The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1885-04-23
OUR CRAZY QUILT.
The Esthetic Importance OF Dress and the
Question of Morals-Incxpensivoa and
Handsome Wall Papers.
Dainty Glassware and China for tho Table
and misunderstanding the Hair
Outdoor Costumes.
AESTHETIC IMPORTANCE OF DRESS.

).
The aesthetic Importance of dress,
says q writer in the Brooklyn Eaglc, is
hardly less apparent than the moral
AS the type of countcnance, nay, OF
form, varies under the modifying inilu-
enccs of costume and climate, so we
can be ut no loss to understand the
supreme beauty of Greek art and tho
sensuous perfection it typitics. The
Greeks not only enjoyed an exquisite
atmosphere and lovely scenery, but
perceived another kind of beauty viii ch
seemed to them more glorious than all
the beauty of the human form And
having set themselves to reach this, and
having gained it, they gave it their
principal thought, and set it of with
beautiful dress. Could one of the old
Greek sculptors be transported into a
modern drawing groom, he would sure
ly wonder less that we have no better
art than that we should have any at
all. For the truth starcs every thought
ful person in the face. We are daily
dong more and more to travcstv the
human form and to set at naught those
very principles of harmony inculcatcd
by various aesthetic teachers with so
much vehcmcncc. The modern dress
Oh both sexes by no means accords with
the simplest laws of beauty, hygiene,
and economic science. And, take it for
all and all, perhaps the dress of a lady
was seldom more inartiStic, unhealthy,
and eXtravagant than at present, and
surely never more vulgarizing.
Consider the fashion OF earrings.
Now 1t is obvious that the reason of Wo-
men mutilating their ears is not to be
found i'll the circumstances among
which we are living. The modern car
ring of cultivated nations is a relic of
rudcr mental and moral ,onditions, and
though we have outlivcd the barbarism
we persist IN retaining the fashion of
oarDarlanS-a case among many in
winch the result Of progress has been
negative and not positive. Again, re-
gard lady's toilet as mere drapcrv
lhe eye is tortured by the multiplicity
or ang les, lines. and points, and what
with tho tragmentary appearance of the
dress one Is reminded of the picccmcal
structure of the animals called articu-
late. Harmony of color is regarded as
little as harmony Of proportion, and the
passion for novelty has induced cx-
IRENE wastctulness-twcn dresses of
inferior stuil arc preferred to one of
rich and artistic material, and the
really beautiful costume arc expended
upon the manufacture of a hundred AS
uniform as they arc unbccominr. These
commonplace dresses being quickly
worn out, fashion, the modern Sisyphus,
| begins its uphill work by inventing q
hundred more. Women whose chief
| business it is to dress according to fash
ion are not likely to interfere with tho
graycr concerns of life; and in a work
OF deep and painful interest lately pub
| hShcd by Dr. Politics, of the University
OF Pisa, on the physiology of Mind, y
| great stress is laid upon the connection
OF frivolous pursuits and mental disor-
dcrS. There is slightly grcaterc cispo-
sitlon to insanity among women than
among men, which Is partly accounted
for by the bancful system of female cd
ucation, cngcndcring as it docs pucrili-
ty OF occupation, paucity Of resource,
and Il habit of total dependence. The
writer looks to the higher education of
women not only as an element of their
social and intellectual regeneration, but
of physical well being, since a purpose
| less or ill-dircctcd life induces, among
other ills that flesh is heir to, the most
terrible Of all-insanity. But let wo-
men begin the process Of sclf-cducation
by cultivating the ethics of dress. This
j. their empire. Dress, said lIazlitt, is
the great secret Of address; and young
women who initiate the so-callcd fast"
style OF Parisian fashion invariably ac-
quirc the fast style Of speech and man
ncrS also. This is initiated by the low
er classes, till even our domestic SER
wants are ashamed TO wear sober col0rs
and last year S bOmncts. Extravaganza
is the rule, moderation the exception,
among all ranks.