The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-07-02
Philosophy of Dress.

recently published work entitled The
Laws of Contrast of Color" Among the
subjects treated is one of universal interest
female clothing NJ Chevreul discusses
this with all the care it demands And,
first, he establ shed certain distinctions;
that of the two types known as brunette
and blonde; that of the juxtaposition Of
the articles of toilet, whether pertaining to
the hair or to the complexion; and that Of
notifications OF the complexion; by color
ed rays emanating from the head-dress
and which, being reflected on the skin,
tinge it with their peculiar color. lie
says
The color Of light hair being essentially
the result Of q mixture of red, yellow, and
brown, we must consider it a very pale
subdued orange brown; the color of the
skin, although lower tone, is analogous
to it, except in the red parts. Blue eyes
are really the only parts Of the fair type
which form contrast of color with the
whole; for the red parts produce with the
rest OF the skin only Harmony Of analogy
OF hue or at most a contrast of hue, and
not of color; and the part of the skin con-
tiguous to the hair, the eyebrows and eye
lashes give rise only to harmony of ana
logy, either of scale or of hue. The har-
monies of analogy, then, evidently predo
inmate in the fair type over the har,noaies
Of contrast
THE type with black hair shows the
harn,onies of contrast predominating over
the harmonies of analogy. The hair, eye
brows, eye-lashcs, and eyes contrastiu tone
n Trt, = ,.f -.
skin, but also with the red parts, which in
this type are really redder, or less roscate,
than in the blonde type; and we must not
forget that decided red, associated with
black, gives 10 the latter the character Of
an excessively deep color, either blue or
green.
OF the colors of the hair and hcad-dress
we are told;
The colors which are usually consider
ed as asserting best with light or black
hair precisely those which produce
great contrasts; thus sky-blue, known to
accord well with blondes, is the color
which approaches nearest to the compile
mentary of orange, which is the basis cf
the tint of their hair and conplcxions.-
Two colors, long esteemed TO accord favor
ably with black hair-yellow, and red
manner with them. Yellow and orange
red. contrasting by color and brilliancy
with black, and their conplernentaries, VI
olet and blue-green, in mixing with the
tint Of the hair, are far from producing .
bad result
The following on the colors OF the COM
plexion and the contiguous drapery, af-
tords several valuable hints:
The juxtaposition Of drapery with the
different flesh tints OF women oilers to pog
trait painters a host of remarks, which are
all the result OF the principles already lad
down. We shall state the most general,
thus:
:" Rose red cannot be put N contrast with
eren the rosiest complexions without caus-
ing them TO lose some of their freshness.
Rose-red, maroon, and Light crimson. have
the serious disadvantage Of rendering the
complexion moro or less green. This is
shown in the following experiments: Place
two sheets of paper of either Of the above
colors beside.two sheets of fresh -colored
paper. when il will be seen how much they
are mutually Injured the lighter becoming
gresnish and the darker rather of violet
hue. By substituting light green for the
red, we shall find them mutually height
ened and improved The height OF tone
of the green influences the result; 4 very
deep green acting by contrast Of tone, 50
er:eehles the complexion that the slight
contrasts of its coiofs will lie inapprocia-
BILE; deep red, by contrast Of analogy,
blanches the complexion. 1t is necessary,
then, to separate the rose from the skin in
some manner; and the simplest manner of
doing this is 10 edge the draperies with a
% 81. 4 bo atya
of gray by the mixture of white threads,
which reflect light, and the ir,erstices.
which absorb it; there is also mixture OF
light and shade. which recalls the effect Of
gray like the effect of q easement window
viewed al great distance. Dark red is
less Objectionable for certain compilations
than rose red, because, being higher than
the latter. it tends to impart whitene to
them in consequence of contrast OF tone.
delicate green is. on the contrary, IA
vorable TO all fair complexions which are
deficient in rose, and which may have
more impaired TO them without disadvap-
tage But il is not as favorable 10 COM
pleXions that are more red than rosy; nor
to those that have 4 tint of orange mixed
with brown, because the red they add TO
this tint will be of q brick-red hue. In
the latter case dark green will be less
Objectionable thad delicate green.
yellow imparts violet to fair skin.
and in this view it is less favorable than
the delicate green. To those skins which
are more yellow than orange it imparts
white; but this combination Is very dull
and heavy for a fair complexion. When
the skin is tinted more with orange than
yellow, we can make il rosy by neutraiizing G
the yellow 1t produces this effect upon
the black-haired type, and it is thus that it
suits brunettes.
Violet the complimentary Of yellow,
produces contrary effects thus it imparts
some greenish-yeliow to fair compilations.
1t augments the yellow tint Of yellow and
| orange skins. The little blue there may be
! in a complexion it makes green violet
! This, then, is one of the least favorable CO.
lors to the skin, at least when it is not sut-
iciently deep to whiten the skin by con-
trast of tone.
"Blue imparts orange, which combines
! favorably with white, and the light flesh
| tints of fair compilations, which have moie
| or less determined tint of this color
Blue is thus suitable to most blonde, and
in this case justities its reputation. 1t will
| not suit brunettes, since they have already
too much of orange.
"Orange is too brilliant to be elegant; it
makes fair complexions blue, whitens
those which have an orange tint, and gives
green hue to those of yellow tint.
| "LustreIess white, such as cambria mus
lin, asserts we'll with fresh complexion
of which it relieves the rose color; but it
is unsuitable to compilations which have a
disagreeable tint, because white always ex.
ats all colors by raising their tone; conse
auently it is unsuitab to those skins
which, without having this disagreeable
tint, very nearly approach it.
Very light white draperies, such as
muslin or lace appear more gray than
white. We must thus regard every white
drapery which allows the Light to pass
! x.hich ig only