The Russellville Democrat., 1881-04-07
The New Society Craze.
London Ilour.

Most amusing accounts are given of the new craze which has seized oa q cer- tain section of London society. It seems, for some time past, sundry young men and women have betaken themselves to the showing of their shapes" as Jack ! Tar calls 1t, in the most fantastical cos tunes of the medieval ages, and playing such trick before high heaven as make the angels weep. The women exhibit themselves in tight fitting garments, de- void of all shape and color, clinging to the form and showing the contour of the figure with quite as much precision as the tleshings of the ballet girl; the hair cut short and irizzed over the eyes and died of deep orange brown; the throat encercled by double row of large ann Der beads, from which depends q med ieval ornament; and lookingglass hang. ing to the side, as in the pictures of the Venetian ladies by Paul Neronese. Tke female @sthetic is in general sallOw and halfstarved, wo-begone in expression, dry-lipped, and always looking thirsty and exhausted. She affects the color less raiment, as beheld in the pre- Raph- aelite pictures, oliye-green skirt, long and trailing on the ground, but so tight. as 10 show the angles of the knee-ioint, when she is seated; the bodice is of deep, dull. orange color, laced with the palest blue; the sleeves, tight-fitting to the elbow, hang to the feet and are made of different color and material to the restof the att,re A pale, dim lawn color is in general most patronized and is lined with the palest brownish-green seldom beheld in nature save on the back of toad.
 The beautiful esthete has in general a diugy look, which is attributed to the efforts made to attain to tn at dullness of coloring in which alona resides perfec- ton, according to her ideas, and which in some cases has to he procured by ar- tifcial means She sighs and looks va cantly around from beneath the shock of stiff, ,frizzled h9ir. dyed ofa reddish brown according to the law she has made unto herself of having no defined color on any portion of her frame. She can scarce open her lips to speak, so tightly are they pressed together, and never smiles save when the male esthete approaches, and then they whisper together, and sometimes disappear locked arm in arm toward the supper-room, where they are not more backward than the vulgar herd in their enjoyments of the creature com forts provided.
 But while the female asthetic is sim ply ridiculous the male of the species is absolutely offensive. He lisps and ambles; his locks flow uncombed over his collar, but, when no one is by, he is not above Investigating the contents of tankard of Bass ale, of which he par, takes freely. He generally carries an artificial lily in his hand, at which he snifIs pathetically now and then. He has been caricatured unmercihIlly in the illustrated papers and even on the stage, but well aware that his new method in getting into notice and emerging from the ranks of obscurity to which his own incapacity has hitherto confined him is the easiest and cheapest of all. To show the extent to which the aesthetic have encroached upon the domains of com men sense and propriety, it k only ne cesSary to mention one or two of the vaglries to which they have given vent of late.