Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-10
THE DRESS OF THE PERIOD.
what IL Coats I'm 1869 TO Own and Keep
q Wife and GrOwn-up Daughter
blessed be He Who Has None-The
street Dress of the Nineteenth Cen
fUry-The Rail- Dress of the Eight

From the New York HsraId

4
"They toll not, neither do tn,
SPIN, and yet l say unto you tn
solomon in all his glory was not a
rayed like one of these" AlIusic
is here, of course, made to the bu
terfy of the period, known in 9th,
! climes and times as woman. cyan
ty of vanities, all is vanity. saif
the preacher" and quote we. br
the trouble is, you can't get IN
fascinating creatures to believe it.
| 1t has been ill-naturedly assertc
of course by some unappreciativ
brute of a husband or brother
whose plethorie pocketbook ha
been bled TO the tune of the desire
fifty dollars or so necessary for tn
coveted feminine purchase-that tn
churches of the city for the pres
ent day will be gay as the blossom
ing parterres with the bewilderin
harvested results of the past open
ing week in dazzling Paris millinery
since to so many women, the sam,
authentic croaker continues, th,
"litany and creed never sound 81
comforting as when lisped 'neatI
the shade p of the traditionary
two rosebuds and ribbon passed
under the chin called, par courtesy
a modern bonnet, and sprung TO
bloom and christened in the last
Opening" And no one really
minds calling ones self "a misera-
bic sinner under the circumstances
and in such excellent. company,
even out loud, for the whole congre-
CATION to hear when one is sure of
its being received beforehand with
the customary grano sails and in
the dialect of the nineteenth cen~
fury ironically considered only an
amusing fashionable travestie upon
the literal truth.
But the question naturally arises
and obtrudes itself pertinently,
When is this matter of yearly in.
creasing extravaganza in female
dress to end? To which, in answer,
the equally pertinent rejoinder may
be made BY the Spanish phrase,
QuieR Sa6e? Oh, for the days of
Evelike simplicity of attire! Or;
if not actually of nothing to wear"
at least of a little less, both as to
cost and material, than poor laden
woman, worse than any veritable
Eastern packhOrse-or, more pro.
perly speaking, mule, that she is,
under the present fashionable
regime--insists upon bending her
fair figure under, in order to keep
up with the extravaganza of the
fashions of 1869.
During the past ten or twelve
years the materials imported for
ladies dresses for ordinary street
wear, have more than doubled, in
some instances, trebled, in value;
and this estimate puts veritable vel
vets, heavy silks, satins and real
laces-always ruinously expensive
female caprices-out Of the ques.
ton entirely, and includes only the
innumerable heavy dress materials,
which, in variety and number, have
increased literally ad infnituna
within that space of time, and, to
carry out the Latin comparison,
have been and are still coupled with
prices gotten up literally ad li6itaDa,
but not by the unfortunate pur-
chaser
The latest rage-absolute Juror
especially within the past winter,
has been, and is yet, for that mat
ter, although an old story abroad,
the new and favorite velveteen
suits, which material, by the way,
in the eyes of so many Disguised
and hoodwinked mascnlines, seems
to be Veritable velvet Well, it is
not; but as to price, when COM
pleted, it might almost as well be.
Any or every velveteen suit worn so
becomingly by its fair owner, unless
of the absolute ''scrubby'' and in
contestably cotton" stuff, when
trimmed and donned, runs up in
value almost to the price of an old
time literal velvet; and the worst of
it is that whereas only the priyil-
eyed few could wear one, as was the
case in by-gOne days with gold
watches and diamonds, now nearly
every third woman you meet upon
the street has a stunning velveteen
suit on of some tint and texture, no
single one of which can come un-
der the terrible sum of (lOwest)
forty dollars, and more likely cost
from eighty dollars to one hundred
and fifty dollars. One case only has
come to the knowledge of the wri-
ter of this article of a superb vel
veteen black suit worn by lady of
this city, which, the lady in ques-
ton has assured the writer, did not
cost her one cent. The details,
however, leaked out, after q little
desultory conversation, in the fact
tnat it was a present to her from an
(of course) over indulgent hus-
band.
A gentleman of this city insists
that, seated in the parlOr window OF
a private house on one Of the styl-
ish cross streets, he counted, on a
certain Sunday afternoon, no less
than two hundred and fifty yelve-
teen suits, each and all upholstered
not trimmed - after the most
elaborate pattern, and varying in
color from bright canary to funeral
black. OF course such full dress
SANDER could only proceed from
the foul mouth of the traducer OF
church-going women and millinery
openings quoted above.
But, apropos of the universal
"upholstering" in lieu Of trimming
which the fashion ofthe present day
has inaugurated, can anything be
more odious than the worsted fur
niture tassels, gimp and fringe with
which so much feminine dress is
loaded-not trimmed? and even
when the cord and fringe is silk, as
is the case in so much of the trim
ming for the velyeteens, it is in so
many instances put on so tastelessly
as to look as if copied--if not the
upper skirt, at least, actually bOr-
| rowed-from the looped-up and