Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-06-26

Ter the LadAes.-What COlOrs to Wear
Mons. CHEvREUL, Of France, has recently given
70 the world work on "The Laws of Color" in
vhish is chapter especially interesting to ladies'
Mons CHKvREUL is philosopher, snd he reasons
of colors and their adaptation to the complexion Of
ladies from philosophical principles. Much useless
expense and great deal Of trouble and vexation
have been incurred by women, beautiful and home
". because their taste in coOrs is uneducsted, and
baoauss they have at hand no reliable rules which
teach them to adapt their dress to their compilations
MANY richly dressed lady you meet every day,
rho sEaks in silk sttire and silver has to spare"
who slooks like fright" Notwithstanding. Women
who have made an improper selection in the color of
their apparel appear at ease in 1t, because its
inhsrmonious adaptation will somehow be reflected
in the sountenaDees Of her friends, and the idea is
Vsrv soon forced upon her mind that il is unbecOm
Ing, and must be laid aside. Many an expensive
ma. or dress has been thrown aside without having
afforded the pleasure or convenience to the Wearer
she anticipated before half the proper term of
vice for the article had been completed, merely be-
cause mistake was made in the selection or ar
rangemsut of its cOlOrs Every lady has lesraei
trsdilisnslly rule which is sustained by her own
observation, that sky blue is becoming to blondes,
ana yellow and orange red make an unobjectioneble
- head dress for black haired ladies' but they have
never the philosophy Of the subject ex>
planned in the following passages:
sTbe coiOrs which are usually considered as
sorting best with light black hair precisely
those which produce great contrast; thus, sky
blue, known to accord we'll with blondes, is the
color that approaches nesrsst to the complementary
~ - A1Ea III
hair aud compilations. Two colors, long esteemed
to accord faTorsbly with black hair-yellOW, and
red more or less orange-oontrsst in the same man
ner with them Yellow and grange red, contrast
ing by color and brilliancy with black, and their
complementaries, violet and blue-green, in mixing
with the tint Of the hair, far from producing
bad result"
The following, Oh the cOlOrs of the complexion
and the contiguous drapery, affords several valuable
hints : - ... -...r..
'Ths juxtaposition of drapery with the different
hesh tints Of women offers to portrait painters 9
host Of remarks, which all the results Of the
principles already laid down, We shall state the
must general thus:
''Roso red cannot be put in contrast with even
the rosest compilations without causing them 10 lose
some of their freshness. 1t is necessary then, tC
separate the rose from the skin, in some manner
and the simplest manner Of doing this is to edge
the draperies with border Of tulle. Dark red il
less Questionable for certain compilations than rose
red because, being higher than The latter it tends
10 impast whteness to them in consequence Of con-
trAst Of tone.
1Delicste green II, on the contrary, favorable to
all fair compilations which deficient in rose, and
which may have more impaired 10 them without dis
advantage. But il is not as favorable to complex
ions that are more red than rosy not to those that
have tint of orange mixed with brown, because
the red they add TO this tint will be Of brick red
hue. In the latter case q dark green will be less
Objectionable than 8 delicate green.
yellow imparts violet to fair skin and in this
view it s less favorable than the delicate green.
To those skins which are more yellow than
orange It imparts white; but this combination is
very duh and heavy for fair complexion When
the skin is tinted more with orange than yellow,
we can make it rose by neutralzing the yellow. II
produces this effect upon the black-hsired type, ssd
II is thus that il suits brunettes.
''Violet, the Complementary Of yellow, produces
contrary effects; thus il imparts Some greenish-
yellow to fair complexious. 1t augments the yellow
tiot of yellow and orange skins. The little blue
there may be in q complexion 1t make green violet
This then is one Of the least favorable cOlors to
the skin at least when it is not sufficiently deep tc
yhiten the skin by contrast Of tone.
s'Blue imparts orange, which combines fsvorably
With white and the light flesh hints Of fair complex
ions which have already more or less determined
tint Of this color. Blue is thus suitable to mos
blondes and in this case, justhes ito reputation
1t will not suit brunettes, since they have already
too much Of orange.
Orange is too brilliant to be elegant it makes
fair compiexions blue Whitens those which have an
grange tint, and gives green hue to those of ye
low tint
GLuslreless white such cambria muslin, as
sorts we'll with fresh complexion, Of which it re-
lieVes the rose color but it is unsuitable to COM
plexiOns which have q dissgreeabe tint, because
white always eXsls all colOrs by raising their tone
consequently it is unsuitable 10 those skins which,
without having this disagreeable TINT very nearly
approach it,
l- sVery light white drsperies, such as muslin OF
ace, appear more gray than white We must thus
regard every white drapery which allows the light
to pass through its iEtertioes and which is only az
parent TO the eyes by the surface opposed to that
which receives incident light.
"Black drsperies, by lowering the tone Of the
eOlors with which they are in juxtsPOsitiOn, whit
ems the skin !; but if the vermion, or rosy parts,
are somewhat distant from the drspery, it will fol
low that, although lowered in tone, they appear rel
ativey 70 the white parts of the skin contiguous to
the same drapery redder than if not contiguous tG
the black.