New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-05-25

amount of dear and clariug stuff may looh liz.
fright if unpOeticaIly made up. We think our
women are nsuffciently alive 10 thi. element,,,
truth in the art of costume. They are apt 10 -
quite too yariessted in the streets, AM 20 ARA,
themselves in splendors unimagined By Selom,,
in all his glory at quite too matutinal an hoar
Indeed, there is something most offensive I,
coed taste in the display which Broadway offs,
presents even At an early period of the forenoon
You will there meet with ladies' in silks and
satins Of all the dyes of the autumnal forest. in
full dress indeed, minus the low necks aud sho-,
sleeves. those gracious auxiaries to living
sculpture Lovely faces and charming persons
there defy the mornings dust and atfrOns ths
more sober business prescriptions to which in
that part of the day the street seems to BE- de.
voted, with fantastic show and unconscious bat
most costly absuriity. Brocades, poplins and
all imaginable unutterables, dashed into orien-
tai gorgeousness, trailing along the sidewalks;
bonnets saucy as humming-bird's nest ina
rosebush; plumes, laces, diamonds even; gloves
cut from rainbow; shoes insolently piquant;
in short, peripatetic and yiialized museums Of
feminine display, are then thickly strown in
Broadway's sunlight, picking their way through
fire-companies, smnbuses. hodmen ascending
and descending porters, newsboys, loafers ani
all unclean things.
What is worst is that these stunning incOn-
gruities are thought by their charming wearers
to be very sweet and admirable, and we dare
ay there are young ladies, and old ones too for
that matter, who put themselves TO great incoa
venience at home in order to appear with un-
timely and ill-udged magnifcence in the street
They should know that they make a great mis-
take. And yet it is a mistake all do not fall
into by any means. Among the gorgeous throng
of morning promenaders you will sometimes see
a lady of true taste, whose costume, rich with
out the air ofgreat expense, severe aud elegant in
the unobtrusive harmony of its colors and style,
and marked by genuine refinement which the
gaudier flowers blooming in the same splendid
sunshine would have fastened TO initiate had they
but perceived its superiority. The best-dressed
women Of America are perhaps those Qua
keresses of Philadelphia who have departed
from the rigid awkwardness of forms prescribed
by their sect but yet retain its preference for
modest and quiet colors. The exquisite sim
plicity and neatness of such garb is infinitely
more grateful to the judicious eye than those
mixtures of all the dyes in nature which we
sometimes meet with in the gear of lady out
simply for a mornings shopping. Our gentle
countrywomen would do well to understand that
unobtrusiyeness and appropriateness are after
all the elements of all true beauty in dress.
We have considered this subject in this place
not merely for the benefit Of our fair readers
nor from any desire to furnish a manual for
modistes and milliners, but because it has an
important and serious economical bearing
While fortunes are colapsiAg and food IL becom-
ing dear beyond precedent, is it not time for
our wives and daughters-and especially for
those of moderate means-to be less lavish Ia
their attire And can there be filter moment
for them to ponder the excellence of that taste
in dress which finds elegance only in combine
ton with simplicity and within the limits Of
economy Partisan woman, says u. de
Trobriand, dresses better on two hundred dol
lars year than many merchant princess Of
New-York, shining abroad with plumes and dis-
monds and hounces that sweep the street at
expense of thousands. Ii may be thoughts
triiing matter by some. but we cannot but re-
gard with concern this insolent and useless ex-
trayagance, and we appeal TO good sense for
reform