Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-11-01
THE World OF FASHION.
NEW YORK STYLES.
IFola Our Otcn Correspondent ]
NEW YoPE nctoher IA

other illogical, from which dress refo rmefs
see the position of affairs on the dress ques-
ton and the unsoundness of their conclu-
sions drawn from these prem Ises is at least
one OF the reasons why their arguments have
SO little force. Statements which, If they
were true, would CARR great deal OF weight
lose all their value with those whom they
are intended 10 influence by their mac
curacy and their evident want OF knowledge
of the subject discussed.
For example when person in "a hybrid
costume gets up and talks about fashionable
women wearing their shoes and the colors of
the rainbow In the street and falling in the
three thickneSses of canton flannel which
they ought TO wear over their entire bodies
in The house, the fashion BILE woman il Such
an one should hear her, would simply elevate
her eye brows and shrug her shoulders I'm
diSdain; there would be nothing in such evil
dent ignorance OF the facts and conditions in
the case TO appeal to her understanding.
Now, If there is one woman in the world
who dresses with fitness to the time aud
place, il is the fashionable woman. Her
tact, her experience, her means. her culti-
waited taste, all come into play here, aud iU is
in this respect that she is valuable 10 us. She
is also valuable 10 us In another, which the
dress reiOrmer entirely overlooks. and That
is as study OF color. Where did we get our
quiet dark street dress of late wears? our
almost uniform of black in public? our mode
colors? our artistic blending of SIN AIDES? and
to come down 10 useful matters which every
one will understand, our thick walking
boots? and dar thick winter petticoats? why
from fashion, fashion writers. and the exam
pie OF ultra fashionable women.
Ifyou found startling red necktie in con-
Junction with a very bright purple dress, or
yellow with green, the wearer might be
the representative of dress reform move
ment, and very sensible woman TO boot,
but she would be ignorant of the first law in
the esthetics oil dress, and she couli nor be a
woman OF society or fashion.
A fashionable drawing room in the season
is better than a well stocked garden, or tne
atelier of an artist, for the study of tints and
shades, combinations and contrasts. All the
elements of color. of light and shade, of
warmth and its oppOsites, of neutrality and
force, are blended or set against each other,
so skillfuIly, so snbtly. as to suggest that
sixth sense had been brought into requisitiOn
10 aid both in suggestion and arrangement.
nat the most superficial observer feels at
once is delightful harmony, a softened
mellow tone. pale radiance, which steals
upon his senses like music. enhancing, be
witcbing, enthralltng HIM, he cannot tell
Women whose lines of life lie, as they
think, entirely above fashion. who decry n,
still have learned much from it, aud should
be willing 10 give IL It's due. Almost any
one can remember time when women lee
tnrers, women professors, and others of our
Stlfmade women specialists, invariably
dressed upon public occasions in sJyle
crude, Inappropriate and ineIegant-and this
rot from any desire for siBgularity. bat from
sim Dle ignorance and real desire to make
the oest appearance possible on such occa-
sions. Fashion has taught them that The
first rule of good taste in dress is unobtru-
siveness; that absence of pretensiOn makes
up for the absence of everything else
The balmoral skirt was comparatively
costly article when IL was first introduced,
hut IL was fine, soft, with dark grounds in
te.sected with fine lines Of bright color as a
border, and lasted as many years az IL cost
dollars. The mass of women would not buy
this; il was too expensive. So it gradually
became cOarser and cheaper until we COS the
half-cotton and the felt, and then fashiona-
bic women stopped wearing them, and the
great congregation took them up. bought a
new one every year, and congratulated them
selves on something practical,
The high ard intellectual or philanthropic
dress Teforraers argue that the class of women
who know are the keepers of the class of
women who do not know, and that IL is their
lutely free from temptation to eXtravagance,
or such diversity as will occupy the time and
energy which should be devoted 10 more i'm
Iortant matters. But. in this case what is
our great industries? Why is IL not Just as
wrong to have a better house, more books,
inner pictures, larger grounds, Greater oppor-
and more elaborate dress? No one really
wants the world to be one great charity hos
pital, or blue-coat school; and any effort to
improve present conditions must be made
with a full knowledge of what those condi-
tons are, and of their uses.
Women who live in an intensely cold ell
mate, who have been imperfectly housed
and clothed, who see the necessity OF nothing
so much as warmth over the entire surface
OF the body, invent flannel garments which
are capable OF resisting the pressure of q
temperature forty degrees below zero, and
which cover the wearer from the ears to her
toes. Now, why does not fashion adopt these
reconstructed or newly-invented Articles at
once, and give them an hOnored place? Be
cause fashion Is stupid and frivolous? Not
entirely; but because the fashionable woman
has no use for them. Civilization has made
them unnecessary to her. Her dwelling the
houses at which she visits, are perfectly
heated. She could wear, and does wear white
dresses In winter with as much impunify as
perfectly ventilated, and she can take her
daily exercise in her own halls under better
conditions than in the street A fur.lined
wrap protects her going TO and from a car
riage. What need has she to wear wooden
sackcloth and ashes for warmth?
Her mission in the world is OF quite diff.
lerent character She gives us the beautiful,
ornamental side OF life, whether knowingly
and understandingly or not, she performs her
part. and most valuable part in the drama
of life, andcOntributes TO the general stock
OF happiness, just as window gardening edu-
cafes the public taste pleases the public eve
and increases the sum of our enjoyments,
whether the owner cultivates his plants with
The breaking of the ground for the "Wo-
mems Pavilion at Philadelphia has made
the Centennial, as il relates to women,
3opic OF conversation in social circles, and
stimulates the inquiry, in view Of the near
approach of the hundredth anniversary, of
what is being done among women To make
the repre- sentatiOn a respectable one. 1t is
considered high time that women bestirred
themselves in the matter, and setting aside
the fact that republics have been and are un-
grateful, that they afford no legitimate OPP
pOrtunity for the better sex to display its ad-
ministrative ability, 60 magnanimously TO
work TO help the Centennial TO be worthy of
the occasion and prove that want OF recogni-
ton is not want of capacity. 1t is little
surprising that the Woman's Congress- did
not act upon this matter at its recent session
In Syracuse; but as il did not, il would prob
ably be good plan for a society or commit
tee OF ladies in every town, city and village
in the United States to set themselves i'm
stantly at work TO collect whatever can be
discovered representatives OF the special labor
OF women for the past century, make q list
and apply at once to have 1t admitted and
classified.
Lace work, needle work, embroidery,
books, pictures, sculpture engra wing, orna-
mental articles, arrangement and preserva-
tion OF leaves. painting object work of all
kinds, exhibition OF processes or comparis son
of the differences between processes hun
dred years ago and to day; bridal outfits in
1776 and 1876 would all find o place. and IL
not brought together by some person or per
sons whose business tt Is to attend TO it the
sex will fail to add its quota to the sum total