Records of the Beau Monde. FASHIONS FOR JULY, 1831. EXPLANATION OF THE PRINTS OF THE FASHIONS. DINNER DRESS. A DRESS composed of gros de Chine; the colour, a new and singularly beautiful shade of yellow. The corsage is plain behind, and disposed in crossed drapery in front; it is cut something higher than usual, and displays very little of the chemisette, which is of blond lace. Béret sleeves of moderate width, and very short, with long sleeves, à la Reine, over them, composed of white gaze de Soie, and terminated by a ruche of blond net. The head-dress is a toque composed of very dark violet crape. A bouquet of white ostrich feathers, with a knot of ribbon at its base, is placed under the brim on the left side, and two larger feathers attached to the right side of the crown droop to the left over the brim. The jewellery should be of burnished gold. BALL DRESS. A DRESS of white satin striped gauze, over a white gros de Naples slip. Corsage à la Grecque, with béret sleeves, surmounted by a double fall of blond lace disposed en mancheron. The skirt is trimmed with a deep flounce of blond lace, above which is a trimming of plain gauze arranged in bouillons, by bouquets of roses and bluebells, which are attached to the dress by knots of white gauze ribbon. A wreath of these flowers ascends from a bouquet on each side of the front of the skirt to the waist, en tablier. The hair is dressed in full curls on the forehead, and in bows of moderate height on the summit of the head. A chaperon of roses and blue-bells surrounds the base of the bows. Necklace and ear-rings pearls. CARRIAGE DRESS. A DRESS composed of gros d'eté, striped in straw-colour, rose-colour, and blue, No. 79.-Vol. XIV. and the straw-coloured stripes lightly figured. The corsage is cut low and square, and finished round the lower part of the bust with a trimming of the same material, en pelerine. Long sleeves, nearly, but not quite, tight at the lower part, and enormously wide from the elbow to the shoulder. The trimming of the skirt consists of six blue gros de Bonnet of straw-coNaples rouleaux. loured crape; the crown is trimmed with rose-coloured gauze ribbons, and a bouquet of exotics. Knots of rose-coloured gauze ribbons adorn the inside of the brim. The scarf is China crape. WALKING DRESS. A redingote of gros de Naples. The colour is a reddish fawn. Corsage uni, finished by a pelerine, en cœur, trimmed in a very novel manner with pattes of the same material. The sleeve sits close to the arm from the elbow to the wrist; the upper part is of the usual size. Bonnet of rice straw, trimmed inside of the brim with coques of lilac gauze ribbon, and a light sprig of fancy flowers. A large but light bouquet of fancy flowers, and full nœuds of gauze ribbon, adorn the crown. The collerette is of tulle. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON FASHIONS AND DRESS. Ir is many years since we remember a season so brilliant as the present. Her Majesty's gracious exertions in behalf of our distressed manufacturers have been most ably seconded by our fair leaders of ton; and, thanks to female patriotism, trade is now in a more flourishing condition than it has been for several years past. New patterns of silks, muslins, D Palmyriennes, and other fancy materials, are produced almost daily; and, were there as much variety in the make, as there is in the materials of dresses, we should despair of being able to present even an abridgment of the fashions. Luckily, however, that is not the case, for dresses are of a very simple form. Those of the pelisse-gown kind, composed of different sorts of silk, are much worn in carriage dress; some have the corsage disposed in drapery before and behind, and the dress made to fasten in front by a row of ornaments of the dent kind, cut small at the waist, and larger as they approach the bottom of the skirt. Others have the corsage ornamented with lappels en cœur ; the bust and back are plain, and they are laced or buttoned behind. The front of the skirt is ornamented with rouleaux, which form a border en tablier on each side of a very novel description. Sleeves from the elbow to the wrist continue to be made nearly tight; but they are ornamented with cuffs, some of which correspond with the lappel, and are open on one side; others are cut in three points: the most novel are those very shallow at bottom, and ascending in a deep point on one side. These dresses are made in figured, watered, plain, and printed gros de Naples; the last novelties are the small checquered gros de Naples of different colours, as rose-colour and white, blue and white, citron and white. Printed book-muslins, and palmyriennes, but particularly the latter, are also much worn in carriage dress. The make of these dresses offers nothing novel, but the canezous worn with them must be embroi dered in the richest manner; those that have the corsage ornamented with the draperies, are considered more fashionable than those of the mantilla style. Gauze and crape scarfs, in great variety of patterns, and of uncommon richness, are more than ever in favour. Those of plain gaze de soie worn in the boa style, that is to say, twisted round the throat, are also fashionable. Some efforts have been made to bring hats into fashion, but we still see very few indeed adopted by elegant women in carriage dress. We congratulate the ladies on having exchanged them for headdresses so convenient, and so generally becoming as the capôtes Anglaises, which retain their name and their attraction, though they have varied a little in their form, trimmings, and materials. The shape depends in some degree on the taste of the wearer, many having the brims wider, and others closer than they were last month. The close ones are those generally adopted for the morning. Crape, watered silk, and gauffred satin, are all in favour for capôtes; those of silk are frequently lined with crape, and vice versâ. Gauffred satin is also much in favour for linings, more so, indeed, than for bonnets. Bows, or leaves composed of cut ribbon, generally ornament the inside of the brim: they are placed in front. Some are worn over small blond lace caps, others have mentonnières of blond lace only; the latter are more general. Tulip knots, and rosettes of cut ribbon, decline in favour. They are replaced by light bows, which, except for morning bonnets, are always mingled with flowers or feathers; the latter are very much in request, more so, indeed, than we ever remember them to have been at this time of year. Bonnets are trimmed with from two to three, and sometimes as many as five. The flowers most in favour are honeysuckle, jessamine, field flowers, and fancy flowers. Long slender sprigs of foliage are also a good deal used to decorate bonnets. Those considered the most elegant for morning visits, are of crape, trimmed with blond lace, intermixed with flowers: there is nothing new in this style of trimming, but it is singularly becoming, which we suppose is the reason why it remains so long in favour. Bonnets of straw-coloured figured gauze, with a very light intermixture of straw woven in the gauze, are also fashionable for morning visiting dress. They are sometimes trimmed with blond lace and flowers, but more frequently with gauze ribbons to correspond, intermingled with light bouquets of field flowers. Palmyriennes, and silks of, we were about to say, a thousand and one patterns, are fashionable in dinner dress, particularly palmyriennes. Rich plain silks, as gros de Chine, gros d'Orient, &c., are also in request. Many are made in the style of our print. Others have a plain corsage, cut half high, and a pelerine, correspond ing in height with the upper part, of the shawl kind, and the ends to cross in front. Some pelerines are finished above the deep hem with a wrought silk trimming of a very light description; others are embroidered in coloured silks, and many are ornamented only with a small cord, either of satin, or of the material of the dress. The sleeves are almost invariably of a transparent kind over béret sleeves. Trimmings are, as we predicted, very little worn in demi parure, but are decidedly fashionable for evening dress, especially for grand parties. Cabinet of Taste, OR MONTHLY COMPENDIUM OF FOREIGN By a Parisian Correspondent. COSTUME OF PARIS. THE political mania has, thank Heaven, abated a little; women of fashion have descended from the heroic stilts on which they have been mounted ever since the "little week." The colour of a robe, and the choice of a bonnet, begin once more to be considered as of some importance; and a pretty politician cuts up at the same time, and with the same bitterness, the toilette and the party principles of a fair adversary. So I begin to hope, that, in two or three months more, should we not, before then, have another petite semaine, we shall be as gay, as careless, and as much occupied with trifles as we Evening dresses are principally of gauze and crape, though we still see many of white-watered silk. They are now cut lower in the corsage, and shorter in the sleeves, than they have been for some me time past, and are much trimmed in the style given in our print. Others have the border ornamented with festoons of blond gauze ribbon, the upper point of each festoon finished with a rosette of blond gauze ribbon, in the centre of which is placed a bouquet of field flowers of the lightest pos- Public promenade dress is of a very sible description. light description. Half transparent maThe hair is beginning to be worn higher terials, composed of silk and wool, printed in evening dress, it is generally ornament-in various colours, and different patterns, ed with flowers; sometimes a rose, or a fancy flower with buds and foliage, is placed close to the bows on the summit of the head, and a flower of the same kind, but smaller, and without buds or foliage, is laid upon the curls. We have observed, also, some headdresses of hair adorned with a bandeau à la ferroniére on the forehead, and a small bouquet of flowers issuing from the bows on the summit of the head. A very fashionable style, but one which suits regular features only, is the hair arranged à l'antique, and crowned by a wreath of flowers, à la Ceres, large in the centre, but diminishing in size till it becomes very light at each extremity. It should be placed a little on one side. Nothing can be more becoming to a majestic beauty than this style of head-dress. The colours in favour are various shades of yellow, and green (one of the latter colour given in our walking dress of last month is exceedingly fashionable), rose, azure, and evening primrose ; but nothing is considered so elegant in full dress as white. ever were. both large and small, are considered most fashionable. The next in favour are the guingans de soie. Plain silks of fancy colours, or of sober hues, are also fashionable. Among the first, the lions-de-Mysore, and Lafayette, are most distingué. Dust-colour, tea-green, and silver-grey, are preferred in the latter. Coloured muslins are genteel, but not elegant. The newest patterns have a white ground covered with foliage and flowers of all colours. There are also others, of which I shall speak presently, appropriated exclusively to morning dress. Promenade dresses are mostly made with high flat corsages, ornamented with draperies which fasten on the shoulders, and cross upon the bosom, or else with a bias lappel, forming a pelerine behind, and jockeys upon the shoulders; the pelerine descending in a point on each side under the ceinture. Many dresses are worn with a pelerine of the same material, made in the stomacher style, pointed before, and buttoned behind. The dress has a double row of trimming, very broad upon the Ꭰ ? shoulders, but narrow before. The pelerine has no trimming round the throat, because the square collar of the chemisette falls over it, or a ruche of tulle is worn instead. Some élégantes have lately a fichu of tulle, with embroidered ends, put on in the cravat style for a ruche. Sleeves are this month larger than they have yet been worn at the upper part; and what makes their width appear more enormous is, that three parts of them at least sit perfectly close to the arm, from a little above the elbow to the wrist. The few that are not made in this manner have no fullness at the wrist, but become gradually wider from thence to the elbow. Some are terminated with a manchette trimmed with lace, which turns up upon the arm. A very narrow bracelet, composed either of hair, or of two small gold chains, is worn over the manchette: it is placed between the embroidery that decorates the lower part, and the lace that trims the top. Robes-peignoirs are also much in favour for the promenade: they are composed of silk only. They have plain tight corsages, closed in front from the ceinture to the throat, but the skirt is open before, and cut in a bias direction on each side, so as very much to display the embroidered muslin dress worn under it. The sleeves, of the usual width, and disposed round the arm-hole in large flat plaits, are arranged from the elbow to the wrist in longitudinal folds, put very close together, and sitting nearly tight to the arm. Many young ladies appear in embroidered jaconot muslin canezous, with coloured silk skirts, or muslin ones, printed in large bouquets of flowers, or of strawberries, with blossoms and fruit. the public promenades, or for half-dress, flowers or feathers are employed: the latter are always plumes panaches, and arranged in a bouquet. Morning dresses are either peignoirs of white muslin, embroidered round the border, or redingotes of printed muslins of small patterns, either lozenges, or spots of brown or green upon a white ground. We see, also, many jaconot muslins, striped alternately in white and coloured stripes. Peignoirs are made with large falling collars, loose bodies, and sleeves of enormous size from the elbow to the wrist. Robes in demi-parure, are of the same forms and materials as those for the public promenades; but bonnets are more ornamented, and hats are generally in favour in half-dress. At the fêtes of Tivoli, which have been this year unusually brilliant, some capôtes have been seen, the brims of which were composed of a row of broad blond lace, set in very full, and drawn in such a manner, that part of the lace formed a curtain veil. The crowns of these bonnets were composed of blond lace and ribbons intermingled; the curtain at the back of the crown was also composed of blond lace, sustained by a knot of ribbons. Some of these bonnets had the bottom of the crown surrounded by a chaperon of field flowers. Others had a single light sprig of lilac, or Bengal roses, attached to the left side of the crown, by a knot of ribbons, and falling over on the right side of the brim, the inside of which was trimmed either with coques, or points of ribbon. The brims of hats are smaller, and not quite so wide as those worn in the beginning of the season. They are either of white or coloured crape, or white moire: those composed of the latter have the brim Moire, rice straw, and Leghorn straw edged with a row of broad blond lace, are the materials most in favour for pro- which is thrown back on the right side menade bonnets. Those of the English over the brim; a long sprig of rosesshape are no longer exclusively fashion- || nymphes surrounds the bottom of the able, or rather, they have been modified, crown, and rises on one side above it: a so that it is not very easy to distinguish || single flower, which makes part of this the difference between a capôte Anglaise or Française. Bonnets are much more trimmed than they were last month. The cottage mode, of trimming has quite disappeared, but we still see ribbons only employed for morning bonnets; they are arranged in long light bows, with a few coques on the inside of the brim. For ornament, attaches the blond lace on the right side of the brim. Crape hats are ornamented on the inside of the brim with a diadem of rosebuds, jessamine, or field flowers; two bouquets of flowers, to correspond, are placed on the crown in the form of a V. Gaze de soie, gaze d'Asie, and white or warm weather commenced, those of the Chinese kind are become almost general. The few ladies who do not adopt this fashion, have their hair disposed in bands, with a single very small curl on each cheek. A ferroniere is an indispensable accompaniment to this coiffure. It is surmounted by a braid of hair turned in the style of a wreath; or else an excessively large bow sustained by a tortoise-shell, or gold comb, with an open gallery. A garland of roses without foliage, placed very low upon the forehead, or a sprig of flowers attached in the style of a feather on one side of the bow, completes the coiffure. painted organdy, are in favour in evening || adopted in evening dress, and since the dress; but the latter material is for the moment most fashionable. The corsage is cut low and square, and finished by a small pelerine bordered by a double row of quilled tulle, which descends in points upon the sleeves; they are en béret, longer || than usual, and very wide. The band at the bottom of the sleeve is decorated with a knot of ribbon, from beneath which issues three, or five ends of ribbon, which, || rising to the shoulder, form the sleeve into longitudinal puffs. The skirt is The skirt is trimmed round the border with two or three rows of tulle, quilled to correspond with that on the pelerine, and headed by a twisted ribbon terminating by a bow on one side of the skirt. The ceinture corresponds. Coiffures en cheveux are universally fashionable. Besides the colours I have mentioned, strawberry - red, pea- green, gris-lilas, straw colour, and sky - blue, are all Monthly View OF NEW PUBLICATIONS, MUSIC, THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, &c. LAST month, literature was under the || ought to have been more copious in detail. necessity of yielding to the arts; this month, the arts must return the compliment; and thus we will endeavour to liberate our shelves. To effect this, however, brief, very brief must be our notices of the numerous works before us. The advantage, as well as disadvantage, of this purposed brevity will be shared amongst critics, readers, authors, and booksellers. At a moment like this, when the eyes of all Europe are intently fixed on the struggles of the country of Kosciuszko against her cruel and tyrannic oppressor, nothing could be more acceptable than "The History of Poland, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time." Accordingly, we are presented with it, in a handsome octavo volume, from the pen of "James Fletcher, Esq., of Trinity College, Cambridge; with a Narrative of the Recent Events, obtained from a Polish Patriot Nobleman." Not pretending to elaborateness of research, or extraordinary political acumen, the work will be found extremely useful as a rapidly-sketched compendium of Polish history; though, as we regard it, the narrative of recent events might have been more lucid in display, and We could almost venture to recommend the |