I. WOMAN DECORATIVE IN HER GARDEN:WOMAN DECORATIVE ON THE LAWN

<< WOMAN DECORATIVE IN HER SUN-ROOM

WOMAN AS DECORATION WHEN SKATING >>

know always uses her last Summer's muslins and wash silks, shoes, slippers and

hats in her sun-room during the Winter. In her wardrobe there are invariably a lot of

sheer muslins, voiles and wash silks in white, mauve, greys, pinks, or delicate

stripes, the outline following the fashion, voluminous, straight or clinging, the

bodice tight with trimmings inset or full, beruffled, or kerchiefed. Her hats are

always entirely black or entirely white, in type the variety we know as picturesque,

made very light in weight and with no thought of withstanding the elements. The

woman who knows how, can get the effect of a picture hat with very little outlay of

money. It is a matter of line when on the head, that look of lightness and general

airiness which gives one the feeling that the wearer has just blown in from the

lawn! The artist's hand can place a few simple loops of ribbon on a hat, and have

success, while a stupid arrangement of costly feathers or flowers may result in

failure. The effect of movement got by certain line manipulation, suggesting

arrested motion, is of inestimable value, especially when your hat is one with any

considerable width of brim. The hat with movement is like a free-hand sketch, a hat

without movement like a decalcomania.

If the owner of the sun-room is resting or invalided then away with out-of-door

costume. For her a tea-gown and satin slippers are in order, as they would be under

similar conditions on her furnished porch.

If the mistress of the sun-room is young and athletic, one who never goes in for

frou-frous, but wears linen skirts and blouses when pouring tea for her friends, let

her be true to her type in the sun-room, but always emphasising immaculate

daintiness, rather than the ready-for-sport note. A sheer blouse and French heels on

white pumps will transpose the plain linen skirt into the key of picturesque

relaxation, the hall-mark of sun-rooms. More than any other room in the house, the

sun-room is for drifting. One cannot imagine writing a cheque there, or going over

one's monthly accounts.

We assume that the colour scheme in the sun-room was dictated by the owner and

is therefore sympathetic to her. If this be true, we can go farther and assume that the

delicate tones of her porch gowns and tea gowns will harmonise. If her sun-room is

done in yellows and orange and greens, nothing will look better than cream-white

as a costume. If the walls, woodwork and furniture have been kept very light in

tone, relying on the rugs and cushions and dark foliage of plants to give character,

then a costume of sheer material in any one of the decided colours in the chintz

cushions, will be a welcome contribution to the decoration of the sun-room.

Additional effect can be given a costume by the clever choice of colour and line in

a work-bag.

CHAPTER XI

I. WOMAN DECORATIVE IN HER GARDEN

N your garden, if you would count as decoration, keep to white or one

colour; the flowers furnish a variegated background against which your

costume of colour, grey or white stands out. The great point is that your

outline be one with pictorial value, from the artist's point of view. If merely

strolling through your garden to admire it, keeping to the well-made paths, a fragile

gown of sheer material and dainty shoes, with perishable hat or fragile sunshade, is

in order. But if yours is the task to gather flowers, then wear stout linen or pretty,

bright ginghams, good to the eye and easily laundered, while resisting the briars

and branches.

Smocks, those loose over-all garments of soft-toned linens, reaching from neck half

-way to the knees and unbelted, are ideal for garden work, and to the young and

slender, add a distinct charm, for one catches the movement of the lithe form

beneath.

You can be decorative in your garden in a large enveloping apron of gingham, if

you are wise in choosing a colour which becomes you. One lover of flowers, who

has an instinct for fitness and colour, may be seen on a Summer morning, trimming

her porch-boxes in snowy white,--shoes and all,--over which she wears a big,

encircling apron, extending from neck to skirt hem; deep pockets cross the entire

front, convenient for clippers, scissors and twine. This apron is low-necked with

shoulder straps and no sleeves. The woman in question is tall and fair, and on her

soft curling hair she wears sun hats of peanut straw, the edges sewn over and over

with wool to match her gingham apron, which is a solid pink, pale green or

lavender.

Dark women look uncommonly well in khaki colour, and so do some blonds. Here

is a shade decorative against vegetation and serviceable above all.

Garden costumes for actual work vary according to individual taste and the amount

and character of the gardening indulged in.

Lady de Bathe (Mrs. Langtry) owns one of the most charming gardens in England,

though not as famous as some. It is attached to Regal Lodge, her place at

Newmarket. The Blue Walk is something to remember, with its walls of blue

lavender flanking the blue paving stones, between the cracks of which lovely

bluebells and larkspur spring up in irrelevant, poetic license.

Lady de Bathe digs and climbs and clips and gathers, therefore she wears easily

laundered garments; a white linen or cotton skirt and blouse, a Chinese coat to the

knees, of pink cotton crêpe and an Isle-of-Jersey sun-bonnet, a poke with curtain, to

protect the neck and strings to tie it on. So while she claims never to have

consciously considered being a decorative note in her own garden, her trained

instinct for costuming herself appropriately and becomingly brings about the

desirable decorative effect.

PLATE XIV

Madame Adeline Genée, the greatest living

exponent of the art of toe dancing. She wears

an early Victorian costume (1840) made for a

ballet she danced in London several seasons

ago. The writer did not see the costume and

neglected, until too late, to ask Madame

Genée for a description of its colouring, but

judging by what we know of 1840 colours

and textures as described by Miss McClellan

(Historic Dress in America) and other

historians of the period as well as from

portraits, we feel safe in stating that it may

well have been a bonnet of pink uncut velvet,

trimmed with silk fringe and a band of

braided velvet of the same colour; or perhaps

a white shirred satin; or dove-coloured satin

with pale pink and green figured ribbon. For

the dress, it may have been of dove-grey

satin, or pink flowered silk with a black

taffeta cape and one of black lace to change

off with.

Victorian Period about 1840

Mme. Adeline Genée in Costume

II. WOMAN DECORATIVE ON THE LAWN

When on your lawn with the unbroken sweep of green under foot and the

background of shrubs and trees, be a flower or a bunch of flowers in the colour of

your costume. White,--hat, shoes and all, cannot be excelled, but colour has charm

of another sort, and turning the pages of memory, one realises that not a shade or

artistic combination but has scored, if the outline is chic. Since both outline and

colour scheme vary with fashion we use the word chic or smart to imply that

quality in a costume which is the result of restraint in the handling of line, colour

and all details, whatever the period.

A chic outline is very telling on the lawn; gown or hat must be appropriate to the

occasion, becoming to the wearer, its lines following the fashion, yet adapted to

type, and the colour, one sympathetic to the wearer. The trimming must accentuate

the distinctive type of the gown or hat instead of blotting out the lines by an

overabundance of garniture. The trimming must follow the constructive lines of

gown, or have meaning. A buckle must buckle something, buttons must be used

where there is at least some semblance of an opening. Let us repeat: To be chic, the

trimming of a hat or gown must have a raison d'être. When in doubt omit

trimming. As in interior decoration, too much detail often defeats the original idea

of a costume. An observing woman knows that few of her kind understand the

value of restraint. When turned out by an artist, most women recognise when they

look their best, but how to achieve it alone, is beyond them. This sort of knowledge

comes from carefully and constantly comparing the gown which is a success with

those which are failures.

Elimination characterises the smart costume or hat, and the smart designer is he or

she who can make one flower, one feather, one bow of ribbon, band of fur, bit of

real lace or hand embroidery, say a distinct something.

It is the decorative value gained by the judicious placing of one object so that line

and colour count to the full. As we have said in Interior Decoration, one pink rose

in a slender Venetian glass vase against a green silk curtain may have far more

decorative value than dozens of costly roses used without knowledge of line and

background. So it is with ornaments on wearing apparel.

III. WOMAN DECORATIVE ON THE BEACH

With a background of grey sand, steel-blue water and more or less blue sky, woman

is given a tempting opportunity to figure as colour when by the sea. That it is gay

colour or white which makes decorative effects on the beach, even the least

knowing realise. Plein air artists have stamped on our mental visions impressions

of smart society disporting itself on the sands of Dieppe, Trouville, Brighton, and

where not. Whatever the period, hence outline, white and the gay colours impress

one. Most conspicuous is white on woman (and man); then each colour in the

rainbow with its half-tones, figures as sweaters, veils, hats and parasols; the striped

marquise and gay wares of the venders of nosegays, balloons and lollypops. The

artist picks out the telling notes when painting, learn from him and figure as one of

these.

On the beach avoid being a dull note; dead greys and browns have no charm there.

What is true of costuming for the beach applies equally to costumes to be worn on

the deck of a steamer or yacht.

Table of Contents: