The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-04-28
Tha Art of DRESSING.


tary, says: Those will be web dressed
who wear the right thing at the right
time. The example ought to come from
the educated and refined. We constant
ly hear French dressing extolled; the
reason is that the Frenchwoman, being
of a more positive turn of mind, is less
prone to the effective and picturesque,
and her appearance, therefore, will gem
orally be in harmony with her surround
ings. The bonnie, in .spotless cap and
apron, going to market; the grisette, in
sober-colored but well-made merino, the
plain straw bonnet relieved by touch
of crimson; the grande dame walking
to mass in her rich but simple black
silk, trimmed with few yards of Chan
tilly round neck and wrists-are all
dressed in reference to the hour of the
day and the errant they pursue. In
England it is different; the neat muslin
cap is replaced by the charwoman's
greasy black bonnet-a soiled lilac
flower and crumpled blue strings being
the invariable accompaniments; tawdry
black satin and a hat or bonnet profuse-
" ornamented with ight-colored feath
ers-not the freshest-meet the eye in
stead of the grisette's neat costume, and
should you chance to take a walk in the
park one morning, you encounter fig
ures of every hue and shape, clad in
every texture, from limpest cotton to
canary satin, covered with lace, fioun-
ees, beads, and embroidery, regardless
of expense, harmony, or fitness. 1t is
not that many of these dresses are not
very pretty and picturesque in them
selves-for instance, that maroon velvet,
trailing along in the dust and sugges-
tive only of heat and discomfort this hot
summer morning, would look beautiful
and rich at o'clock tea on a January
afternoon. In yonder red plush para
sol there can be no redeeming point; it
always must be an anomaly; but that
slim girl in pink muslin with a huge fur
tippet on her shoulders would have done
much better had she worn a warmer
dress or a more appropriate covering.
A Frenchwoman contents herself with
few very well made and not too snowy
dresses, with everything thereto per-
tanning complete. Should some oppor-
tHnity arise when none of them will do,
she remains at home. Now, though an
Englishwoman often possesses many adj
vantages over women of other nations,
the very charm and originality of her
appearance prove her snare.
She is apt to be misled by ideas taken
from pictures and poetry, but
A sweet disorder in the dress,
and
A careless shoestrng in whose tie
see a wild civility,
are better in verse than inp prose. Dress
may, and ought to, express the charac-
ter and idiosyncrasy of the wearer, but
never at the expense of fitness and neat
ness. The impress of the mind upon
dress is often seen in the case of ladies
who hunt and race. The necessity of
taking quick decisions clears their ideas,
and they always know exactly what
they want. Their appearance is the
acme of neatness, but shows neither
variety nor imagination. With artists
it is the contrary. A certain negligence
of attire and eccentricity in shape and
color indicate turn of thought specu-
lative and ideal. Anything too much
like costume, be it ever so pretty, will
look out of place in the street or other
public resorts; but it is quite legitimate
to go for inspection to the apse of
'EMichael Angelo's Bride" for dress
ing gown to be worn only in your own
sanctum Dressing for effect in bad on
inferior stuffs ever denotes an unreal
and unrcfined mind. Simplicity of out
line is the basis of grace. Richness
ought to depend upon the fabric itself,
not upon the mass of trimming. Cotton
and muslin must be simple and dainty,
easily washed and cleaned. Their
charm depends entirely upon the sensa-
ton of crispness and freshness they give
to the beholder. Bows and ribbons
ought to be put where they are wanted
or where they might appear to be of
use, and not unmeaningly scattered
about in promiscuous places. The won
derful dignity and finish we admire in
medieval dress depends mainly upon
all the ornamentation being based upon
napaS9ity