, 1881-07-02

aye IN ShapeleSS clOtnob, made
apparently of slices of the wall OF the new
Natural History Museum at South Kensing-
ton str~ong,minded young women in
aggressive cloaks, so unspeakably hideous
that we sigh for the Ulster of last season,
which we then believed could not be
surpassed in odiousness awful things,
made of sage-green tweed with blue frills.
or gosling woollen stuff tipped with pink
The eel-skin style has been succeeded by
the bag, and though the latter is more
decent, it is not much less ugly. A woman
with high narrow shoulders, and thin,
long arms might do better than array
herself in a black satin bag, with o running
string at the neck and at the waist, u
"piping" |such, we were assured by a
sympathetic friend of the offenders own
sex, is the correct term by which TO
describe this ~cOntriyanceL from which the
skirt hangs shapelessly to within an inch of
tho ankles; and she might crown the
edifcs more becomingly than with a bonnet
or was it a hat F-like nothing in nature
except a crumpled cabbage. The I" cosey,"
as all adjunct to the tea-table, is of dubious
elegance, as well as unquestionably fatal to
drinkable tea but when adopted as q cape
to the shoulders of blooming girlhood.
forming a straight line across the middle of
it's back and cutting it's sleeves in two
just above the elbow, it is the very most
unsightly piece of dress hat can be put
on, especially if it is of a sickly colour.
Salmon-pink satin, lining a big bonnet of
crinkly crinoline, looking like half a dozen
shells joined at the edges, would be trying
to the best compilations; it was consoling
to see it applied only to the worst. Why
should % very pretty lady wear a fiat
gown of a peculiarly repulsive green in
colour, but of rich velvet in material, and
over it a hideous camlet cloak of another
and, ifpossible, moro repulsiye green, with
a bunch of yellowish ribbon at the back.
and a plush bonnet like The Vizor of
knights helmet Why should writing
people, painting people, singing people.
peIsons presumably intelligent, since
they all DO something that p~leases the
public and is paid for in money, array
themselves in garments. Of price indeed
shabblness is not the note Of the popular
af~ftctation-but which render them dis.
tressingly conspicuous These questions
cannot fail to occur to men observing the
humours oil a select crowd, aud especially
as the dress Of 8 the conflicting gender"
tends more and more to simplicity. OF
course, there will always be- affected male
idiots. long haired and skort.h2ired, with
neckties that make US stare, and hats that
make us wink by their briIIiancy but
these are the mere q brats" Of society.
they are too insignificant to be offensive.
Women are never insignificant, and that
they should be infected with eccentricity
end atfectation en- the scale of the present
manifestation OF hose maIadies is Jeplor-
able. The bird'S-acst hair, the pince-ne<,
the hands carried behind the back, the
head poked forward, the hard, confident
stare, the hun ched-up shoulders. the
clanking, uncanny ornaments, the ag-
gressive air, the assured voice Of
one "school' OF young ladies, and the sad,
sombre, wan uubealtliness, the NOR
bid, unbelievirg, retrospective rubbish
of another, with the ~costuming business
proper to both-the decor of the play
acting i'll which their life is passed-make
old people look back respectfully to tho
days when Minna and Brenda Troll, Julia
Mannering, and Miss Bcrtram were
regarded as models for imitation, and even
give % sigh Of gentle regret to the memory
of the keepsake" bellies. They simpered.
it is true. but they did not strut /; they
wore their hair in ringlets, and their
eyelaslles mostly on their cheeks; but
they did not affect paganism. "sauce," or
Z" chatf," nor did they regard nOtOriety as
the salt, of life. 1t is the passion for
being remarked that makes the young
women and the girls of the present day
---.t IL. II - m ID 49, 4 f. - u *%Ir =.