There are several things in the winter fashions which are quite fixed. First, that there are no trains to any dresses, whatever people may say—save and except to court dresses and the evening gowns worn by a few dowagers who fancy old ways the best. The general idea with reference to all draperies, overskirts, panels, and skirts is to give length and height; therefore, those of my readers who are very tall will have to use some judgment in choosing a skirt that shall not make them look too gigantic. Most of the morning dresses are made of two woollen materials, a better kind of walking or afternoon dress with a woollen and silk material, such as I have described. There do not appear to be any really short tunics, but some dresses have the long overskirt more raised and bunched-up at one side than they have been. The skirts are generally rather wider, but are not distended, except by a moderate _tournure_. The collar, cuffs, and _revers_ are of the same material as the underskirt, and bands of this material are put round the edge of the overskirt. When this is a plaid it is cut on the bias, and with plaids folds are very much used everywhere that they can be introduced. The chief changes that one has to chronicle are to be seen in the sleeves of dresses, which, after remaining quite stationary and unaltered for a long time, have now quite blossomed out into new beauty of form, much of which, I think, is derived from Venetian portraiture. The sleeves of evening gowns are all of this class, and have puffs of thin material from the shoulders to the elbow; ending in a plain band of velvet, or a puff of transparent material at the elbow. Some sleeves have puffs inside the arm at the elbow, and end in a plain band or cuff round the arm. In the daytime deep cuffs are much worn; they are cut so as to stand away from the arm like the deep cuffs of a cavalier glove. Then there are puffs at the shoulder; and there is also a new sleeve that has no seam at the back of the arm. Shoulder-straps and epaulettes are very popular additions to the bodice; and we find shoulder-straps without epaulettes, and epaulettes without shoulder-straps, or both together. Some of the shoulder-straps to woollen dresses are of the material of the dress, which may be braided or embroidered.