toilettes, and for the latter, colour may be advantageously introduced in loops or rosettes of ribbon, tufts of feathers, or bunches of flowers.

A plain black dress, either of silk, satin, or velvet, may be permanently smartened up by adding to it a jetted tablier and plastron.