The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-12-15
WEDNESDAY MORNING, DEC. Is.
Art and Dress.
Good Words.

Scarcely Of less Importance than sex and age
are the height. size, and general proportions of
the figure. Tall and stumpy figures cannot
with impunity he dressed in one pattern. the
stately lady sweeping through marble halls
can gracefully carry queenly robes that would
crush the little lady dwelling in a cottage. The
present inclination is to treat dress as drapery,
and to consider the one as simply utilitarian,
and the other. as II of necessity, supremely ar
tistic. The points of the figure are used as
pegs whereon to hang out decorative fabrics,
and possibly Sartor Resartus might stigmatize
bur living ladies as lay figures and our intelli.
gent men as stalking clothes-horses. Some
dresses are for sitting or standing only, some
for walking, while others reduce the free &C.
ton Of the figure to physical endurance. A
lady making morning call was asked to take
b seat. but she begged to be excused, because
having on a walking costume, she could not
sit down. Yet nature. in building up the hu-
man frame had more extended scheme,
which fashion would do we'll not so relentless
ly to thwart. AS to the length of dress, that
will much depend upon whether the feet are Of
q beauty deemed to be worth display ng; if in
viting to cast glimpse on, they will probably
be permitted "like little mice to peep in and
out" hence some ladies wear gowns always
short when other peoples are long. and 20
about holding them up above the highest wa
ter-mark In fine weather" The shoulders
which call for at least as much anxious care as
the feet admit of varied decorations, as with
scarf, shawl, mantilla, veil, robe, toga. "a
black lace scarf carries an air of respect, which
Is in itself protection. A woman thus attired
glides on her way like a small close-reefed YES
sell light and trim, seeking no encounter, but
prepared for one. Much, however, depends
on the wearer: indeed, no article of dress is
such q revealer of the character. Some wo-
men will drag 1t tight up to their shoulders
md stick ont their elbows in defiance beneath
Such are of the independent class with strong
opinions. Others let 1t hang loose and listless
like an idle sail. losing all the beauty of the
outlne-both moral and physical Such ladies
have usually no opinions at all, but none the
less very obstinate will of their own" A
real lady hits by intuition the happy mean:
she does not "put on turban to drink tea with
two people, or an innocent white frock for q
party Of 200" she does not appear as miIliner
popped ont of bandbox, or as an artist stepped
from picture or as an artiquary, kept usu-
allv as o curiosity under a glass case; she
moves at respectful distance from the ex-
tremes of fashi, n, and though society does not
"know what Rhe has on" she is not in danger
Anne. What she wears, though perchance
homely. is always good not q scrap Of tinsel or
trumpery appears upon her; ''she deals in no
gaudy confusion of colors, nor does she affect a
studied sobriety, but she either refreshes you
with spirited contrast, or composes Won " it'll
success simply consists in knowing the three
grand unit.es of dress-her own station, her
own age, and her own points. And no woman
can dress well who does not.