National Republican., 1875-07-27
Pinned-Raek Skirts.

IFrOm the st. Louis Il0Oe-DelnOcrat. July T. J
This journal, being an ardent champion Of the
good, the true and the beautiful, feels moved to
rebuke the reIgning tendency in certain quarters
to Incorporate criticism of the present style of
pinning back ladies' skirts. The fashion seems
to US to be in many respects admirable, and In no
sense absurd or indelicate. How and where 1t
originated we do not know; but 1t certainly did
not spring, as most fashions do, from desire TO
conceal some besetting physical defect 1t is con-
spicuousIy honest; and it cannot be essentially
ungraceful, since it makes dress to follow the
natural lines of the last and best work OF the
creation. We have no patience, therefore, with
that prurient refinement Of taste which affects to
be shocked at the sight Of q skirt that clings to
the figure with truthful closeness. In both
neral and an artistic view such mode ID In
nnitely preferable to the cumbrous and dishonest
hoops, which Spanish queen first wore to hide
her unequal hips, or the sea-grass and indis-rub-
Der contrivances which had their origin in tho
laciyious yearnings Of the shallow breasted
bellies who fourished in one of the most proHigate
of modern courts. And, surely, the grotesque de-
vices which give those false glories Of curvinear
fulness to the suburban portion Of the dresses Of
the period are not more worthy Of tolerance
and commendation than fashion which, as NJ.
Blanc, the French writer en- feminine apparel
puts It "afords few inches more Of woman TO o
few yards less Of drapery."
we would Dc Clearly uuuorstOO0. we WOulu
not make Greek Slaves and Lady Godivas Of the
wives and daughters Of the land. But neither
would we have them so swathed In clothes IS to
refute to the common eye all the anatomy OF the
books, and raise q suspicion that these lovely
visions are constructed like uermSids,o or wrapped
about tier the fashion Of tie evastve sprtes that
stole away the reason Of poor Robert Dale Owen.
1t 10 reasonable to presume that God knows how
to build woman, and that having finished piece
Of work OF that kind, and pronounced 1t "very
good" He does not require or desire II to be 80
adorned that Il can only oe 10 rs struc,
blundering faith. Hence, after these many years
Of muitiiarious and unsolvable wrapping, We are
iation, with the finger Of Providence in t,intended
to revive confidence In the hrst chapter Of Genesis
and to restore 20 cheated and douoting world
the old conceptions Of the female form divine
which the ancfents made classic In their history,
their poetry and their sculpture.
sacriiced iced in in this reformstory tighte1ins Of the
front breadths ofsktrts. On the contrary, there
is still room, and to spare for sll the richness Of
Afford The simple dress in which Homer en-
folded Helen-the same that Aspasia and Cleo
pstrs wore-wanted nothing In magnihcence by
Of the limbs. Petrsrch's Laura had only two
dresses for state OCCASIONS, both cut 70 1T the
figure almost like gloves but the plsinness Of
pattern did not prevent their being splendid with
gay, profuse and costly charm Of hue and trimm-
ing. There Is no limit, and there should be none,
to the possiDiltlee OF Dr1lliancy IN Womens attire.
Only let the spectacle be honest, consistent, har
monious. To quote again from Mr.. Blancs studies
IN this branch Of art-for art it is Of persuasive
be lost In the frame" The face alone Is not all
Of feminine beauty and 1t Is not too much 70 say,
with one Of our greatest latter-dsy philosophers,
that the woman who but casts Q shadow Of q
graceful figure on the wall confers q favor on the
world. Good luck, then, to the pnned-oack skirt,
which suggests more In the way Of wholesome, fe-
licitous reform than all the woman suffrage
schemes that uneasy brains have ever concocted.