BLOUSE of plain white and all-over embroidery; the model is also good when made of one material. whatever, and are made elaborate only by the tuckings, ruchings, shirrings, and pleatings that are used. Wash fabrics of all kinds are immensely fashionable, and there are charming muslins and many new materials that do not cost over fifteen or twenty cents a yard, and often less. These can be made up after the latest styles, and are as effective as silk or more expensive qualities of fine veiling. have with us the kimono tea-gown, the dressing-gown, combing-sacque, house gown, opera cloak, medium-length wrap, bath robe, and a whole array of the most cunningly built little kimono jackets and boleros that ever feminine eyes feasted upon. This season the kimono reigns supreme, and of course it is the desire of every woman's heart to own a real Japanese or Chinese kimono, since the French and American materials made up in this style, however lovely, are never quite the same as the artistic triumphs produced by the skill of Oriental decorators and workmen which, however, are very costly. WRAP made of a Mandarin's coat, embroidered for a royal personage. It is a fad to have a beautiful house gown or tea - gown of Japanese make, and these are selected in the most beautifully embroidered crêpes and satins and silks, crêpe being a favorite, as its beauty is so soft and delicate and its folds so graceful. The obi, or sash, is worn, too. Beyond the fad for all things Oriental that has swept the country, beyond the beauty of the kimono materials and the comfort of their manipulation, there is a reason for their popularity more deep-seated than most reasons for the following KIMONO DRESSING GOWN of silk embroidered in iris flowers and leaves, and with stripes of leaves and flowers for trimming. SILK KIMONO embroidered with pine trees, birds, and foliage effects. graceful combination of sleeve and drapery of varying lengths, such as the Japanese kimono is. The Chinese kimono is made of rich silks and satins handsomely embroidered, and usually faced with bands of superb embroidery and lined with satin or silk as fine as that which forms the garment. The Japanese kimono, on the contrary, may be of the heaviest of satin and silk, or of the thinnest; of the most exquisitely tinted and embroidered crêpes that the eyes could behold, or of dainty little cheap cotton crêpes that are as pretty as possible for the purpose. The Japanese sometimes leave portions of the robe undecorated as a contrast to the decorations upon the remainder, but the Chinese invariably cover their garments with embroidery in many colors-all perfectly harmonious, however. To the fashionable woman one of the charms about a kimono is the fact that it is distinct in its decorative pattern from any other similar robe, unless the material is cut from a piece of goods and made up in America. No two handsome kimonos are alike, for each has been embroidered with the individual design of some royal house or ancient family in China or Japan. Especially happy the woman who secures one embroidered in dragons and peacocks, for these belong to royalty alone, and both the workmanship and the material are of the finest. Cherry blossoms, chrysanthemums, and butterflies, too, are notable designs and very rich needlework. Chinese mandarin coats - miscalled by most people kimonos-are the sort generally used for opera and evening wraps, and these are sometimes altered to suit our climate and attire by adding to them high collars, made of the embroidered parts of a mandarin's skirt, the full sleeves gathered into a cuff. |