At balls, cotillions, formal dinners, evening parties, and in the large cities in opera boxes, decollete gowns may be worn.

No “nice” woman wears a low gown when dining at restaurant or hotel.  The neck may be cut low, under a lace yoke, unlined, and the sleeves finished from the elbow with lace.  Hats are worn.

One chooses a handsome velvet or other dressy material for a dinner dress, and wears with it her rarest jewels.  Good taste and modesty forbid too lavish a display of shoulders.  As a rule, in our average social life, the unlined lace yoke and collar and lace sleeves are preferred for dinner wear, the decollete gown being reserved for balls and cotillions.

Young girls’ dancing gowns are never cut very low; the “Dutch” neck and the slightly low round cut being preferred.  A string of pearls, a fine gold chain and locket, or gold beads, which have been restored to favor, are the usual ornament.

For theatre wear, where one is not to occupy a box, one may wear a handsome reception gown, or a handsome bodice and skirt.  Shirt and lingerie waists are not appropriate theatre wear, unless one patronizes some second-class house of amusement.

Wearing the Hat.—­The rule to bear in mind as to the wearing of hats is this:  At all daytime affairs, hats are kept on.  At all evening affairs—­musicales, concerts, receptions, the play, they are removed.

Tea-gowns and negligees are for the boudoir; the kimona is for the bedroom.

Gloves are removed at a luncheon or dinner.  Of course they would not be kept on at a card-party or a tea.  One may retain them at a stand-up supper.

Ornaments.—­An abundance of ornament is in bad taste.  Don’t be one of the See-me-with-’em-all-on type.  A cheap ornament spoils a handsome costume, better none at all; too many ornaments, even if good, look tawdry.

At a certain fashionable summer hotel a young woman was seen dancing in high shoes and wearing a demi-trained lingerie gown over a petticoat of ordinary walking length.  She was certainly “the observed of all observers,” but hardly the object of admiration.

The Debutante’s Dress.—­The debutante usually wears white on the occasion of her introduction to society.  The material should be light and youthful—­crepe de chine, some soft white silk like messaline, chiffon or organdie being the usual choice, made with high neck and long sleeves if the affair takes the form of an afternoon reception.  Only a ball or cotillion permits a low gown, and then the gown is not “low” in the usual sense:  it is merely cut out modestly in the neck and the sleeves are short.  In the afternoon her mother, who presents her, wears a handsome reception gown; her young friends, who “assist,” wear light colored, dressy gowns of chiffon, net, etc.  At such an affair guests remove wraps but retain hat and gloves.

[770 Mothers’ remedies]