The Latest Trend in Autumn Fashions — How to Revive Your Old Dresses

When the first breezes of autumn blow, madam, and you feel their shiver on your arms, you hasten to a jacket of light wool and throw it over your shoulders...

You may be too indolent to visit your wardrobe that very day, and put off the visit to some other time, when you are less busy and clearer of mind. But this visit to your wardrobe, in which you look over last autumn's dresses, is indispensable to every modern lady who is anxious always to appear in an elegant guise, and anxious, too, that this elegance should not cost her more than her budget can bear... For elegance and keeping pace with the latest fashion are two things necessary to every lady, on condition that they do not exceed her material means. And the whole art is for a lady to appear always elegant and attractive without this elegance costing her more than a little...

Here, madam, are some observations from the Parisian and American fashion houses which may be useful to you when you look over your wardrobe at the opening of autumn: they will give you an idea here and another there, and revive a dress you had despaired of mending.

The latest trend in autumn fashions is graduated fullness, for the daytime hours. This fullness scarcely shows in morning dresses, and it has been observed that it is fullness in front only; in afternoon dresses it increases visibly.

Striking in the fashions of Paris are jackets of colored lace, and the rounded frac with its narrow waist, which a lady wears over a black or dark skirt.

Sport and morning dresses are generally chosen from fabrics with small or large checks — and beware, madam, of wearing a dress of large checks if you are somewhat stout, for this kind of fabric is apt to bring out your stoutness beyond what it is. For afternoon and evening dresses, muslin, organza, voile, and lace are preferred.

If in your wardrobe there is an old tailleur whose lapels the sun has faded, I bring you the good news that the modern trend in autumn fashions leans strongly toward replacing these lapels with small collars turned down around the neck. As for the long sleeves, it is preferable to shorten them to below the elbow, and they may be raised above the elbow whenever a lady so wishes.

As for the colors current in autumn fashions, gray holds the first place among them all. On this the Parisian and the American fashion houses

agree alike; and after gray come brown and blue. Gold, crimson, and red are new shades entering into the trimming of dresses, with a certain generosity, or with a certain caution, according to the kind of dress...

And there are two novel trends that will be noticed this autumn. The first is this black scarf tied with a knot at the elbow, used for the first time. The other new thing is the cutting of collars, or 'necklines,' that stand away from the neck and reveal part of the chest.

And here, madam, are these three singular fashions, lately arrived from the houses of Paris, conveyed to us by Mr. Mansur Munsif, proprietor of the 'Mun Hayim' house of dressmaking and fashions.