The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-11-26
THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW ON FEMALE
FASHIONS,

THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW ON FEMALE
FASHIONS.
TIE question of the present fashion of
women's dress is discussed by the Westminster
ReUietO in pithy articleofi the October number.
Most of the statements of the writer will suit
the meridian of Washington as well az of Lon
don. He is especially savage on
THE BONNET OF 1857.
CHANGING at the fashions for 1857, what do
we seer On the head is a something. the pur.
pose of which it would be difficult TO discover
by reason; structure of silk or straw, adorn-
ed with flowers, ribbon, and lace, crowded ON
the angle of the jaws and the nape of the neck.
and with its fore part just reaching the crown
of the head. We have Mr.. Spurgeon's author.
ity for the effect TO the eye of the spectator in
front. Being advised to preach against the
prevailing folly in head.gear, he paused "a he
stood upon the platform, looked around him.
and said: have been requested to rebuka
the bonnets of the day, but, upon my word,
do not see any, This is the bonnet of 1857.
pinned 10 the head in some troublesome way,
leaving the face exposed in a manner which
one need not be Turkish parent to disapprove,
and causing the hair to be powdered with dust,
and the head and face to be alternately heated
and chilled by sun and wind, so that the pbvsi
clans are easily believed, when they declare
that cases of eyedisease, of toothacbe. and
neuralgia pains of the head and face, are be-
yond all precedent in their practice For many
months past, English women, and the ladies of
America, where the extremes Of heat and cold
are greater than with US, have been subiecting
themselves to the Inconvenience of gong out
bareheaded, with the added annoyance of an
anDaratua which haata apd uorr;o. H. L.
the neck. The broad -brimmed hats are a piece
OF good sense in the midst of mass of folly.
Fanch, and other satirists, may quiz the hat as
device Tor looking young; but the ridicule
touches only the elderly wearers, and leaves the
hat unimpeached.
Some quizzical specimens, plumed and berib
boned, and so turned up and twisted about az 10
serve no more useful purposes than the prevail
ing bonnet, may be seen here and there. but
the simple original hat, with a brim which
shades the eyes, and crown which protects
the head, is worthy of all appreciation, while it
Is exceedingly becoming to young wearers. As
to older people-if they sensibly decline wear
ing the bonnet which exposes their gray hair
TO the very crown, and feel that the hat is too
jaunty-why do they not recur to the indigen.
Gus, servceable, becoming, unohiectionable
English straw bonnet Of all times Not me
fancy chip, or the open she'll work of straw.
hlied up with silk, but the vertable straw fabric
Tuscan or punishable, at pleasure) which will
outlast all changes of fashion in q climate ike
ours. There is no occasion to wear If in a
coalscutle iashion, Ike holy district visiters.
go that piOus woman is always to be looked
for at the end of a long bonnet; nor do the
milliners insist on all ladies going bareheaded.
The straw bonnet admits of all reasonable modi.
fcatons and that Of FIVE years ago, enclosing
81 Co.
fortably, grat6ed good taste then, while il salts
hes sound reason now. Instead Of IL, we daily
see old ladies IN one Of two extremes-either
their lank jays are exposed by the dark strings
OF slouching hat, or their wrinkled faces aud
gray hair are encompassed with blonde and
artificial howers, as the trimming of the little
excrescence called a bonnet in our day. One
would think that no woman could fail to per
ceive that wreaths and garlands are youthful
adornment, and that no one should wear arti
fetal flowers who could not fittingly dress DER
hair with natural ones yet we see doyasera
with roses and foliage clustering around their
cheeks at every turn.
be is mider on
THE MANTLE
The mantle is perhaps the best idea AMONG
the fashions of the day, and now and then we
see one worn by sensible woman, which full
fills all reasonable conditions; but the MAORI
ty of them are go made as TO partake of all the
disadvantages of the existing gown. Il used
to be thought, and it will be thought again,
that everything in the cloak way loses its char
acter, and therefore its tastefulness, by being
fitted to the figure. A modern mantle, which
is confined at the waist, and has sleeves insert
ed in tight armhole, is certainly not verita.
be mantle, whatever else it may be: and when
we see it, as In this summer of 1857, cut down
to mere band around the chest extending no
higher than the point of the shoulder, and turn.
ing into sleeved jacket below, we have no
more to say as respectable member of the
mantle tribe. Bat TO responsibility in the eyea
of taste, it usually forfeits all pretenson by its
parade Of ornamentation. It's fringes, and on
giles, and braids, and gimps, and laces, and but
tons-its Fittings, and quillings, and puffings.
aud edgings, and slashings, are too meretri.
cious for any garment Of the cloak order, or for
permanent fashion, though this article is per-
haps the least Objectionable of the whole suit
now favored by the fashionable caprice of the
day.
But he grows frantic at the extravaganza
and ugliness Of
THE MODERN GOWN
The madness runs riot in the gown. ito use
the old fashioned word, which is more dis.
tinctive than the technical use of the term
"dress.o TIE consciousness of the whole
public enables Us to be brief on this head.
When we enter on the topic of the gowns of
1857, every readers prophetic soul" warns
him what auimadversion to expect on tiobt
waists, bars shoulders and arms, cumbrous and
encroaehing skirts, and an apparatus for their
management, which is in every way objection.
able
The costliness, the clumsiness, the ueliness.
the aifectation, the stiffness, the noisiness. the
complete reversal of the objects and attributes
of dress in the Dress" evening and morning.
of the present fashion, seems to be generalIv,
admitted therefore, we shall not insist on them
at any length. The plain facts OF the case are
these: The gown Of 1851 is made of the most
expensive materials obtainable. Ladies' who
used to dress handsomely On thirty pounds a
year, now find that sum insufficient for their
gowns alone; and middle class young ladies'
who have hitherto been satisfied with twenty
pounds year, are now driven to their wits
end to keep up with the mode at all; and thew
have recourse to cheap snowy silks that will no,
last, or light gauze materials requiring a style