The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-07-31
WEARING KNEE BREECHES.
Chicago Tailors Think the Latest
Dude Craze May Work West.

Will the fashionable youth OF CHI
cago ever adopt knee-breechesY is
that what you want to know" said a
prominent tailor on Dearborn street
the other evening. "Well. it is hard
to tell. If they do it in other places,
you can be sure that they will in Chi
cago, and you can be equally certain
that Chicago will never lead the fash
ion in that or any other matter that
pertains to mems dress.
How are fashions started
In various ways. They are gener-
ally a gradual growth. We copy New
York. and people there copy London.
and where L ndon gets some of its
styles it would puzzle a Philadelphia
lawyer to tell.
Now you see, said the ninth part of
q man, throwing aside the tape-line he
held in his hands and setting down to
an earnest talk about thing he was
evidently interested in, fashions of
clothes, be they mems or womsn's, are
q matter of imitation. You see a
suit of clothes on the street which you
like. or which every one else is wear
ing, and you come in and tell me to
make one like it. Well, that other
fellow probably got his idea the same
way. and the question is, who first
originated the idea of that particular
cut?
Don't tailors do it?
Bless you, no. We encourage all
styles, because every time the fashion
changes ultra fashionable men-the
kind you fellows cal 'dudes'--lmme-
diately order new suits, and SO it
makes business better. But we don't
start the fashions. In order to do
that we would have to get men to first
appear dressed in clothes of our new
design and in order to make them
take we would have to have them
worn on men who are acknowledged
leaders, of tip-top social standing,
whom other men are glad to copy.
Take these tight pants everybody is
wearing nov. If a man whom no
body knew was to have appeared first
in q pair of these skin-tights all would
have laughed at him, but if they first
appear in public encasing the slender
legs of some society leader, they at
once become the rage. There are two
reasons for this. All men little be-
low him in social standing are glad to
copy him, and has a reputation for al.
ways wearing the proper thing. Other
men suppose that because he does it
It must be right.
But you are wandering from the
subject.
AMI? Oh, you wanted to know
about knee-breeches. Well, as / said
before, we get our fashions primarily
from England. We have no men in
this country who can absolutely set q
particular style, or if they can they
have not the nerve to try. The days
have gone by in England when Beau
Brummel could make q new thing
popular by simply wearing it, but
there are men there who can introduce
any thing they want, if they stick to
it. The Prince of Wales is the first
gentleman in England, but he has
got too old now to rare about such
things, and the Prince Albert coat will
probably be his last contribution to
the tailor art. in New York there
are numerous club men who think
much about dress. but while they
have the position and ability to intro
duce new fashions, they lack the nerve.
: They shine forth in neckwear novel
ties once in while, and it is said that
the present ministerial close collar, that
is now 60 mnch worn. is the product
of Freddie Gebhardt's mighty intel
lect; But they don't dare tackle new
kinds of clothes.
"Now, knee-breeches would be q
decided novelty. Of course, they
have been worn a good deal by row.
ing, walking and other men engaged
in athletic sports, but those men are
generally we'll formed and not afraid
to display their limbs. The dude is
different. Oftimes he is SO slim tina;
his calves are a beautiful mystery,
and if he is large in size he is SO fab.
by from lack of exercise that bis
legs lacks all shape and form. Of
course, there are exceptions to this rule
in the east, where q dude is oftimes q
man we'll up in boating, lawn tennis,
and othe. active sports. The western
dude. however, knows nothing of all
this. and is dude simply because be
can be nothing else.
Now, in order to introduce anything
go novel as knee breeches in the face
of the opposition it is sure to evoke,
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