The Xenia sentinel. [volume] (Xenia [Ohio]) 1863-186?, 1864-02-02
Dress Of American Women.

Dress is undoubtedly a very import
ant part Of the business of a woman ;
| it belongs to the ornamental as we'll
as the useful part of her life; it as
sists in creating the charm that sur
rounds her, and, by the latitude which
is allowed to her taste and fancy in
the selection of styles, shapes, colors
and materials, affords to the thought
full and speculative no small insight
into her character and preferences.
Women themselves can not possibly
understand or realize how greatly the
admiration they excite depends, in the
minds of men of refinement and cul-
ture, upon those subtle graces which
find their expression in a thousand
minute details of dress, voice and
manner, not alone IN the crowded ball
room and gay promenade, but in the
retirement of private life, the sane
tity of home. Here, indeed, where
woman reigns supreme, those graces
and accomplishments which mpart so
much of her fascinatiOns, and serve to
increase her influence over the oppo-
site sex, should shine out in all their
luster, should be exhibited to the
greatest advantage.
Here, where the eye of affection
alonercould rest upon them, charms
Of person might be displayed without
loss of dignity or self-respect,and with
out the danger of pandering to the VIC
ious inclinations Of the weak or the
wicked. Fancy might lun riot in the
beauty, the quaintness, the simplicity,
or the gorgeousness of its designs, and
the interior of his home afford othe
man Of taste all the realization of his
finest ideals.
Of course, it is not necessary that
woman should do this in defiance Of
convenience of propriety, but it would
certainly be better that they should
give a little more rein to taste and
fancy at home, and less abroad. Home
now, in too many cases, is the place
where women wear out their old
clothes, where they allow a general
neglect to impart a repulsiYe atmos-
phere to their persons and costumes
their efforts at complete, or what
is called grand toilette, being all
made for the public benefit, for the
qualification of strangers, or cOldly
speculative acquaintances, who pitt
lessly take to pieces both dress and
wearer, and expose the deformity, if
there be any, which lurkes behind the
fair outside. A change which would
render women modest andunObtrusive
in their street and public attire, and
more careful, more ''riant," more deli
cate, more fanciful at home, would.
certainly be step toward rendering
home the paradise it should be, in or
der to induce men to stay in it.
The great obstacle to success il the
art of dress with most women, IS rot
the want of time or money. to bestow
Fuponit, but a want Of nice percep-
ton, a delicate sense of harmony and
fitness, which is strong enough to re-
sist the temptation to adopt anything
vulgar, outre, or unbecQning in style,
shape or color, because it is announc-
ed as "new." The genuine Paris
Eienne has this sixth sense almost in
/ perfection her dress in the street is
so quiet, so modest, so grave, that by
uncultivated persons she would be set
down as nobody ;" only those Of
quicker perception and refined in
stincts would detect in her fine, scarce
Iy visible embroidery, her faultless
glove and perfectly-ftting boot, that
habit of neatness and adaptibility
which is indispensable to, and always
accompanies true, elegance.
1 It is assumed by most women that
to dress with taste, it is necessary to
spend a great deal Of money. How
often they say S0h, I know how to
dress, if I could only afford il" But
| such a remark shows that she who ut
ters it is ignorant of the first and last
principle Of taste, which is itness,and
which could be just as well expressed
in a dress of merino, or the fOrmely
despised printed cotton, as in the
costliest silk or velvet. A woman
may be charmingly dressed without a
scrap of point, Honiton, or Brussel
lace, or an atom of jewelry. If her
sleeves and collar be fine, and deli
cately stitched or tucked, the material
and color of her dress chosen, the
style adapted to her. figure, and her
whole aspect refined, spirited, and
womanly, who would miss the elabor-
ate display of more snowy attire? It
| is superfuous to reiterate the COM
monplacisms relative to the charms of
simplicity, which have long ago been
exhausted in Letters to Young La
dies" and the description of that Pc
rennial bud of beauty who uniformly
appears at the great ball of the sea
son in plain white muslin. A more adj
vanced civilization creates, day by
day, new wants,an wealth can scarce
IIy be considered undesirable which
brings with it the power of purchas-
ing beauty in a thousand multiplied
shapes and forms. MagniRcence in
dress, for those who possess the means,