Plymouth advertiser. [volume] (Plymouth, Ohio) 1853-1988, 1854-08-05
Some Absurdities of Fashion,

A late traveller in des cending the Dan
ube, was struck with the crowd Of new
carriages on board the steamboat, and Oh
making inquiry learned they were destined
for The province of Bucharest. He
was told that every Walachan gen,le>
man, able to keep a carriage at all, con-
sidered it indispensable to have new one
annually, whether the I'D one was worn
out or not; and, Iha, no carriage world
answer unless it was made a, Vienna,
and transported by steamboat, that being
the, ,costl'est method oftaking it to Buchar
cst.
We naturally laugh at the a5surdi,ies
of fashion, and ask with the traveller,
why coaches made at Bucharest, by man
ufaclurers from Vienna. would no, answ
er the purpose of the Wallachians. Yet
are not we Americans, though superior to
the WalIachians generally in civilization,
guilty of fashionable follies quite as rid
iculous ? Is not Paris to us what Vienna
is to them? We have actually seen
some coaches from the French capital,
sold for prices far above their worth, SIM
ply because the purchaser imagined they
must be better than American ones, tho
it is notorious to all familiar with manu-.
factures of this description, that no coach
makers in the world equals our own in
the combined lghtness and stability Of
their vehicles of all varieties.
So also in matters of dress. a French
bonnet will sell for twenty five dollars.
when one made here upon the same pat.
tern, and with similar materials, will not
bring half that sum. French fashions
are all the rage, no matter how absurd.
A few months ago, Louis Napoleon re.
established trains at court, and already our
would be aristocracy are wearing trains
too. Frequently, in initiating Partisan
styles, we exaggerate them where they are
entirely unsuitable, and thus ous-Herod
Herod. The lady of Louisville, KY,
who appeared in the muddy streets there,
the other day, wearing On enormous train,
which a little black page supported, fur
nished an illustration of this. Instead of
copying the court fashion she only carri-
caiured it. The Empress Eugene would
no more think Of wearing her court man
tie in the street, than she would Of going
up and down the Boulevards with her
crown on her head, like the queen in the
story book. Another frequent example
OF the manner in which French fashions
are applied here, is the wearing of carfi~
age dresses or carriage bonnels for prom
enade, or the going out shopping in the
morning, IN the rich silks and dinner cos
tune. The attire of the Partisan lady is,
at worst, suitable for the occasion; but
American ladies copy indiscriminately
their foreign models.
Throughou, our whole social life may
be seen similar absurd imits tions of Euro
pean customs. which being totally inap-
plicable to our condition, make US the
laughing stock of intelligent Frenchmen.
Our fashionable people eat, sleep, and rise
at hours suitable to an idle aristocracy,
and not at those indispensable to men in
active business, rs most of the heads OF
rich and fashionable families are. Their
amendments are those of ennued drones
not those appropriate for overtasked
merchants, manufacturers, or professional
men.
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