Connecticut western news., 1871-07-14
Crazy Fashions.

Crazy Fashions. sgtrvyyr,
 It is impossible to traverse the thoroughfares of any large city without meeting the devotees of insane fashions, or fashions made so by their exagger
 ation. gs This is said to be an American peculiarity, ! and one to be deplored, owing to the wild and uncouth aspect it imparts to young girls, who are gen. eraHy the first to run to extremes in all matters of dress. In days when Paris was the realm of the modiste the styles adopted by French ladies of fashion were altered for the American market pronounced taste. The trains were elongated, the paniers enlarged, and trimming of more fashy and elaborate kind substituted for the quieter styles worn by Europeans. Some of the fash ions that come to us from over the wa ter are absurd, but many of them have been rendered so by the extlemes to which American women insist on carry ing them. The worst were bad in Europe, but the best are too often spoil ed in America. After the carprices and whims of Parisian modistes have been vulgarized by the crude tastes of this country, they become what may be styled crazy fashions. Take, for in- stance, the .Chatelaine braid, which, when neatly arranged, is an exceedingly pretty style of hair dressing, as it shows the natural shape of the head, and gives those who have even moderate amount of hair a chance to discard false switch es, rats, Sc. Instead of making the best of this fashion, the worst of it is con- stantly displayed upon our streets, and to the excuse it offers Is pinned an un- tidy mass of braids, frizzles, and curls. A lady, as we are informed, who would possess truly fashionable head must spend from $9O to $120 in braids. The frenzied heads of some of our young women, crowned with battered-lookine gypsys, and strangling odds and ends of flowers, strongly remind us of the crazy James of AtheA asylum, and the thought might suggest itself as to whether it is safe to allow them to run at large, especially as the present mode of wearing little artless frizzles over the forehead gives 8 somewhat wild look to the eyes. A necklace, when small and tasteful in design, is certainly very pretty feminine ornament, but 8 few years ago esaw these toys enlarged tc huge chains, and hung about the per, sons of young women who, with the profusion of glass beads and bugles then in vogue, looked as if they were person ating Indian squaws. Again the gypsy hat now worn is bewitching little piece o1 head gear, when properly adorned, but it is so overloaded with trimmings, and piled with lace, feathers, flowers, ribbon, and velvet, that shape is quite lost in 8 jumbled and tasteless mass of ornament. The dress for the parlor with skirt touching the ground, or trailing a few inches, can be tolerated though we sin cerely. wish women. everywhere would learn to look upon this appendage as badge of servitude, and discard it for ever), but our belles, not content with the more modest and only graceful fash ion of :, trailing garments, persist in dragging behind them five or six yards of expensive material, greatly to their own discomfort and the inconvenience of others. The fashion is senseless and degrading, but it holds it's own with re- markable pertinacity. Not one woman in hundred can wear this switching piece LII OSAAuu AOA W4UA4 any PSSoAAeAA grace. It gets into a heap, ties itself into knots, twists around chair-legs, tangles itselfin the boots of men, and is, generally speaking, an unadulterated nuisance. Now and then some women moving like goddess can wear train and not seem to belong to 1t, although we have never seen more than two on the stage or off who carried the append age in a truly noble style, The diff culty, not to say anguish, which women experience in managing this article oi dress should alone insure its condemna' tion., The short suit has so many genu' inc merits it cannot be easily spoiled
 Everything possible has been done te make it practically worthless as com
 fortable and convenient garment, but Ii has triumphed over enormities of trim
 ming and grotesque shapes, and is stil the greatest blessing in the way of ap
 parel ever granted to the sex