The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1882-11-23
Ridiculous Fashions i'm Dress

The tall hat of civilized life appears
to DIR. Alfred Carpenter monstrosity.
1t is by universal consent neither beall-
tltul nor pleasant. Boots are made on
The theory that their first duty is to dis
guse and misrepresent the contour of
the foot. In feminine dress garments are
loose where they should be tight, and
tight where they should be loose.
Piaces are protected which would be
better without any protection, and
others left unguarded which need it the
most. Materials are selected without
any relation to fitness for the Office they
have to ill. If the external substance be
appropriate, q lining is commonly
appended which spoils its whole use
The animal, vegetable and mineral
worlds have been liberal in exquisite
dyes for the embell shment O. human
cloth ng. Yet the wearors connive glad
ly at the superluouS employment
by manufacturers of active poi,ons
DR.. Carpenter is as disda nful Of the
taste of the fabrics in which his contem-
po' aries enclose themselves as of their
wholesomeness. They contravene the
Ines OF true beauty, in his judgment, as
crlminallv as they violate correct sani-
tary principles.
There is some consolation in the ad-
Vantages the present generation pos
| sesseS over more than one of its prede-
| cessors in these matters. Gentlemen
OF position are no longer required to
shave their heads in order to make room
Tor a wig. They have escaped from
| powder. They are not obliged to put
on clothes so unComprom sing that
their owners, it is recorded. were forced
TO have themselves dropped into them
from height. They no longer spend
fifty or hundred guncas on IL single
gorgeous suit The silk hat, if ugler,
is cheaper and handler than the courtly
beaver of the days Of George I'LL and
the Prince Regent. Masculine attire is
easier AMI less painful than formerly.
SO little does il vary that it is pcrmssi-
Bile to drop out Of the fashion without
being ilagrantly ridiculous. 1t is cheap
and Unostentatious. For, men howcv-
er, there remain many points Of costume
to which usage alone and aversion or
the trouble of change can reconcile the
mind. lntrins cailv there car be moth
ing more absurd than the whole aDpa.
ratus of rigid collars and cuffs and neck
ties. Only the Clergy us yet have had
the courage to cmancipate themselves
from the servitude of stiff hats.
Than evening dress never was any
greater travesty of elegance and con
gruity invented. Though young bows
ought to raise by subscription statue
to the discovery of knickerbockcrs,
their seniors in solemn steeples, and
useless jackets, and suffocating collars,
continue to enjoy in their dress not
much more freedom than q herald in
his tabard. Women have but begun tc
mediate on enfran hisement from dress
as ungraceful rs it is inappropriate
Men, If their cloth no is almo f rs gro
teSque rs ever, have at least delivcrc
themselves from the obligation o. per
| petual change. Women wander. as OF
old, from one ugly fashion to another US
ugly, the slaves of ingenious and rest lie -
mllIiners. a test OF the merits OF each
modification is the aStonishod mockery
it encounters from the disciples OF its
successor. Awkward and eXtravagant
as fashion may lie declared by poster
lty, for women there is no Sc .urty that
1T will not return. BY u happy chance
they have cen saved of late from SOME
remarkable deiormties above and
around them, devised by the imarina-
tons Of dressmakcrs and hairtlrcsscrs.
But nobody can 81 how long the in er-
regnum of sense may last.-L0nNon
TL3leS