The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1884-07-08
TIL FAC-FTC
COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.
Tuesday, JULy s, 1884.
Editorial Articles.
FROM THE DAILY p. c. a.
WOMEN AND FASHION .

While we have not II word to say
against granting to the women any
of the rights which they claim, we
do not hesitate mOmeat to say that
the greatest tyrant they have is fash
ion, and love of dress. Mau's tyran-
MES are small indeed when we come
to consider the thralldOm exercised
over her by this ruler. IF there is one
subject which is ever upperm0sc in
wOman's mind, which engrosses her
thoughts and busies her fingers from
childhood to old age, that subject is
certainly clothes. Eve inaugurated
dressmaking in the Garden Of Eden,
and from the day of the figleaf apron
until now this matter of draping and
ad0rning the mortal frame has been
the chief occupation of her sex The
majority Of men seem TO consider
themselves as sent into the world for
the sole purpose OF displaying dry
goods; and it is only when acting the
part Of an animated milliner's block,
that they feel they are performing
their appointed mission. When 2
woman decides to pIac, herself under
the tycaAt mar for the J8laucc OF her
life, and the day is seG for bhe mar
rage, it is clothes alone thai are need
ed for her wedding day, ana she de
votes six hurried months 10 their ma
nufacture. When her child = To he
born, the desire Of her heart is 10 pro-
Il,
and no other duty bears comparison
with il, excepting d funeral demand.
When the friVOlities of this world
are supposed to be lain aside at the
command Of the great leveIler Death,
and after she has given explicit orders
about the dress she is 10 be laid out
in, indulging a last secret hope that
it will be becoming To her in her mar
row couch, her daughters and female
friends, in the first outhurst of their
sorrow, closet themselves with their
mantua-maker, and decide, between
despairing s0hs, what shall be the cut
OF their new sleeves and the length of
their unfolding wells. Grief, with
them, has become chiefly a matter Of
black serges ANA Grape trimmings,
ana they never allow themselves TO
dissolve in tears To the extent of for
getting their bonnet strings For the
space Of one year, to u day, they de-
cline all invitations 10 go abroad, not
because they are suffering cSom re
cent sorrow, but because they are III
mourning; and their regrets are
transmitted Q note paper, lugubrious
with deep edging, or Dordered with
faint lines, according 10 the precise
time thai has elapsed since the |
mournfui event. This may sound |
harsh and unkind; bUt its truth 40 one |
will pretend to deny, and it requires |
harsh words to break up such soul f.
ruinOus custom. No wOnderthat such /
empty, shallow faces drift past us on /,
crowded thOroughtares, set off with all /.
allurements OF dress and ornament, /.
but so weak, 80 blank, so devoid of all /.
intensity of thought, purpose or emo .
ton, that one almost questions wheth- |
ell there can be. dwelling behind them /
an immortal soul. The evils arising .
from this reprehensible devotion of .
the thoughts and labOrs OF lifetime
to the subject Of dress are TOO numer-
Gus and 100 manifeft 70 be enumerated .
here. Now this same eXtrava-
gance not only does not increase /
woman's beauty and value, but really /
lessons it. It degrades the scope and |