The “Leopold Robert” bonnet lent a charm to ugliness itself. Was it on that account that pretty women gave it up? Were they afraid of being lost in the crowd, and of receiving only a divided homage? In 1873, feminine dress became extremely complicated. All kinds of ornamentation were used with more or less happy effect. It seemed as if feminine vanity were endeavouring to make up for the lost years 1871 and 1872. Simplicity was succeeded by finery of all sorts, and the trimmings of dresses cost ruinous prices. Fifteen or twenty flounces would be put on one skirt. Costumes were trimmed with chased, bronzed, or oxydized buttons. After an interregnum of many years, steel ornaments were again worn in the hair, and young girls wore a locket on velvet round their throat. “Regent” belts and “sovereign” dress-improvers were much worn, and were very becoming. Although there were no essential changes in the fashions, they became every year more difficult to define, because women were beginning to dress independently, each one according to her own taste, and with reference to age, position, and means, without servile imitation of any particular fashion. The ground-work of dress varied little, but the details were almost infinite in number, and were, in fact, characteristic of each individual wearer. This was regarded as anarchical by persons accustomed to the strict discipline of Fashion. In a space of less than two months appeared the “Montenegrin,” a sort of dolman which defined the figure becomingly, and was covered with braid and silk embroidery; jet ornaments in great profusion (aigrettes, buckles, sprigs, and wheat-ears); “Michael Angelo” bonnets, trimmed with moss-roses and lilies of the valley; Tussore gowns (an Indian silk), trimmed with black velvet; “Abbé” collars of the Louis XV. fashion, in plaited muslin, with embroidered bands in front; and deep cuffs worn over tight sleeves. A great variety of materials was used, but plain or figured silks in medium qualities were always more popular than fancy stuffs. Frills, and ruchings of net or “crêpe lisse,” were worn round the throat. Lockets and “saint esprits” in brilliants, strass, or Alençon diamonds, and Normandy crosses delicately carved in light foliated patterns, were favourite ornaments at this period. Many Parisian ladies wore tight-fitting tunics or polonaises in the street. Some very fashionable bonnets were made without crowns; these were merely a thick wreath of vine leaves or flowers, rising rather high in front. Clusters of curls fell over the back of the neck, displaying the colour and beauty of the hair in a most charming way. Costumes were of two kinds, the “extraordinary” and the “moderate”—the latter were rather less worn than the former. Waistcoats and corslets remained in favour during the summer; also long sleeveless cashmere and velvet jackets, and Louis XV. “casaques” in winter.