Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-03-05
EVENING STAR,
ExrRAvAGANcE OF The FAsB1oNs

6 AShAAAho vi lIl6 f01l&.
delphia Ledger will apply just as we'll to
Washington. They are just to the point
A walk up and down Chestnut street
on fine day, affords a practical com,
mentary on the times. Between the
splendid dress fabrics exhibited in the
shop windows and the costly costumes
displayed on the fair pedestrians, one is
quite persuaded that the popular crv
about the scarcity of money is altogether
delCsion. Never, indeed, did the ladies
dress more extravagantly. Not only is
6rocade considered absolutely necessary,
by many dame, on her daughter, who
was formerly contented with plain silk,
but almost the price of a respectable
gtace is consumed in the velvet trimmings
alone. Nor does the fashionable thirst
after expense stop here. Lace under
sleeves and lace chemiScttes exhaust the
purse of husbands; and lest these should
fail to engulf sums sufficiently large, lace
trimmings fringe the petticoat, to dabble
in the mud of the sidewalk. An ob,er.
yer in Chestnut street might be pardoned
for concluding that every father was
millionaire, and every fair pedestrian an
heiress.
II these pet fashions were conducive to
health, there might be some reason for
such extravaganza. But the very Iaces
which cost so much are really trans for
consumption. To parade public ave-
nue., on bleak winter day, with a chest
defended only BY half.transparent veil
OF lace, or with arms comparatively bare
to the elbows, is the height of folly: but
to abandon close-SleeveS and high cor.
sages for this cough-giving costume, is
madness itself. 1t is true that the fash.
ionable lady insists on set of expensive
furs as the prope" accompaniment to this
summer-like attire. She dresses unsea.
sonably, at twice the cost it would take
to dress properly, and then makes this
plea ior purchasing new style Victo-
rinc. If she is wealthy, she wears point
lace or Honiton, and furs of ermine or
Russian sable. If she is less able to in
dulge in the luyuries of fashion. she ad.
heres, nevertheless, to its absurdities
sporting her cheaper embroideries, eren
If she cannot afford furs at all, content
to shiver if she can only shine.
A contemporary has propounded the
question, :" where is the money 2" and we
answer, in the fine dresses of our wives
and daughters. 1t is idle to say that the
sxtravagance We speak of, is confined to
what is called the upper ten." The
female attire, in all conditions of life. ia
crlmlnaily expensive, at least twice a.
much SO as it was five years ago and it
threatens to increase. The clerks wife
initiates the wife of the merchant, the
poor mlliner the fine lady black Dinah,
Mrs. Potiphar. The ruinous exanple
extends, and widens, ramifying into
every social circle, and exhaustinr an
aggregate sum annually, which would
frighten the most thoughtless, ifit could
be presented in figures. Most of these
extravagant fabrics, moreover, come from
abroad, and have in seasons like the
present, when exports are deficient. to
be paid for in gold. 1t is to the lax
which our luxury lays on us, to the ex.
pensive fashions We praise in our wives
and daughters, that we owe not a little
of the present scarcity of money. We
may thank Paris, in this way, for our
panic.
We do not deny that the men are also
to blame. If wives squander money on
the fashions, husbands spend it, some
times on fast horses. Between the two.
it is no wonder that notes are selling at
two per cent, that stocks are down, that
gold is going out of the country. The
prices obtained for fashionable bonnets.
and the prices paid for discounting bust.
ness paper, have closer connection than
cursory observer might think. They
are, in fact, cause and consequence.