The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-20 00:00:00

LADIES' DJ

STEM IN PARIIL-I8 CALNOLINJ
OUT 07 'AMMONS

The lively oorreepontsst of the Post st Paris
laving remand Wars cram eons fair friends in Rosana
begging him to ink= than whether crinoline is in ce out
of familial in Paris, writes in reply :—" I meet in the
streets of Para, and sometimes at an evening reception, •
toilette of the period of the First Empire ; sheet-waisted,
and meanly there can be no minoline er hen-hooped may.
thing ender • somewhat scanty robe, soak me Ledy
Jersey danced in at Alnack's in the days of °eons Iv.
Yon eras the pretty test, and some idea nasy be arrived at
as to how nature has sculptured the whole of the grew

fal female form. It is rurally a pleasant thing to con-
template ladies' feet again. For the last ten years, if one '
write; history serrectly, we must °autos we have seen
little of that pretty feature of female loveliness. This has
been a decided lees, for nature has windy provided that
young people should fall in love with ether's feet
and ankles as well ea their eyes. At the prome-
nade in the Bois you meet with ladies whom dreams
graceinlly respond to the movements of the frame ; and
certainly there cannot be any cunningly conesived

sabsinatere et Awl said textile eabetsamos wider that

empire style of costume. I therefore oceolade that
them are Wien of fashion moving about in the most
refined entity honestly without crinoline ; but they are
not yet a majority. You find most ladies, on the ceatenrY.
wearing dreams which spread out at the bottom, and show
• *sin which begins to le as keg as ease wore at muse.
From the waist downwards this wet-epssodiog
robe must be supported by some material. Lit erbsolMis
Is it jape in another shape, or is it • masa of clustering
under-clothing of cotton or then ? How am Ito find Ott
that ? Yon cannot with propriety ask • lady who she
wean under the external silk or satin (each was ever in-
tended to be • jealous secret)—
" And take time us the mystery of things,
As if we Wllllll God's spies,"
As mid Ring Lear on • similar courtly question. It would
be excessively mean to ask the lady's maid privately and
confidentially of what underneath material her mistress is
competed. How are you to fiad out? I have watched
sublimely grand ladies get oat of a centege, under the
impression that the accident of events might amble erne to
form • pretty good opinion about the mann of crinoline'
But no fume-capes ever turned up ; the robe falls into •
monotonous spread, trails en the ground, and is an
irritating to surrounding human nature as the old crinoline
nuisance. Gentlemen have to dodge about in the draw•
lug room, and on the pathway of gardens and whs.
These dreams, like the old crinoline, to my knowledge,
have canna some men to come out with wicked mite in
French, and I do not see why this fashion should not
also canoe ladies to be burnt to death as in the earlier
days of crinoline. In the attests of Paris some ladies
wear • dress which appears to be orinonnekes,
until it suddenly and abruptly spree& out at the
bottom as if • single hoop were employed. What
is this' A windy day at the seaside might relieve coe's
doubting mind. I strongly suspect this is the last ring—
a horrid cage. If crinoline is expiring, it dies hard in
Paris. The ladies at the markets still weer crinoline.
and so do the ladies of the kitchen, therefon I suspect
crinoline is hovering still about in all classes of society.
Now, those interested in this momentous ques-
tion will say, Why don't you go to the fashion
books for information! Ask an audience of Ir[--e
W—t in the Rue de Is Pair.. Do you think
you can say anything positive after all this ?
One magazine of the fashions tells us :—" Taking
our impressions from certain high indications.
we think we may go so far as to declare that •
gradual abandonment of crinoline is taking place in all
Glasses of society." Yon then turn to the coloured plates,
and there you find • dress worn by • lovely creature, the
bottom of which is occupying nearly the whole width of
the plata. What keeps out its vast spreading proportions!
Al when you think of time and .ter ear any other
sublime subject, the mind wanders is dim confusion.
Let us see what La Toilette de Paris says—that is an
authority. It would be absurd to translate :
" Deux genres blen distinct' caractdrisent les toilettes ;
mini qui riduit l'ampleur et la longneur des robes eat
adopt. pour les courses a pied, et Taxan genre, qui admit
avec une faciliti extraonfinaire tomes lee exaggerations
dans le sem oppose, en 'col reserve aux toilettes panes."
Do you not observe, ladies, that here is the same hesi-
tation of which you complain in England! Is it that
there are no original and great minds just now io Paris as
of old to exclaim —" This is the fashion for October ; wear
it all the world '. " If you ask me to sum up, my answer is,
I believe crinoline is only half out, and something quite as
bad is half in. We are probably passing through • period
of transition. It will be very interesting for some time
to come to look for the day when humanity can write-
-.okra joie.