Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-07-28
PINNED BACK SKIRTS.

lIIUm lue Dts LoulS Suioue-DcmuCEal
This jouroal, being an ardent champion of
the good, the true and the beautiful, feels NOV
ed to rebuke the reigniug tendency in certain
quarters to Incorporate criticism of the present
Style of piuuing back ladies' skirts The fash
lou seems TO US to be 10 many respects admir-
able, and 10 no sense absurd or indelicate. How
and where it originated we do not koow; but it
certainly did not spriog, as most fashions do,
tron. o desire to conceal some besetting phys-
cal defect. 1t is conspicuously honest; aud it
cannot be essentially ungracetu, since it makes
dress to follow the Datura lines of the last and
best work of the creation. We have 10 pa
tle0ce, therefore, with that prurient refinement
of taste which affects to be shocked at the sight
Of skirt that ongs to the figure with truthful
closeness. lu both a moral and an artistic view
such mode is iu6otely preferable to the cum
brous and dishonest hoops, which Spanish
queen first wore to hide her unequal hips, or
the sea-grass and inda-rubber cootrvances
which had their origin in the lascivious yearu.
lngs OF the shal low-br bellies whe flourish.
cd 10 one of the most profgate Of modern
courts. And, surely, the grotesque devices
which give those false glores OF curvilinear full.
ness to the subul ban portion of the dresses of
the period are DOT more worthy of tolerance
aud commebdation than o fashion which, as Nj.
Blano the French writer on feminine apparel,
Duts it, affords few iuch-s more of woman
to few yards less Of drapery.
We would be clearly understood. We would
not make Greek Slaves and Lady Godivas Of the
wives and daughters OF the land. But neither
would we have them so swathed 10 clothes as to
refute 10 the common eye all the anatomy of the
books, and raise suspicion that these lovely
visions are constructed like mermaids, or wrapped
about after the fashion of the evasive sprites that
stole away the reason of poor Robert Dale
Owen. 1t is reasonable to presume that God
knows how to build wOmao, and that having
hnished piece of work of that kind, and pro.
uounced it very good, He does not require
or desire it to be 80 adorned that it can only be
recognized in it's structural grace ard beauty
by an act CT blind and blundering faith. Hence,
after these many years OF mutifarious and un.
solVable wrapping, we are Inclined to regard
the pinDed- back shirt as revelation, with the
finger OF Providence In it, intended 10 revive
confidence IN the first chapter of Genesis and
10 restore to Il cheated and doubtiog world the
old conceptions Of the female form divine which
the aocleDts made classic in their history, their
poetry and their sculpture.
Ii does not follow that all display should be
sacrificed ln this reformatory Tightening of the
front breadtbs Of skirts. On the contrary, there
is still room, and to spare, for all the richness
OF texture and color that the most affluent can
afford. The simple dress 10 which Homer en-
folded Helen-the same that Aspasia and Cleo
patra wore wanted nothing 10 magni6cence by
reason OF being so fitted as to reveal the out.
lines of the limbs Petrarchs Laura had only
two dresses for state occasions, both cut to fit
the hgure almost like glove; but the plain.
ness OF pattern did not prevent their being
splendid, with gay, profusc and costly charm
OF hue aDd trimming. There is no limit and
there should be Done, to the possibilities Of
brillancy 10 woman attire. OnIy let the spec
'ace be honest, consistent, harmonious. 70
quote again from MIR. Bianc's studies in this
braDch OF art--for art it is, Of persuasive and
fascinating interest the picture should not
be lost 10 the frame" The face alone is not all
OF feminine beauty; and it is not too much to
say, with one OF our greatest latter day philos
ophers, that the woman who but casts shadow
OF a graceful figure on the vail confers favor
on the world. Good luck, then, to the pinned
back skirt. which suggests more 10 the way of
wholesome, felicitous reform than all the
woman suffrage schemes that uneasy brains
have ever concocted.
How IT APPEARS TO STRANGERS "A native
Japanese journalist, who has evidently travel
ed In Europe, has published an article on wo-
mans rights ID bis newspaper, in which be
says that from the practice of Europeans it
would appear that the power of the wife is
greater than that of the husband, and this
error has been brought about by the want OF
correct view OF the dictates of nature. We
will point out examples of this. In going
through door the wife passes first and the
husbaod follows her; the wife takes the best
seat aud the husband the next best; in visitiog,
the wife is first sauted; 10 forms of dress, the
wife first mentioned. Moreover, while men
are 10 the company of ladies they must be par
tioulsr 10 their conversation, and are not per-
mltted to smoke without the ladies' permission
being first obtained. These aad like customs
are iooumerable, and, the power Of the
women is far greater than that of the
meD. Now, what have Susan B. and Lizzie