The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1868-08-26
sTAUNT0N VIRGINIA. WEDNESDAY MORNING. AUGUST &c.
Correspondence of the New York World.]
THE FASHIONS AT SARATOGA.


THE FASHIONS AT SARATOGA.
| An Inside view of a Fashionable Belle
! How ssthe Grecian BendH IS Produced
| Slightly ''Ex'tror'ny."
| SARATOGA, AUGUST IA.
The nights are, more absolutely than they
ever were, devoted to follics the most fasci
mating, and exhibitions of fashionable man
ners and attire SO absurd, that it would seem
as if the tailors and modistcrs had conspirec
together this season to play monstrous joke
upon their patrons. Perhaps the dandies are
worth less notice than ever. The difference
between fop and a gentleman in the United
States is happily wide enough to render il
| impossible that any sane person should ever
confound the two. But the difference be-
tween female popinjay and lady is here
defined by such a curious and vulgar set Of
peculiarities appertaining to the former per.
son. that cannot forbear to describe them.
In the first place, toilet is affected, which
of itself sufEces to turn woman in full dress
into a caricature. The body and waist Of
the dress are remarkable in only one respect
the last is exceedingly tight, and the for
mer rather loose at the top and exceedingly
low. It is below the waist that which is mon
strous in the costume first attracts and then
repels the eyes Of man. A hoop Of moder-
ate dimensions, overspread with an under
skirt or two, and dress Of whatever fabric,
are worn. Underneath the rear of this hoop,
just below the waist of the person designated,
is bound coil of wire from two to three
inches in diameter, which '.throws out" and
elevates the upper portion Of the dress be-
hind, and forms the foundation, so to speak,
Of an exterior protuberance called the panicr.
The panier is a hustle, more or less enor-
nous, upon which, in successive folds or lay
ers gathered up, or confined by band en-
circling the dress from the stomach of the
wearer around and beneath, an extra skirt,
reaching just below the posterlor, hangs, or
rather 'swhobbles" to and fro. The dress
has train from four to six feet in length.
The posture affected in order to set off
this attire is called the "Grecian Bend"
contortion Of thebody which, as it is high
ly improper in itself, I find it difficult to de-
scribe with propriety. High heeled shoes
dispose the wearer to incline forward, and
high-heeled CATERS are therefore adopted by
by the abelle Of the season." She is thus
the more readily enabled to elevate her lips
unnaturally behind, enhancing the aspect of
the paniier, to contract her stomach, and to
form an S like curvature of her upper shape
by thrusting out her chest, drawing back
her shoulders and bending forward her head.
The latter is crowned by a hideous chignon,
surprising, by several inches, the thickness
Of the shallow pether brain. So bent and
deformed, the belle constrains her elbows
against her sides; and, with horizontal fore
arms and little goved hands dangling from
limp wrists, tits painfully along. The pro-
file of such figure, and its ungraceful gait,
are irresstibly suggestive Of a lame kanga-
roo. When it is whirled and tossed about in
dance by one of the fashionable jumping
Jacks in black broadcloth who are here SO
numerous, and SO much alike that you can
hardly tell one from another, the sight
what with the bobbing up and down Of the
woman's panier and the agile sidelong leaps
Of the jumoning-jack across the immense
trail piled on the foor-is too exasperatingly
ridiculous for laughter.
It has been con6ded to me by an elderly
woman with whom I conversed at recent
ball, that the distortion of the shape known
as the "Grecian Bend" is quite painful and
wearisome, and that some girls adopt artifci-
al contrivances to aid them in preserving the
posture for several consecutive hours
"a belt is fastened about the waist,
under the skirts. From this belt, down
either side the hips, two straps, furnish
ed with buckles descend, and are attached
to strong bands. made fast around the lower
thighs. AS the buckles of the straps are
frightened, the hips are drawn up and held
in position 'sThis, said my amiable infor-
mant, lis relief, of course, to only one part
Of the frame The construction Of the upper
part has to be preserved with no other aids
than the stays; and those render it the more
difficult and tiresome. You perhaps notice
another popularity about some Of the Ia
dies dresses. The bodies are not only cut
very low, but are so far from clinging jeal-
ously to the figure as to seem to challenge
the gaze of partners to that satisfaction in
regard to the reality ofcertain charms, which
it was formerly claimed by manageable
bachelors that they were denied. So gra-
cious a condescension on the part of our
bellies, continued the matron, in tone ting
ling with irony, "commends them, you will
surely admit, as far more honest and IN
cquivocating set than the haunts of fashion
are used to boast Off And, indeed this
claim might be founded upon proofs even
more striking than the one alluded to. No
body who has been entrapped here, as spec
tator of the frequent displays of under dra-
perry on the stairways and the edges of We
randas and colonnades, can doubt that many
Of the embroidered hose and delicate laces
which adorn the limbs Of the exhibitors
were donned as well for beauty as for wear,
and that the manner of making a graceful
disclosure of them is studied as a fine art
CONTEMPT OF CouRr.-Y esterday morn
ing, says the Richmond Enquirer, white
youth named Charles Britton, was brought
before "Chief Justice" PEBBLES to answer for
knocking an impudent negro down in the mar
ket That august functionary imposed a fac
Of $3.50 on Britton. He demonstrated, and
finally cursed ''the court" to its face.
Justice. Peebles-.Curse this court -
curse this court! I'll fine you twenty five