Morning journal and courier., 1884-04-28
Heavy Dresses.


Much Needed Reform in the Attire OF
Lovely Woman.
From the Londen Standard
The chief particular in which the dress of
our days errs against common sense is the
excessive weight that characterizes IL, owing
to the quantity of material now used for
dresses. ''siIk is sold by the acre now, is il
not7" asked gentleman in the days of rotund
srinoline and distended skirts, referring to the
quantity needed for gown. and the satire is
applicable new, though the duodecimo edition
of crinoliRe known as the crinolet ia no
longer known. The stuff is observed in &C.
easionaIly incohersnt trimmings and too often
irrevelaut drsperies. It needs skill-and
skill is too costly to be at the command of any
but the wealthy-to produce costume that
shall have the air of being deliberately trim
med, and yet be light enough to wear without
inconvenience during brisk walk. It has
been within the experience of Englishwomen
during the last few years to have chosen
fabric, selected the style of making, and de-
cided upon the trimming, with the result of
gown delightful to look upon but impossible
to wear. Thus rose the demand for wooden
materials, combinding warmth and lightness-
demand which was promptly responded to
with the occasional result OF disgusting old
fashioned shoppers who test a fabric by its
weight as well as by peculiarly horrible
way of trying to scrape hole in it with the
thumb nail. Minds opened to more enlight-
ened impressions were soon, however, con-
| WINGED of the value of these vicugnas. serges,
| tweeds and other cloths; but, unfortunately
they have had the effect of encouraging
| rather than discouraging elaborate trimmings
/ Thus the fact remains that for the million
| unduly heavy dresses are the rule.
It seems absurd that fourteen or fifteen
yards ace needed to make gown for q woman
| while about five are sufficient to make great
Il coat for man. It is unfortunate, in view of
| this fact, that trained dresses are worn only
| at dinner and in the form of tea-gowns. The
added weight and inconvenience of train,
which must be held in the hand, would render
a walk pensnce instead of pleasure. 1t
maybe hoped that fashion will never reintro-
i duce the long skirt for outdoor work It ha
| nothing to recommend it, even from point of
| view from the dressmaker, who has now
| found it possible to crowd all bearable trim
mings on the limited surface of the short
dress. When trains first went out, leaving
the feet plainly visible, coquetry brought
| them more prominently into evidence by the
Introduction of the high-heeled boot. This,
in its turn, has now almost entirely disap
/ peared from the walking gear of the fashion
| ably dressed; and there is even CLEAN of
hope that the high heels may vanish from
| the ballroom before long; and, with them
their peculiar influences on the dances of the
day. The jerky vslse, now in SO much vogue,
would soon be consigned to oblivion. togsth-
er with the sharp little ''tap-tap" of the mar
| row. elongated heel of the fashionable shoe;
and those who realize that even ballroom
| dancing might be softly poetic and dreamily
graceful would cease to be irritated by the
| sudden swing and the violent onslaught of
| couples engaged in the arduous trois tenn ps
| Let such as these hope for the abolition of
the high-heeled daneing-shoe, even though it
be followed by the mournful elegies of those
| deficient in stature though not in the ambi-
| tion of preferring tall partner.