Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-08-08
COSTUME AND IT'S MORALS.

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The London Saturday Reviea0, which
never does things by halves, has come out
with terrible philippe against the prevail
| ing fashions in female costume. We quote
few paragraphs -
1t can hardly be denied that at the present
moment it offends grieYously in three par
| ticulars 1t Is inadequate for decency; 1t
lacks that truthfulness which is, and should
be, the base of all that is attractive and beau
tiful and in its symbolism 1t is In the high
est degree Objectionable, for it not only aims
| at what is positively hateful and meretri-
practised eye to distinguish the high-born
maiden or matron of Belgravia from the
Anonymas who haunt the drive and fill our
streets.
This Indictment is, may be said,a severe
one; but IL we examine, SO far as male crit
les may venture to do, the costume Of
fashionable woman Of the day, 1t can hard
| ly be said to be unjust. The apparent object
Of modern female dress is to assimilate its
wearers as nearly as possible in appearance
to women of certain class-the class to
which it was formerly hardly practicable to
allude, and yet be ineligible to young la
dies but all that is changed, and the habits
and customs of the women of the demS
| monde are now studied as If they were in
! deed curious, but exceptionally admirable,
and thus study unseemly and Improbable
has begotten spirit of imitation which has
achieved degrading success. Sour mod
| est matrons meet, not "to stare the strum-
pet down." but to compare notes, to Get
hints, and to engage in q kind Of friendly
| rivalry-in short, to pay that homage l..
vice, and in very direct way, too, viii
vice is said formerly to have paid to virtu.-
Paint and powder are, Of course, the Il.
requisites for the end in view, and these ao
juncts have to be laid on with such skill as
the debutarte or her toilette-maid possess
es, which is sometimes so small as to leave
| their handiwork disgustingly coarse and ap-
parent. There are pearl-powder, violet
| powder, rouge, bistre for the eyelids, bella
donna for the eyes, white lead and black
| lead, yellow dye and mineral acids for the
hair--all tending to the utter destruction Of
both hair and skin. The effect OF this
"diaphanous" complexion and .ansli,ed
hair Eve borrow the expressions) IN Il. per-
son intended by nature to be dark, or
swarthy, is most comical; sometimes the
white lead is used so unsparingly that 1t haa
quite blue tint, which glistens till the
| looks more like deaths head anoint., "ith
phosphorus and oil for theatrical purposes
| than the head of Christian gentlewoman
1t may be interesting to to know, and we
have the information from high, because
4
reign of golden locks and blue-white visages
is drawing to close, and that it is to be
followed by bronze complexion and blue
black hair-a = Afric0ine we presul. :
| When fashionable Madame has to Il /
own satisfaction, painted and varnis 7
her face, she then proceeds, Like Jezain
to tire her head, and, whether she has u.
hair or little, she fixes on to the back OF j
huge nest of course hair generally well bal
in order to free it from the parasites Wa.
which it abounded when it first adorned the
person of some Russian or North German
peasant girl. Of course this gives an upnat-
urally large and heavy appearance to the
cerebellar region but nature is not exactly
what is aimed at, still less refinement If
this style be not approved OF, there is YET
another fashion-namely, to cut their hair
short in crop, creper it, curl it, frizzle it,
bleach it, burn it, and otherwise torture 1t
until il has about as much life in it as last
years hay; and then to shampoo 1t, rumple
It, and tousle it, until the effect is to produce
tho aspect of madwoman in one OF her
worst fits. This method, less troublesome
and costly thar the other, may be considered
even more striking, so that it is largely adop-
ted by number of persons who are rather
disreputable and poor. AS it is well known,
not all of the asinine tribe wear asses ears,
nevertheless some of these votaries of dress
find their ears loo long, or too large, or i'll
placed, or, what comes to the same thing
inconveniently placed, but prettier or bet
ter shaped pair are easily purchased, admi-
rably nodded in gutta percha or some other
plastic material they are delicately colored,
fitted up with earrings and spring appara-
tus, and they are then adjusted on to the
head, the despised natural ears being, OF
course, carefully hidden from view.
But it is in evening costume that
our women have reached the minimum Of
dress and the maximum Of brass. We re-
member venerable old lady whose ideas
! of decorum were such that in her speech
| all about the foot was ankle, and all
below the chin was chest but now the fe-
, male bosom is less the subject of u rcvela-
tion than the feature of an exposition, and
charms that were once reserved are now
= made the common property of every locker
, on. A costume which has been described
as consisting of u smock, a waistband, and
: a frill seems to exceed the bounds of honest
: liberality, and resemble most the attire men
tion by Rabelais, " Nothing before and moth
ing behind with sleeves of the same"
> Not very long ago two gentlemen were
G standing together at the opera. "Did you
ever see anything like that ?" inquired one
. with significant glance, directing the eyes
u of his companion to the uncovered bust of
e a lady Immediately below. 'sNot since was
S weaned, was the suggestive reply We are
not aware whether the speaker was consci-
. ously or unconsciously reproducing we'll
s known archiepiscopal mot. Though our
S neighbors are not strait-laced, so far as bath
d ing costume is concerned, they are less tole-
. rant of the nude than we are in this highly
. favored land. There was lately story in
II one of the papers that at certain ball a
l. lady was requested to leave the room be-
d cause a chain of wrought gold, suspended
| IL. tnc ha coli rnrO
lection which it seemed to her well to weai
lie ON her bosom. To have made the toilet
correspond throughout, the dress shoult
III have consisted of crinoline skirt, which
A. though not so ornamental, would have beer
~ not less admirable and more effective. o.
AT course there are women to whom nature ha
been niggardly in the matter of roundnesl
er of form, but even these need not dispair; !
they can not show their own busts, they cal
show something nearly as good.
IT NAV be said that in all this we are un
of generous and ungratefu and that in discus
- Sing the costume of women we are touching
on n question which pertains 10 women NOR
he than 10 men. But is that so? Are we nc
nd by thus exposing what is false, filthy, an
a meretrcious, seeking so lead what once dig
nitied by the name OF the fair sex" from
course alike unbecoming and undignified t
I'd one more worthy of the sex and its attr
,e- butes? Most men like to please women, an
most women like to please men. For, q
100 has been well said, Pour ptdire au
~ ;. fen,mes IL tout etre considere des hon
mes, ct pour etre considere des homnae
be IL fou sauoir plrire a,tr .fenanaes." w
IN have a right to suppose that women DO ne
o. adopt a fashion or costume unless the
or or- suppose that it will add to their attraction
the in general, and possibly also please men i
his particular. This being so, 1t may be well
NIL observe that these fashions do not please I
-, attract men, for we know they are but u
'ou inventions ofsome vulgar, selfish periatqui'
Elk. or n,odiste. We may add that If we wa
us to study the nude we can do SO in the scul
not ture galleries, or among the Tahleaux
,uo wants, at our ease; and that for well-br'
ANe or well-educated and well-horn women,
even for only fashionable and fast wome
al to approximate in their manners, habits al
dress to the members of the demi-monde.