Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1868-10-27
The Philosophy of Dressing.

Women want diamonds in order to shine eacl
other down, and they dress for precisely the
same purpose. As rule, they can have nei
ther dress nor diamonds unless men lavish these
things upon them and that men have done sc
| in abundance is In itself demonstration that
in some way or other. they have already made
themselves exceedingly pleasing to the donors
| please men, but in. order to show each othel
that they have pleased them. Thus dress is
with women, not the means of victory, but the
| signs and proof of it.
| Were We to assert that men dress to please
women, we should be saying something very
much nearer the mark than the averment that
women dress to please men. And it is worth
| asserting though, of course, in order to make
it strictly true, nXopld require qualification
inasmuch as it vii help to show us why what,
nautdtis mutantis, can be pretty freely predica-
ted of one sex cannot be predicated at all Of
the other Society is the business of woman s
life; it is mans pastime and relaxation Ac-
cordlngly the women, when in society, are most
ly bent upon promoting what they. conceive to
be their interests, while men are principally oc-
cupied in seeking what they conceive to be
their pleasure To be reciprocally pleasing is
one Of the objects in life of the members OF
both sexes; but it is the exclusive object oi
neither.
Men are just as anxious to make themselves
agreeable to women as women are to make
themselves agreeable to men; but it is not in
order to make themselves so that they study
prices current, worry-their brains over plead
ings, master the intricacies of the poor law or
60 through the dirty turmoil Of political elec-
ton. There are other ways and other oppor-
tunities of gratifying the vain and amorous side
Of their nature; and when the occasion arises,
they are not neglectful of the external devices
which they fancy will assist them in that par
ticular quest. Accordingly, as we say, men
who are desirous of rendering themselves CRATE
ful to women are conspicuously attentive to
their dress. As we put it., they dress to please
women. And though we must do woman the
justice to observe that the arts Of the popinjay
are by no means sure approach to her afec-
tions, the wisest of mankind, if bent upon at
tracing her, will not wholly disregard them
But she by no means thinks to please others
by the methods which partially please her. The
society where female attire is of consequence is
her place of business, her mart, her public
arena and in it she has something to think of
besides moving the hearts of men. We do not
say that the latter object is wholly foreign to
her thoughts; but, as far as dress is concerned,
it is. Should she steal five or ten minutes from
the general business Of the evening, and dedi
cate them-to that special point, where does she
spend them? Surely in some corner, alcove,
conservatory, balcony-garden, may be-where
the splendor of her attire can no longer be duly
seen. She knows that, for the subduing of
man, momentary glance, transitory tone, an
uncertain pressure of the hand, are worth all
the dresses in the world. But, in order to con-
quer woman, to put her heel upon the neck of
her own sex, she must shine them down. y
Her husband or father may begrudge the ex-
hnr bor foe
her brothers may tell her that she has made
herself perfect fright, but, so long as she feels
sure that women do not think she has done
anything of the kind, she does not care a pin
for fraternal criticism and she is confident that
she possesses the peculiar arts which will com
pei father, lover, or husband, as the case may
be, to allow her to do precisely the same to
morrow evening, or, if possible, to do ever so
much more in the same direction. The error
lies in overlooking the material fact that
women, to say the very least, are just as ambi-
tious as men, the only difference being that as
the field Of their ambition is not the same,
neither are their aims; and as, in the pursuit
OF this common passion, man contends with
man and not with woman, so woman contends
with woman and not with man. 1t is what his
fellow men think of his speech, his book, his
picture, his influence on Change, his military
capacity, and not what women think OF 1t, that
is an ambitious man main consideration.
Similarly. it is what her fellow women think
of her skirt, her bonnet, her parure of pearls,
her necklace, headgear, and not what men
think of it, that is an ambitious woman's con-
sideration as she moves among her splendid RI
walls. In reality, she values and rates mems
opinion upon dress about as highly as they do
hers upon political economy, the prospects of
the budget, or the Lord Chancellor last argu-
ment. In plain words, she thinks rather mean
y of it, or, at any rate regards it as foreign to
the purpose. Long after she pretends or even
cares to captivate men, for herself at least, she
is still all socitude about her attire. In fact,
it rather WAKES than wanes with age, thus at
fording us fresh presumption of its being in
her the analogue to that ambition in man which
also grows and deepens with the growing years.
She may no longer have youth; she may no
longer have beauty but, SO long as she can
dress as handsomely and in as costly a fashion
as other women, she gives them manifest proofs
that she still retains power, and the masculine
affection which, nine times out of ten, originally
gave it to her. Her husband enables her to
dress fashionably, not that she may please him,
but that he may please her; and this is pre-
cisely what he has done all along, from the very
first day of his marrying her.