New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-05-16
Dress aa 4 zine Ar.

ne OOuieS tDHS UItShEu Huu niauent VANITY
md love of change, from the time that Eve
visited flowers among the fig leaves and set the
fashions for the young antediluyian maidens Of
some twenty summers What clue to the
manners of a people, their religion, the climate,
the country in which they live and from whence
they came, of their freedom, their wars, their
conaMests, and their slavery The Highlander
stili caTries the Roman target, wears the adeptTs
alton "a The toga fastened by the Roman brooch,
the Phrygian cap is on his head, and the Roman
Crossed garters are represented in his ehequered
stockings szSX he initiative Saxon seems to have
derived from the same conquerors their robes
and arms. the Asiatic cap, the Asiatic double
headed axe, and the Asiatic shield. The Nor
man knight wore the closed visor Of the Roman
gladiator, and the shield Of the Gr@co- Roman.
From the East the Crusaders borrowed the long
tunic over their armor, the partI-colored scarf
wreathed round the helmet, and the scimitar-
like falchion
But with all its change, dress falls into few
simple divisions, into which we are unconseiousiy
perpetualiy recurring. If men widen their
sleeves they go back to George the Second-if
they tighten them, to far earlier date widen
the brim Of the present hat, and put in feather,
and you have the SI anish sombrero of Van
dykes reign-pin up the brim and you have the
cooked hat-take to q cap, and you fail back to
the fat bonnet of Elizabeth's regn-wideu the
band, and you have the rich ornament Of Eliza
".
and you have Charles the Seconds g wear7-
render the top mmovable, it becomes the fash
ionable boot of the last half century, or the
farmers boot of to-day.
One of the most curious features in the his-
tory of dress s the vitality Of the most absuFM
fashions, and their lingering for centuries among
the peasantry, long after they are superseded in
the court. Our own country has some curious
instances of this. The garb of the old Thames
watermen, still occasionally visible in the
streets, is that Of the Elzabethan boatmen,
even to the brass badge, which was then worn
by every retainer. The Bluecoat boys rejoice
in the semi -monastfc robes Of the age of Edward
VI, the young founder of their school and the
charity school girls of the city wear the plain
HInob-cap and long white gloves of Queen Anne or
the earlier Georges. The shoulder knot of the
modern footmen was once the badge of high
military rank. The stage smuggler struts in
the common sailors dress Of the William of
Orange era. The blue coat of the butcher
minds US of the distinctive dresses of the old
guilds. The university dress of the present
year varies little from that worn soon after the
Reformation, except that the square cap has
stifened and widened, and the failing collar has
been clipped into Evolutionary bands. The
Judges Golf is a curious ahsurdty borrowed
from the silk cap worn by monkish lawyers to
preserve their shaven heads from the draughts
of the courts The wigs introduced from France
n
by our barristers and coachmen. Our footmen
still exult in that powder which gave height
ened lustre to Reynolds beauties. The gipsy
| hat of the same period is worn by the market
women in the west of England Laborers now
wear the deep tapped waistcoats and knee
breeches of George ILL., and the smock of very
early age; snd one IS sure to meet in days
| walk in London, the Hessian boots or tight
pantaoons so fashionable during the youth of
the Regent. The Beefeaters at the Tower wear
the costume Of Henry the Seventies body guard,
| and our grooms the donblet of James ].
Though we have been always borrowers of
| other nations fashions, even we sober English
| have run strange lengths Look at the topping
| Richard the Second, in Polish shoes with toes a
yard long, tied up to the knee with silver chaips
and then in Henry the Eighth's time, the broad
shoe widened again to half a. yard, slashed and
padded like small cushion. In Henry the
Sixth's time it was considered g the thing" to
wear forests of feathers nearly three feet broad
and sweeping to the ground and a little earlier
dresses were party per pale, of two colors,-a
favorite attire which died out very slowly. Then
came sleeves jagged at the edges like leaves, and
reaching from mans wrist to the ground
The diseases of kings have been the origina-
tions of fashions "a bald king rules and all his
i people shave,--a equity monarch establishes the
beauty of wide shoes. Scandal does say an un-
fortunate princess ingeniousy invented hoops.
The most picturesque period of chivalry was
q the golden reign of Edward the Third, who him.
self realized half the dreams @of knightly ro-
mances. The rich steel armor glancing through
embroidered surcoats, the silken wreath twisted
/ round the helmet streaming behind it, the
bright feathers, the jeweled belt, sword hilt,
and dagger sheath, 1.-The gilded housings OF the
| charger,-the colored pennon futtering from
the lance, must, when seen in thick squadrons
have been gorgeous sight and never were
utility and splendor so thoroughly blended in
| the same attire. -
The Vandyke dress comes next in point of
1 picturesque grace and capabilities of contrast.
The broad Spanish hat, with its rich iewelled
band, its clasp of precious stones, or it's string
of pearls--the cloak, capable of thousand
variations of brightness and shade, from mass
of broad, ripping daylight to q Spagnoletto
gloom--the doublet fitting the form without
ridiculous compression the rich lace collar,
rather feminine to eyts, did not the polished
steel of the breast piece gleam through its fret
work-the full Spanish hose and the small shoe,
with the rosette of ribbon, constitute a dress
that delights the painter and the poet.
The nations of Europe have always Stunned
the rich flower bed of colors in which their
Asiatie kinsmen delight The Turk4rejoices in
the primitive colors-rich beds. blues, and yel-
lows-the Englishman in inspid neutrals--
lilacs, bufs, and browns The warmer the
country the richer the taste for colors-very
observable in Venice, so Eastern in its associs-
tions, where houses, people, and buildings form
a bright mosaic of intermingling hues, relieved
by the deep harmonious unities of the sky and
. the sea. We we're gay as butterflies in Charles
the Seconds time. To what have we now fall
len, when solemn, dull undertaker-like black
has clouded every hue, and we walk about in-
carnations of iron necessity and remorseless
utility [Albion.
A PORTRAIT OF SIR CHARLES NAPIER.--An
English paper uses rather free pencil in the
following sketch:
A farmer looking man, with fat face, thick
e lips, and tremendous nose covered with snuff
large ears, like two flaps of a saddle, and, like
S e Uncle Ned in lyric history with no wool tt
: speak of on the top of his head, although his
chronological developments display an exten-
sive surface where the wool ought to grow ths
head placed on the body of a stunted alderman
whose clothes appear to have been ptchforked
on his back with one shirt collar up and the
other down, his waistcoat buttoned awry, and
,, his shirt-front smeared with snuff-and you
! have the portrait of Sir Charles Napier.
--------=
!, DEATH FROM RoPE JUMPING "A bright and
ntetesting little girl, about eight years of age,
9 died on the 7th inst. in the village of Newark,
7 N j., from conVulsons, brought on by exces-
sive exertions in jumping the rope. She was
yrith of hnr Sch0o1