Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-11-22
CALIFORNIA FASHIONS.
Society in San Francisc0--HOyS
the GentisElen, Ladies' and
Servant Girls DreAs.

A Western paper hsH correspondent
I in San Francisco who Writes of the fash
ions of the metropolis of the golden land
as follows:
Woman here occupies, and has always
! occupied, an anomalous position. She
enjoys every facility to become spoilt
creature-spoilt with petting and indul-
/ genee. Her vanities are hypertrophied /;
/ her best impulses slumber. That there
are many, many women in California as
( gentle, true, honest and noble as exist in
/ the world, | firmly and gladly believe,
! but there is an undue multiplicity of ad-
/ venturesses, and worse. The region Is
crude, and of such is their kingdom of
plunder and paradise.
Whatever the past may have been, and
whatever injury it may have done the
/ present, society in San Francisco is grow
/ ing more decisively wholesome every
year. The early license Is frowned upon.
Fewer are triply tempted as of old. The
exterior of society is even more gay than
in New York. The women dress in the
! EXTREMIST fashion, and spend more on
their raiment than any other creatures
in the world
They promenade along the arbitrary
side of Montgomery street Especially OF
Saturday stternoons) and furnish pan
Drama OF cosmopolitan beauty and costly
/ cosmopolitan fabrics, that can hardly be
matched outside the flashing capitals Of
the world. There is no need of rouge in
San Francisco. The chill, snappish sea
breeze fetches the blood to the cheek Of
even the brunette; and it imparts, too, a
little buoyance to the gait that is not as
sociated with our ideas of walking
down Broadway" The fashions barely
blossom in Paris, you know, before they
/ bloom IN New York; and ere they are
dead ripe on Fifth avenue the sympa-
thetic flower has opened In San Francis
co-with this special difference, however,
that, strictly speaking, this city has no
summer fashions. 1t is never winter
here they say. | can swear that it is
never summer.
The absurdest thing l see in the pre-
vailing fashions are the shoe-heels. The
ladies (whose feet are small and daintily
shaped enough when sensibly shod)
wear CATERS, the thimble heels of which
are nearly two inches high, and placed
almost directly under the hollow of the
foot The "Grecian bend, which l
notice all the Eastern journals are serib-
bling on, has not yet crossed the continent.
1t will come, no doubt, yet these ridicu-
lous heels produce a bend that may
be akin TO the Grecian, but has nothing
1 Corinthian about it. They compel care
ful poising during walk, constant
struggle to keep the center of gravity
F. (why not levityD from falling outside
the base, and the result is an ambitious,
grotesque, dignifed, indescribable cross
between a mincing strut and hobble
The male elegantes are no better off.
Their boot heels are after the same stilted
pattern; and even the mechanic and pro-
vincial farmer wear enormously high,
inward -sloping heels. Its the style, -
and the conscientious shoemaker would
starye in striving to amend it.
The most distinguished part of the
ladies' attire here is the superb furs
brought down from Alaska and other
northern latitudes. A suit of noble furs
ischeaper than in New York; but staple
dry goods are much higher than is war
rantable and the cost of fashionable
millinery and dress making is fairly stag
gering. This dearness of clothing for
men and women is absurd, considering
| the prevailing cheap freights and conve-
nience of transportation. 1t was late Oh
the 2lst of August that l arrived in Sar
- Francisco, and my FIRST experience or
the 22d was paying nearly twice as much
, for an imperatively demanded overcoai
as the same would cost in New York OF
, Cincinnati.
To write paragraph about fashion il
/ San Francisco, and omit to mention the
elaborate and regal toilets of the servant
's, would be like playing Toodles
gu,, he omission of the estimable gen.
WIN l. lose chief omission it is to gel
tieman Va tight The servant girls
Pic'ulesque9 whom are Irish, receive
the majority OF " dollars per month
from twenty to thlr,. of eourse Som,
gold, and their board, - eLnndoDti1
of the prudent ones a. ,wn aa;Ja ~
clothed from the fnery thro ~ Law ~
I their mistresses, and, as such c. ~ =
all their wages, it is not uneomn a0l
/ find them with little fortunes Of SAT
or $1,000 in bank.
Travelling in a stage-eoaeh latel l
1 heard one of the passengers describe the
recent wedding of two sisters, who, for
sixteen years, had been servant girls in a
wealthy family at San Francisco. In all
that time neither had bought one hun
dred dollars worth of clothing. Their
mistress had grown daughters, and from
their discarded garments they were
neatly and even richly clad. Each of the
brides had saved over FIVE thousand dol
lars in gold, and, bringing such dowries,
they had been enabled to chose from a
whole platoon Of likely suitors. The
savings banks Of San Francisco hold on
deposit not less than S20,000,000 in coin
belonging almost exclusively to the So
called working classes-I say so-called
because it is unsoInd to make such {
distinction between the miller and hii
man. But to the point. The thrift.
servant girls here are not numerous
The majority give themselves stupendou
airs. array their robust forms in velyets
MORE antique, aristocratic laees, XII
gloves Of aggressive hue, and iewelr
whose chief merit is Aaring prodigaht
/ Of gold.
4 They succeed perfectly in maintainin
, sslf-convictie,n that they are the yer