Pine Bluff Daily Graphic

Possible by trimming it with this style of cape and stole combined.

Summer weather in any climate at the present time is so changeable that there are many days when a coat or wrap is necessary, and consequently the smartest gowns are now made with a jacket to match the skirt. With these there may or may not be a waist to match, for although fashion has decreed very positively that a waist to match the skirt is necessary in every smart costume with light clothes or any material at all heavy, a waist of the material is very warm and too heavy to be comfortable, so that the thin waists are as fashionable as ever, but with them are worn a short jacket or wrap to match the skirt.

Fichus are again fashionable and the fichu effect is often given in quite heavy materials as well as in the thin wash fabrics. When this fashion is becoming it is exceedingly so, and there is something very soft and graceful about a fichu that is properly adjusted with not too much fulness around the shoulders and with the long ends in front tied in a soft knot and then allowed to fall to the hem of the skirt, or, if more becoming part way down. Lace or embroidered ruffles are necessary if thin materials are used, but on many of the heavier coats there is nothing at all excepting the flat bands, and only the folds are used to a charming fad is the using of light cloths or silks for fichus and trimming them with broad bands of entre-deux either in the heavy or the light lace. The effect is a little severe and always good, and is so markedly different from the ruffled fichus as to make the fashion an exceedingly smart one.

The taffeta and chiffon wraps are the novelties of the season, quite unlike any wraps of last year and possessing a most delightful individuality. On the picturesque order, of course, but then that is in keeping with the fashions of the year, and, oddly enough, these can be worn with gowns of any kind. Pinked ruchings and ruffles trim the taffeta wraps, which at first glance seem to be merely straight wide scarfs, and which in most instances are shaped so that they are wider in the middle than at the end. In black, white or green, old fashioned colors, they are made, but all are on the same scarf order.

Fine old lace shows to the greatest advantage, and lace lovers have greeted the fashion with enthusiasm, finding at last an opportunity to wear real lace, so that its beauty will show to the best possible advantage.

A. T. ASHMORE.