The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-08
IN SILK ATTIRE.
From the N. Y. Tribune.

-
What is to be the costume Of the emanci-
pated woman? There is evidently an increas-
ing gorgeousness of array upon the platform,
wherever she sets her courageous foot Miss
Dickinson, having lately traverseda q continent,
bears "Reminiscences of its broad acres behind
her in her train. Miss Logan was mildly CEN
sured by her presiding officer on one occasion
for her personal splendors, and she now ap-
pears sin heavy black velvet, heavy silk over
skirt and panier, and gold ornaments" Miss
Field, on the other hand, according to ''Susie
". in the Springfield Republican,, is ''clad in
simple white muslin, pure as her aspirations"
Mrs. Paulina Davis, in the Hartford Con-
vention, was ''radiant in an overwhelm-
ing confusion of blue satin, black velvet, and
white hair, and Mrs. H. B. Stanton in black
velvet solely. The latter lady, at the Newport
Convention last summer, discoursed upon the
vapities of dress, while arrayed in brilliant
Roman scarf tied over the left shoulder and
beneath the right arm. Yet she bears testi-
mony in late number of :. The Re0OgutjOR
against ''many of the new converts, who,
being persons of wealth, refinement, and cul-
tivation, desire to make the platform highly
respectable, fashionable, unobjectionable in
all ways, and regrets ''to hear SO much said
just now about the importance of keeping
our platform clear of sll humble, plain-spoken,
uncultivated people," Now, which is to be
the attitude? Under which king, Bezonian,
or which queen? Is it Eugene, or Lucretia
Mott, who is to regulate the costume of the
platform?
It is new problem for reformers
withal shall we be clothed? In the anti-slavery
movement no such trouble came in. We utterly
fail to recall any bewildering gorgeousness of
dress on that platform. Concentrated on
moral ideas, women bore no 'trailing clouds
of glory" in the form of dry goods, and men
were plain in costume as in speech. Stephen
Foster, for instance, as we recall him in
those better days of the Republic, had no
leaning towards the vanities of dress. There
is a tradition of his having once made a
speech in blue yarn mittens, when the weather
was cold; and warmer moments, he was
apt to handle sinners without gloves Nor
did Charles Burleigh habitually dress his hair
or his person according to the requirements
of vain world. After all, there were some
advantages in those good old times, when
simplicity of attire had neither to be pre-
scribed nor prescribed in The LiberdtOr.
Feminine orators then dressed WELL as some
still dress well, according to Dr. Johnson S
standard, 81 am sure she was well dressed,
for cannot tell what she had on"
An eminent French writer has said that the
artist or man of letters needs only black
coat and the absence of all pretensions to put
him on the level of the best society. And the
author of ''Pelham" sums it up more briefly,
''There is safety in a swallow-tail." p" This for
men-and for women, every step into the
avocations of men must involve something Of
that simplihcation of toilet which man has
undergone. ''Let them be sea-captains if
they will, said Margaret Fuller, but she did
not recommend purple and fine linen as
nautical right; nor does any shipmaster,
except the pirate captain of the dramatic
stage, habitually tread the quarterback
in silk and velvet. There are fitting
scenes for these splendors no doubt, but
the soiled planks of a public platform are
unfit. There should be a conventional cos
tune and convention costume. Women of
society cannot be won over by wearing dress
| which every such woman sees to be inappro-
| pirate. The attempt to meet fashionable
| ladies on their own ground by dressing more
elaborately than they do is like Mr. Richard
| Swivellers efforts to demonstrate his clerkly
| qualities by carrying pen in his mouth and
| another behind each ear. There is such q
thing as OVERRIDING. 1t is not desirable that
ladies should appear on the platform in the
costume of Miss Sally Brass but it is safe to
fall back on the maxim of that anonymous
countess who writes Mr.. Routledges 'Manua
of Good Society: Ladies who are neither
very young nor very striking in appearance
cannot do better than wear quiet colors."