The Shasta courier., 1867-02-02
Crinoline and the style Empire.

unknown source IN Paris, crinolnes are col
iapsing; rapidly in the street, slowly in the
drawing room, but decidedly, and with but
small probability of future expansion Few
fashions have so long withstood the furious
ATTACKS OF mankind as the hoops. During
,lts former reign, ashundred years and better
ago, lefters, furious, complaining, or satiri
cal appeared, as we all know, III the Spec
tator' as they now have appeared in Punch
OF the Times, or our own press. and equally
IN VAN, until its appointed time came, and
1t tell before the rage for classic decoration
which eliminated in the spindle-shanked
chairs and sofas of Josephine's drawing
room, the hideously unsafe looking sideboards
of Carlton House, and the scanty draperes
OF the beautiful HorteIse and Lady Char
lotte Bury. Nothing is more difficult than
to combine the useful and tie beautiful es-
pecially with dress, in which both quali6ca.
tions are equally demanded. The splendid
costumes of the middle ages appeal striking.
ly to our eyes, and from among their great
variety many of our garments are derived,
but their whole idea of life, with its splendor
and decorations, furred robes, and ieweled
mantles, presupposed a multitude of interiors,
las the Greek ideal a multitude of slaves. J
who could never in the nature of things
copy the dress of their superiors. With the
gradual uprising of the middle class, sumpt-
uary laws became first necessary and then
useless, the gorgeous and picturesque and
strongly individualized costume became
gradually more sombre and uniform, until
Democratic equality, if not a Republican
simplicity, at last prevails.
The real difficulty about female dress is
one of social distinction, it being nearly i'm
possible to devise a costume which shall llok
elegant and yet give freedom for reedful
work but nothing can apparently persuade
women to do the one sensible thing, 4. e to
wear regular costume. adapted to their
requisite abors. During Thackeray's favor
ite period (the close of the last century,,
with its small hoops, tucked up skirts and
clicked stockings, jaunty little cap with
flowing ribbons, and lace mittens pulled up
to the elbow. ali nnsures and faces might find
it possible to dress becomiSa@ly; but there
were still strong distinctions drawn, and ser
wants in those days wore suitable garments,
and did not break china ornaments, knock
down your children, or set themselves on
fire, by marching about your house in huge
wire cages. In decorative art, by following
the Greeks and depending on beauty of form
in pottery, and contrast of pure color in
fresco or wall paper, we can, with taste,
combine wonderful amount of beauty with
utility. But in dress our climate, our pre-
judices. and our angular figures are inexora
bic against u.s.. Nothing can be more lovely
than the long, gold bordered robes in which
painters Of the French classic school love to
drape their groups nothing more convenient,
in warm climate, than the costume of the
Il Al.
either to our modern customs.
Fancy any one dancing a galop in long
draperes, even if looped up to the knees on
one side or skating in the warmest possible
modification of the Huntresss costume -
By following the Greeks pretty closely the
beauties of the Imperial Court succeeded in
displaying their charms to the greatest ad-
vantage; while those too prudish or too
plain to endure such scanty covering. only
succeeded in looking like those members of
Noah's family which the patient German
toy. maker year after year puts into his pc
rennially interesting ark.
II fdm riure. and women have an unerr-
ing instinct which teaches them the necessi-
tv of looking their best, and if a fashion is
ugly it is modified or exaggerated until, at
any rate, it becomes piquant and attractive.
therefore the Oreek u1ouel is espeCidiiy udH-
cerous in the present day, for in following it
a woman will be either dowdy or what would
now be considered indecent and as no New
York young lady could possibly endure to
be the former, she might, when deprived of
boufante skirts, be in danger of approach
inc the latter to degree which would throw
the horrors of crinoline far into the shade
and we fear that if the present indications of
an approach to the style empire be followed
m to the usual extremes. the complainers to
Punch and the Times, as well as our own
masculine grumbers, will find they have ex-
changed King Log for King Stork.-Round
Table.