The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-10-15
ENGLISH WOMEN.
Their DOgdiness from an American
Standpoint.


An American or French woman, land
ing IN England, finds infinite food for
mlrth and amusement in the dresses OF
the English women, not only of those
] OF the middle and lower classes. bat
| those of the highest aristocracy; the
parrot-beaked and purple-checked dow
| ayers that are to be seen at the opera in
hyde rark, and their comely Young
| daughters. There is q depth Of inpe.
nnIty, an inventiveness, so to speak.
about English bad taste which in per-
tectly marvellous. Not content with
| toilo"ing the French fashions, they
contrive sundry fashions of their own
which are simply amazing. For in
stance, few years ago the "upper ten
at the opera adorned themselves to a
woman with showy gilt coronets,
not unlike the diadem of a stage
queen. In the matter of coiffure
lt must be confessed that they excel.
Long after the set, stiff, horse hair
| stuffed chignon had been replaced in
France and America by the graceful
low-drooping lOoped braids which hHve
been succeeded by the high nGuds of
the present style, English women still
were wearing chignons of portentious
blgness, and 1 once saw a lady who
wore two chignOns, both of immense
size, one fastened at the back of her
head, where such ornaments are usu-
ally appended, and the other pinned on
the top of her cranium-a sort of two
story chignon, the effect Of which was,
to say the least of it, odd. have also
vivid recollection of an old lady, a
lady somebody something, who was
staying at the Langham hotel when I
was last there, and who occupied a table
next to that Of our party. She used to
come down dressed for dinner, with a
large, long-stemmed flower, either g
rose, a tulip, or a cluster OF smaller
flowers, planted at the junction of her
huge chignon with her head, and stand
ing stiffiy erect to the height of about a
foot. Then there was a young lady
who used to wear a black silk apron,
trimmed with an old-fashioned set of
Honiton lace (collar and sleeves), the
collar being so placed as to mark the
outline of the damsel's abdomen, while
the sleeves were tastefully disposed on
each of the lower corners of the apron.
Nor can I forget a lady who came IN
great state to the hotel to make a call,
and who probably thought she was
dressed IN mourning, her toilet consist
ing of a bombazine dress, the whole
skirt nearly covered with broad band
of Grape, a black Grape bonnet, q velvet
jacket trimmed with guipure lace, and
pin and earrings of bright yellow gold.
Then they have no idea of appropriate
ness or the relative fitness of things.
Straw bonnets and velvet jackets are a
very common combination, while if
there is a costume that the English
5OuTgeOise loves beyond another, it is a
OTgandie muslin worn over
dark worsted balmoral skirt. Thus
attired, with a cotton lace shawl and a
black net bonnet adorned with cheap
and gaudy flowers, our Anglaise consid-
ers herself " dressed"
Even the best bred English ladies have
not yet learned that a thin dress should
be worn over petticoat as long as itself,
and have seen fair DANES at fetes and
flower shows, attired in costly toilets of
Valenciennes lace and transparent mus
lin, the delicate dress sweeping the |
ground, while beneath appeared a short
petticoat of glazed muslin and pair of
stout English feet arrayed in substan- |
tial and shapeless walking boots. Eng |
lish boots are generally extremely ugly, |
being broad, flat, and heavy, and have |
sometimes thought that American /
might have robbed the pedal /
extremities of the British female of |
half their reproach. Cinderella herself /
would not have been able to display a |
pretty foot had she bought her glass /
slippers in Lo don. Perhaps it Is by |
reason of these ugly boots that short /
walking dresses have never become pop |
u1ar in England; nay it is not SO very |
long ago that saw in the Queen, among /
the queries of correspondents, tn |
question as to whether it was proper to /
wear a short dress to church. But if
English ladies desire amplitude and /
longitude of the lower section OF their
garments in the daytime, they do not
object to curtaiiing the upper half of
its fair proportions In the evening. Aa
they have magnificent busts and shout
ders, the effect Sesthe:ically is good /
it might be considered the re-
verse. Nor can I forget the criticism
of a disgusted old gentleman who, /
while railing at the exposed charms of a
damsel, was gently checked by
his young daughter with the remark,
'' But, papa, she has such a beautiful
neck" " Yes, my dear, was the an
swer, cher neck and shoulders are we'll
enough; but her stomach is devilish
ug!y."
L have met English ladies travelling in
rough cloth Jackets, worn over dirty
ball dresses and I once encountered
party who for costumes de UOyGge were
arrayed in old riding habits with the
skirt out Off and battered
high beaver riding hats. Nor can I
forget the accomplished Lady x,
whose habitual costume when she was
at Niagara Falls, in the brOiling month
of July, was black velvet gown aud
white Opera-hat with a long white
plume. But the loveliest English toilet
that ever did behold was worn by
lady about fifty years of age whom 1
met while travelling in Germany, and
whose travelling attire consisted OF a
dirty crushed skirt of white puffe5
tulle, an India shawl, and a black straw
round hat. Her appearance as she
sailed down the platform of tie C3rls-
ruhe station, with wisp of soiled tulle /
dragging at her heels, was decidedly
striking, for she was tall, stout and /.
dorid, and showed off her peculiar COS
tune to perfection.