Screenland (Oct 1923-Mar 1924)

28 handkerchief linen, hand-hemstitched, is an ideal golfing costume. So is the severely tailored suit, worn with the plainest of shirtwaists. With any of these a small, chic sport hat must be worn. It should be trimmed only with a narrow ribbon or a bit of crepe de Chine folded into a band. Ear-rings on Horseback It IS easier to go astray on horseback than on the links. One screen star rode into a picture not long ago with earrings and riding boots. Some combine khaki trousers, tweed coats, fancy shirts and loud ties for riding. That sort of woman wants to attract attention, but not for her good taste. The absolutely correct riding suit is worn by Gale Kane in Mary Roberts Rinehart's play. The Breaking Point. It is of oxidized gray cloth. With it she wears a soft gray shirt, a felt hat of the same shade and a dark tie. Everything harmonizes. Many film actresses wear elaborate garden party hats with the plainest of sweaters. I can imagine such a woman choosing a chintz gown designed to look well at Southampton at nine o'clock in the morning for an elaborate dinner party at Marguery's. Wrong Sort of Sport Costume ^ PORT costumes which combine flat-heeled shoes, accordion-pleated skirts and elaborately plumed hats are always wrong. Long white kid gloves should never be worn with tennis shoes. Only one ornament may be worn with any sport costume— the wedding ring. And that only for sentiment's sake. High heels, lace collars and furs are always bad taste for sport wear. Too many screen stars overlook the importance of dressing the part. A timid ingenue who would be picturesque in Victorian styles is grotesque in the dashing shawls of the Spanish beauty. Alice Joyce always dresses her roles to the last detail of what a smart woman ought to wear. In The Green Goddess, she has, I believe, only four costumes, but each is perfect. Miss Joyce never wears a sport outfit w hen she should be clothed in the clinging robes of a goddess. Most of her frocks are costly. But when she plays the part of a poor girl she is authentic down to the last bone button of her machine-made blouse. Alice Joyce Dresses Properly M iss Joyce starred in the first version of Within the Law. The heroine was accused of theft. And she dressed as a shop girl, who lived on a modest salary would, in a simple navy blue tailored suit with a plain blouse and unpretentious hat. There are many stars, however, who could not have resisted the temptation to wear three hundred dollars' worth of furs with that suit even when playing a girl wrongfully accused of theft. Any discriminating person in the audience would have looked just once. Then they would have said: "Why of course she must be a thief. Look at the furs. She never bought those with her salary." And then no doubt they would have walked out of the theatre. An otherwise good picture would have been spoiled. Elsie Ferguson Uses Good Taste iti/LSiE Ferguson is never badly dressed. I do not believe Miss Ferguson could make a mistake in clothes. She is essentially the aristocrat. Yet when her role is that of a poor, driven girl, as it was in The Outcast, she dresses consistently without diamonds or sables. Although Mary Pickford has never played parts calling for a great display of clothes she is always well-dressed. Usually she is the sweet young girl. Her clothes suit her. But when she needs the gown of a smart woman, as she did in Stella Maris, she wears them well. Corinne Griffith owes much of her screen success to the fastidious care with which she has chosen her clothes. Lillian Gish looks best perhaps in period costumes. But those she wears are correct for the time she portrays. When she goes to Italy for the filming of Romola she will carry with her a wardrobe so perfect that photographs of her gowns will be preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Good taste is invariably the keynote of Billie Burke's clothes. She prefers dainty coloring and elegant simplicity of line. And she never wears boudoir caps with her tea gowns. The Right Sort of Negligees. T housands of film dollars have been spent on negligees. One star appears in a boudoir gown with draperies which outnumber Salome's seven veils and enough ermine to make the King of England a coronation robe. Her most dangerous rival doubles the amount of chiffon and triples the quantity of fur when ordering something similar for her next picture. Her successor adds to the gorgeousness of that. And so the film negligee has progressed until it paupers the gown worn at a court ball. The smart woman of Newport or London whom the film star is trying to portray would never dream of wearing these elaborate neglig-ees. Nor would she appear in a boudoir robe when she should wear a tea gown as so many screen actresses do. A boudoir robe is the most intimate in the feminine wardrobe. Women of refinement allow their maids or dear woman friends to see them wearing it. They never receive their husbands or other men when so clothed — except in motion pictures. A correct boudoir gown is of pink chiffon velvet with long narrow sleeves. It is lined with palest blue and trimmed with a narrow band of kolinsky. Under it is worn a lace slip over satin. On the other hand a tea gown may be suitable even for an informal dinner party at home. One of this season's d, Are women of the screen welldressed? CL The vampire builds a reputation on the gorgeousness of her negligees and pajamas, the length of her ropes of pearls and the number of her bracelets and headdresses. CC, Young girls are clothed like sophisticated women, d, Shop girls don sables. Ct, The horsewoman blazes with diamonds. CL Evening furs cover morning blouses. d. Golfing girls combine flat heels and plumed hats. CI, Primitive heroines carry parasols. Is this good taste? Should rubbers be worn with tiaras? ©, Madame Frances, an authority on the well-dressed woman, answers the question for SCREENLAND.