The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1856-01-03
The Philosophy Of Fashions.

There are many would.be reformeis who
defeat ends that are good in themselves, by
the violence of the methods they make use
of 10 carry them. Amongst those there are
some persons who have employed the most
extreme methods to push into noioriety their
peculiar opinions with regard to female cos
tune.
A year or two since, sonie well-meaninS
persons conceived that the fashion of long
heavy skirts, hanging from the waist, and
trailing on the ground, was untidy, extrava-
CANT and absurd, and that the whole arrange
ment OF ladies' dresses was uGnealthful and
highly inconvenient, preventing them from
taking exercise and interfering with their dali
ly occupations. In all these views there was
undoubtedly measure of ruth; and had
number Of ladies' made real Improvements
dress, and quietly adopted them By degrees,
SO that The eye should become accustomed
10 them, they might doubtless have shorten
ed and narrowed the skirts to any suitable
proportions, without opposition or ridcule.
If the principle OF action has been simply TO
introduce fashion that should remedy each in
convenience wh The least possible interference With
established customs, all The proposed good ef.
fecis might have been accomplished.
But when the Bloomers came out their au-
,hors at once showed that they knew less
about the msthetlcs Of dress than those they
sought 10 supersede. Dress, and particularly
ladies' dress, is designed 10 answer variety
! of purposes Protection against the extremes
OF weather is one OF these, ornament another,
but certain expression Of character, and es-
pecially Of modesty is also one principle fea.
lure, Suppose, then, that the Bloomers had
succeeded in establishing superiority as 10
the first two of these ends, The very way in
which they went 10 work 10 introduce them
showed they understood nothing of the lal-
ter. ..= =.
The perfection Of modesty and good taste
in dress is that il shall so suit and set off the
person, that the spectator, forgetting the dress,
! shall only admire The wearef. All dress in
man that costs obvious thought, and draws
attention 10 its own appearance, is foppery,
and all dress in. woman that renders itself aud
thus lis wearer conspicuous, is immodest.--
o.. this account alone, the violent effort that
the propretors of the Boomers made to at.
trac, attention and to defy public opinion,
! drawing crowds night after night on Chestnut
street and Broadway was enough ofilself to a.
waken prejudice inthe minds of sensible people
agains, the fashion, howev er inirinsically ex-
cellent The innovation might otherwise have
been. II proved, moreover, TO every one,
that the philosophy of dress was but little un-
derstood by those who had attempted this
sudden alteration, and those whose opinions
had weight, preferred TO adhere TO the Paris
fashions, which, though adapted for differ
enl sphere,were YET based on some establish
ed principles.
Nothing, indeed, proves so completely the
Einabilily to appreciate all The higher laws of
appropriateness in costume, as the very ar.
gument by which the innovalors undertake
to prove Bloomer dresses not immodest.--
They say that Greeks and Turks think il in.
modest for ladies to show their faces-that
| st. Paul thought II immodesi for women 10
sit 10 public assemblages with uncovered
headsAEnglish and American women think
diff erently, therefore the dislike of Boomers
is only prejudice. St. Paul better knew
the laws Of niodesiy than these reformers.--
His idea was all that which by violating the
innocent customs and ussges of society for
shAltering woman from an undue conspicu.
ousness, 10 immodesr, and ought 10 be avoid.
ed simply on that account. Hence, in, civil
lied society, allIadical changes of fashion in
|ladies' dress are brought about by degrees,
1so that the eve of good taste may never be
offended, as it would be by any sudden alter
alton.
Il will be said that II conspicuousness in
dress be always fault, many Of the leaders
Of fashion, or rather the followers Of the new
est fashion in this country, are emlnepl!y
wrong. And this su6qusstionably the case.
Those who thus follow are generally desli-
iu,e of taste, and run blindly into the mad-
dest and most indelicale extremes. The Par.
is head-dress, suited only for the opera, will,
| if just imported attwo hundred dollars, grace
the bead of some young lady promenading
on Broadway, or making a morning call
and dresses fit only for evening parties are
there exhibited in broad daylight continually
by our would-be faseionables. Thus also il
comes to pass that long skirts and dainty
Il slippers, and other fashiops, e. only for the
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