Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-03-18
Extravaganza in Dress.

DoL"hh, III LIS enchanting novel,
"What Will He Do With IT," speaks of
the attire of Frenchwoman who figures
in its pages as being as finished as an
epigram"; and this constant characteris-
tic it is, among the great mass of French
women, more :han any astonishing mar
wells of toilet that may be occasionally
displayed at festive gatherings by the
rich and reckless, always in a minority in
every community, which has earned for
| Frenchwomen their deserved reputation
of being the only really well-dressed ma
ton of women in the world. Among the
| other bits of vanity with which this
| country may be charged is the unbound
ed belief that American women have
now taken the lead in this matter, and
are at present "head of the heap" as
dressers; but no one who has looked into
the subject with anything like a careful
| judgment, and studied the typical
| Frenchwoman in Paris and the typical
American woman in New York, will fail
to see that the P0risGe7ane stands today,
as she has for a century or more, the in
| VI pSl1SCG GdSOC,
and wisdom in all matters of dress.
The leading idea in regard to dress
| any dress, almost-in the mind of an
American woman is that it shall be rich
and costly. For many years no black
silks but those called gros grains could
find purchasers in this market. Even
now, in these our times of tightening of
purse-strings, this heavy and costly
| fabric is almost in universal use, and it
is nothing uncommon to see girls not out
Of their teens wearing silks of a heavi-
ness of texture fit for the pomp-
Gus apparel of gray-haired dowa-
gers. Many Frenchwomen whose at
tire has always been cas- finished as an
epigram" have never owned so costly a
dress as a gros grain. And just here is
the point to note the basis of the differ
ence between the French and the Ameri-
cans, which is visible not only in dress,
but in all other observances, and which
contributes so greatly to the admirable
ordering of life in France, viz: the ab
sence of pretensiOn, the avoidance of a
desire to appear richer than they really
| are, which is the secret of the success of
| the Paris salon, the petits DINERS and other
unattainable French luxuries. No re-
| spectacle woman in France would con
sent to wear apparel not in strict &C
cordance with her established position
in life. For the wife Of clerk or other
small-salaried person to appear wearing
| lace founce or an India shawl, or any
other expensive garment, would be to
| invite such comment as "nO modest
dame can meet without blush" A
| Frenchwoman's dress must be in accord
ance with her means; but how frequent
| ly we hear the EXPLANATIONS in this
country: {" How do they do it?" "Where
does the money come from?" and when
the wife and daughters of Jones, the
way in seal-skin sacks and iounced gros
grains and the last new thing in bonnets
and fve-button, pearl-colored gloves,
| the least censorious person cannot but
marvel how they afford such costly &C
coutrement.
| dressed? Are American women usually
we'll dressed? AS to be well dressed is
| to be fifty dressed and freshly dressed,
have small hesitation in replying that
they are not.
Perhaps even greater than her aversion
| to not being dressed as becomes her sta
| ton in life is the Frenchwoman' horror
| of wearing garment that is pGSse, fame,
frGpe. Il requires but few wearings in
the dirty streets of any Of our towns to
convert the handsomest gros grain into
that understandable improperly, "a
sight to behold" Strictly for carriage
wear toilet of elegance and costliness
may be allowed; but no woman can be
well dressed when clothed in the costliest
gown, the sweeping skirts of which have
caught the impurities Of the streets. The
| length of the street-dress skirt Of the
present day, though far from being the
disgusting trail' of a few years ago, is
yet sufficiently great to cause it to dip
in the mud and snow, the dust and water
| Of the thoroughfares. The only means,
therefore, by which lady can preserve
her neatness tolerably intact is by wear
ing dresses so inexpensive in their ma
terial and make that she can afford to
lay them aside as soon as they are hope
lessly soiled. Certainly half-dozen
pretty dresses better adapted for street
wear than a gros grain can be had for
| the cost of one of this latter material
The extravaganza of American women,
so often the theme of masculine remark,
is not so much displayed at routs and
parties-the proper scene of gorgeous
| apparel-as in the street, where extrava-
gance is not merely extravaganza but
vulgarity and folly.-Oljge Logan, IN Har-
per'S Bazaar.
! The Bow KIM.