Montreal Daily Star, 15 September 1914, page 8
Sombre Colors for this Fall Seen in Shops
The concerted splendour of Montreal’s fashion shops was to be seen today for the first time, when seven of the leading style centres on St Catherine Street made their formal Autumn openings. Despite war and sarkings of lean days to come this winter, Dame Fashion is no whit less giddy than she was last spring, for instance.
Her giddiness has taken the form of adopting sombre blacks and browns, however. The hats and suits are a deliberate attempt at pomposity and soberness. It is the garb of steppe-dwelling Cossack and moujik that has attracted the designer. There is much fur, and heavy woolly coats, and broadcloth redincote suits, with nothing but the glitter of an occasional jet metal button or ornament to relieve the depressing effect.
“Made in Canada”
If Russia supplied the casus agenda for the designers, it was an easy mode to bring to Canada. That is why the “Made in Canada” cry of some of the [illegible] is quite in order, and stylish, besides being patriotic. There is Hudson Bay [illegible] and Alaska wolf, and James’ Bay broad-tail to choose from. Ermine and skunk betoken the north again, as do muskrat and mink, and silver fox.
In the evening dresses maize and pink and absinthe (that’s a new one, a delectable green shade) supplant former blazing tangoes and vermilions.
Hats bear old trimmings, from pheasants tails to such sized pansies and gilt flowers as never garden produced. The hats are either tight-fitting cloches or enormous headgear a la Gainsborough. There are some cocket hats to give a military air and all manner of drooping plumes as a[illegible] contrast.
[illegible] impression that the fashion makers were in[illegible] for the fall things when the war rumors [illegible] made Runneymede to Cromwell. A stern sort of black and white season with some irresistible colors and geegaws bursting out of the austerity.
A Smart Costume
[illegible] The stuff is a broadcloth, pleated very mannishly in the back. The padded [illegible] of butler-propriety descends well below the knees; in the front in style of cut-away which was expected, the goods tipple out into as effect, almost eastern. The skirt flares full to the hips, and there is lace at the collar and cuffs. Black buttons are arranged to tell at the skirt, the front end of the coat and the sleeves.
Afternoon coats at this store, most of which are in the redingote-tail style are short, while those for street wear are very long indeed. Tete-de-negre, blue and tartans made in worsted or heavy tweed or rough furry cloth, like men’s great coats last year, are the basis for fall outdoor coats. A corduroy, called golf-tan in the lexicography of new styles, is the same shade of green as tarnished copper. It is cut with a cap and raglan sleeves. The costume is distinctive.
An afternoon dress, canary silk bodice with a black crepe tunic, is another of Ogilvy’s best. Tasselled sash, rows of little cloth-covered buttons, and a double-folded loop on the skirt, show an expert touch.
A noticeable hat is white satin, with a bandeau of some scraggly-hair fur around the bottom of the crown. The hair is long, and laps over the side of the brim showing itself a contrast to the white material of the hat shape.
A Bonnie Cap
Hamilton’s has a bonnie close fitting Scotch cap, with sable fur on a mahogany colored velvet. A fancy mount catches the fur in front. This is of silver filigree, wrought into a most wondrous rose.
A jet band encircles the vast expanse of a Gainsborough shape, and a jet buckle at the front, with a plume is the other ornamentation.
A brown velvet sailor hat is crowned with brown fur and has a gilded flower front and in the back. A yellow poppy as big as a pond lily, adorns another hat. Ostrich plumes are noticeable. There are no ordinary hats. All are either big or small by the extreme.
Brown chrome stripes in heave chiffon make an effective vest blouse. There are pockets in front, fit to support the staidest of heavy gold watch chains. The blouse is about the most masculine garment shown for the ladies’ wear in any of the stores.
Military swagger is given to one of Hamilton’s costumes by the close collared coat with a pleated under tunic which gathers the hips into shapely contour. The skirt is balloon shape, the most popular. Moss green is the color.
Louis Quinze Floor
The Louis Quinze Floor at Fairweather’s Ltd which is claimed as a unique departure in showing merchandise is in itself so imperious that the habits trailed over the floor fleur-de-lis in its carpet should be lovely, and they are. Taste and practice have collected some distinctive models here. The cut of a cape, the drapings of a bunched up skirt give one more to appreciate than to describe. There are even styles in corsetry, as Messrs Fairweathers will tell you. Mde Galbraith of New York, samples an interesting disquisition on the uses of aids to form, and is here for the Fall opening.
There is much fur trimming on Fairweather’s hats. A turban of black velvet has two ospreys effectively crossed. A chain of gold filigree about an inch wide, limits the top of another crown. Big purple tassles set with a simple jet band on a black velvet sailor are attractive.
Milady’s muff this year must be shaped like a melon. A variance is the Rugby football shape, which seems a similar design to the non-technical. Fox is the fur to wear in a set, and skunk mole, chinchilla, Russian or Hudson Bay sable are a la mode. Seals and Persian lamb, mink and ermine, are the thing for fur coats.
Monkey Fur
The acquisition of monkey-fur to adorn the hats of Montreal women is the prize Goodwin’s lady buyer at Paris carried off when she crowded on the platform of one of the last trains to the sea-board. Boxes and trunks were got through to England by dint of much persevering, and the stands and models and show-counters at Goodwin’s proclaimed Paris and the boulevards thereof.
Six quails spread their mottled wings and bodies over a brown velvet hat that is to adorn some graceful head. Two parrots gaze at one another, over the jet mount of a black turban. And between the birds comes the fur of the peanut loving monk, to serve as a graceful wavy bandeau on a pink satin sailor.
There is a little hat which comes to a velvet point at the front. Inside the cockade is a cerise plush. A long pheasant tail darts nearly two feet down over the ears, the daring hat looks peculiar. Slouched over the eye, tilted almost to slipping off. It is at once debonair and charming. Mlle the Paris buyer insists that all the new hats should be worn so perched well over the forehead, with the plume or the silver rose, or what ornament there be, set at the one possible angle. It is thus Chat they wear them in Par-ee.
“Battleship Grey”
“Battleship Grey” is a series of ominous little sheet-steel slivers, tempered and polished to glitter like jet. They certainly bristle like a British man-o-war, and incidentally are a real ornament to a hat.
That is one of the details in the “Made in Canada” infusion which Morgans have put into their opening. Midnight blue is a shade they introduce. They revivify bottle green as facing in a cocky little cockate, and corinthe, a regular Omar Khayam of a color, is a luscious new wine-shade. More huge pansies – these are purple ones, and some cream-yellow poppies with red pollen centres are features.
This is a Russian season, as the cloak and suit man at Morgan’s remarked. Roman stripe in an under tunic, pleated beneath the broadcloth of the outer coat, is an impressive costume he has to show. Coats are long, he said, and silk braid and velvet plentiful. A basket-ribbed French serge catches the eye. The suit is made into cape-sleeve affairs described as angel-wings in the lingo of the style salon. Coats of ratine, tartans and tweeds show an assortment that speaks well for the mills of Canada. Coats are long, half-belted, talled mannish. Blanket cloth for children’s coats might be adopted by their elders.
The Native Models.
High-trimmed native models, with all the variety of ornament that the French styles offer, are predominant at Scroggie’s. A black form with pink satin under-facing of the [illegible] and a keen-eyed jet bird between the wings. This is chic and effective.
A dun green is the body of another hat, with a tete-de-vegre feather bandeau. The sparkle of jet relieved the lack of brilliance. Ospreys are to be seen on several hats, and ostrich plumes are turned into service on a number of the season’s creations. Large artificial roses add a novel touch to some tight-fitting little turbans.
Russian capes and cloaks stand out in the Scroggie display of street wear. One tunic tartan had a girdle of crushed black satin with silk tassels and a military collar effect. In afternoon costumes the Medici collar, often with a short coat and tight fitting skirt, is to be remembered.
Evening wear runs to maize and pink and blue shades. Plum is very good, and of course, bottines must match whatever the tone of the dress color. Scarves and yoke-satins are in the same delicate shades.
Heavy furry cloth seem the most popular for great coats. Swooping curves or strict military angularity are varied in cut.
A Driscoll model at Dupuis Freres is one of the original costumes among all the fall openings. This was of French broadcloth, tunic style. The trimming is fur, Alaska sable, and the habit is lined with broche satin. A yoke in the skirt is of charmeuse silk, the very type of suit to go with a black turban, cerise-faced, which the living models wear with it.
There are some forty costumes paraded on living models for the benefits of Dupuis’ customers. A honey-comb coat, trimmed with plush at the collar and cuffs attracts more than one inquiry. The sleeves are raglan style and the coat is half-lined with satin.
The basque idea in evening dress is very popular here. One charmeuse silk dress has the basque, with an effective belt at the back. With this is a wide-brimmed had, with three shaded ostrich feathers. The hat is Alice blue plush faced with silk and trimmed with a silver rose and a bandeau.
A black velvet sailor is faced with cerise satin under the brim. Black and new middy flat trimming is used, and a cerise rose in front catches the crown. A plain silver filigree band encircled the top of the soft crown.
The entire store of Dupuis Freres is tastefully decorated for the opening. An extensive display of furs and dress silks are particularly attractive.
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Fashion notes, Montreal, 1914
Montreal Daily Star, 15 September 1914, page 8
Sombre Colors for this Fall Seen in Shops
The concerted splendour of Montreal’s fashion shops was to be seen today for the first time, when seven of the leading style centres on St Catherine Street made their formal Autumn openings. Despite war and sarkings of lean days to come this winter, Dame Fashion is no whit less giddy than she was last spring, for instance.
Her giddiness has taken the form of adopting sombre blacks and browns, however. The hats and suits are a deliberate attempt at pomposity and soberness. It is the garb of steppe-dwelling Cossack and moujik that has attracted the designer. There is much fur, and heavy woolly coats, and broadcloth redincote suits, with nothing but the glitter of an occasional jet metal button or ornament to relieve the depressing effect.
“Made in Canada”
If Russia supplied the casus agenda for the designers, it was an easy mode to bring to Canada. That is why the “Made in Canada” cry of some of the [illegible] is quite in order, and stylish, besides being patriotic. There is Hudson Bay [illegible] and Alaska wolf, and James’ Bay broad-tail to choose from. Ermine and skunk betoken the north again, as do muskrat and mink, and silver fox.
In the evening dresses maize and pink and absinthe (that’s a new one, a delectable green shade) supplant former blazing tangoes and vermilions.
Hats bear old trimmings, from pheasants tails to such sized pansies and gilt flowers as never garden produced. The hats are either tight-fitting cloches or enormous headgear a la Gainsborough. There are some cocket hats to give a military air and all manner of drooping plumes as a[illegible] contrast.
[illegible] impression that the fashion makers were in[illegible] for the fall things when the war rumors [illegible] made Runneymede to Cromwell. A stern sort of black and white season with some irresistible colors and geegaws bursting out of the austerity.
A Smart Costume
[illegible] The stuff is a broadcloth, pleated very mannishly in the back. The padded [illegible] of butler-propriety descends well below the knees; in the front in style of cut-away which was expected, the goods tipple out into as effect, almost eastern. The skirt flares full to the hips, and there is lace at the collar and cuffs. Black buttons are arranged to tell at the skirt, the front end of the coat and the sleeves.
Afternoon coats at this store, most of which are in the redingote-tail style are short, while those for street wear are very long indeed. Tete-de-negre, blue and tartans made in worsted or heavy tweed or rough furry cloth, like men’s great coats last year, are the basis for fall outdoor coats. A corduroy, called golf-tan in the lexicography of new styles, is the same shade of green as tarnished copper. It is cut with a cap and raglan sleeves. The costume is distinctive.
An afternoon dress, canary silk bodice with a black crepe tunic, is another of Ogilvy’s best. Tasselled sash, rows of little cloth-covered buttons, and a double-folded loop on the skirt, show an expert touch.
A noticeable hat is white satin, with a bandeau of some scraggly-hair fur around the bottom of the crown. The hair is long, and laps over the side of the brim showing itself a contrast to the white material of the hat shape.
A Bonnie Cap
Hamilton’s has a bonnie close fitting Scotch cap, with sable fur on a mahogany colored velvet. A fancy mount catches the fur in front. This is of silver filigree, wrought into a most wondrous rose.
A jet band encircles the vast expanse of a Gainsborough shape, and a jet buckle at the front, with a plume is the other ornamentation.
A brown velvet sailor hat is crowned with brown fur and has a gilded flower front and in the back. A yellow poppy as big as a pond lily, adorns another hat. Ostrich plumes are noticeable. There are no ordinary hats. All are either big or small by the extreme.
Brown chrome stripes in heave chiffon make an effective vest blouse. There are pockets in front, fit to support the staidest of heavy gold watch chains. The blouse is about the most masculine garment shown for the ladies’ wear in any of the stores.
Military swagger is given to one of Hamilton’s costumes by the close collared coat with a pleated under tunic which gathers the hips into shapely contour. The skirt is balloon shape, the most popular. Moss green is the color.
Louis Quinze Floor
The Louis Quinze Floor at Fairweather’s Ltd which is claimed as a unique departure in showing merchandise is in itself so imperious that the habits trailed over the floor fleur-de-lis in its carpet should be lovely, and they are. Taste and practice have collected some distinctive models here. The cut of a cape, the drapings of a bunched up skirt give one more to appreciate than to describe. There are even styles in corsetry, as Messrs Fairweathers will tell you. Mde Galbraith of New York, samples an interesting disquisition on the uses of aids to form, and is here for the Fall opening.
There is much fur trimming on Fairweather’s hats. A turban of black velvet has two ospreys effectively crossed. A chain of gold filigree about an inch wide, limits the top of another crown. Big purple tassles set with a simple jet band on a black velvet sailor are attractive.
Milady’s muff this year must be shaped like a melon. A variance is the Rugby football shape, which seems a similar design to the non-technical. Fox is the fur to wear in a set, and skunk mole, chinchilla, Russian or Hudson Bay sable are a la mode. Seals and Persian lamb, mink and ermine, are the thing for fur coats.
Monkey Fur
The acquisition of monkey-fur to adorn the hats of Montreal women is the prize Goodwin’s lady buyer at Paris carried off when she crowded on the platform of one of the last trains to the sea-board. Boxes and trunks were got through to England by dint of much persevering, and the stands and models and show-counters at Goodwin’s proclaimed Paris and the boulevards thereof.
Six quails spread their mottled wings and bodies over a brown velvet hat that is to adorn some graceful head. Two parrots gaze at one another, over the jet mount of a black turban. And between the birds comes the fur of the peanut loving monk, to serve as a graceful wavy bandeau on a pink satin sailor.
There is a little hat which comes to a velvet point at the front. Inside the cockade is a cerise plush. A long pheasant tail darts nearly two feet down over the ears, the daring hat looks peculiar. Slouched over the eye, tilted almost to slipping off. It is at once debonair and charming. Mlle the Paris buyer insists that all the new hats should be worn so perched well over the forehead, with the plume or the silver rose, or what ornament there be, set at the one possible angle. It is thus Chat they wear them in Par-ee.
“Battleship Grey”
“Battleship Grey” is a series of ominous little sheet-steel slivers, tempered and polished to glitter like jet. They certainly bristle like a British man-o-war, and incidentally are a real ornament to a hat.
That is one of the details in the “Made in Canada” infusion which Morgans have put into their opening. Midnight blue is a shade they introduce. They revivify bottle green as facing in a cocky little cockate, and corinthe, a regular Omar Khayam of a color, is a luscious new wine-shade. More huge pansies – these are purple ones, and some cream-yellow poppies with red pollen centres are features.
This is a Russian season, as the cloak and suit man at Morgan’s remarked. Roman stripe in an under tunic, pleated beneath the broadcloth of the outer coat, is an impressive costume he has to show. Coats are long, he said, and silk braid and velvet plentiful. A basket-ribbed French serge catches the eye. The suit is made into cape-sleeve affairs described as angel-wings in the lingo of the style salon. Coats of ratine, tartans and tweeds show an assortment that speaks well for the mills of Canada. Coats are long, half-belted, talled mannish. Blanket cloth for children’s coats might be adopted by their elders.
The Native Models.
High-trimmed native models, with all the variety of ornament that the French styles offer, are predominant at Scroggie’s. A black form with pink satin under-facing of the [illegible] and a keen-eyed jet bird between the wings. This is chic and effective.
A dun green is the body of another hat, with a tete-de-vegre feather bandeau. The sparkle of jet relieved the lack of brilliance. Ospreys are to be seen on several hats, and ostrich plumes are turned into service on a number of the season’s creations. Large artificial roses add a novel touch to some tight-fitting little turbans.
Russian capes and cloaks stand out in the Scroggie display of street wear. One tunic tartan had a girdle of crushed black satin with silk tassels and a military collar effect. In afternoon costumes the Medici collar, often with a short coat and tight fitting skirt, is to be remembered.
Evening wear runs to maize and pink and blue shades. Plum is very good, and of course, bottines must match whatever the tone of the dress color. Scarves and yoke-satins are in the same delicate shades.
Heavy furry cloth seem the most popular for great coats. Swooping curves or strict military angularity are varied in cut.
A Driscoll model at Dupuis Freres is one of the original costumes among all the fall openings. This was of French broadcloth, tunic style. The trimming is fur, Alaska sable, and the habit is lined with broche satin. A yoke in the skirt is of charmeuse silk, the very type of suit to go with a black turban, cerise-faced, which the living models wear with it.
There are some forty costumes paraded on living models for the benefits of Dupuis’ customers. A honey-comb coat, trimmed with plush at the collar and cuffs attracts more than one inquiry. The sleeves are raglan style and the coat is half-lined with satin.
The basque idea in evening dress is very popular here. One charmeuse silk dress has the basque, with an effective belt at the back. With this is a wide-brimmed had, with three shaded ostrich feathers. The hat is Alice blue plush faced with silk and trimmed with a silver rose and a bandeau.
A black velvet sailor is faced with cerise satin under the brim. Black and new middy flat trimming is used, and a cerise rose in front catches the crown. A plain silver filigree band encircled the top of the soft crown.
The entire store of Dupuis Freres is tastefully decorated for the opening. An extensive display of furs and dress silks are particularly attractive.
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