New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-19
THE PHILOSOPHY OF DRESS.
BY OSCAR WILDE.
Copyrfolt1S85,

artistic taste. 1t Is impossible to 90 into the
bouses Of any Of our friends without seeing at
that q great change has taken place There is a
far greater feeling for color. far greater feeling
for the delicacy of FORM well a sense that art
can touch the comnonest things of the household
into a certain grace and a certain loneliness But
there is also a whole side Of human life which has
been left almost entirely untouched. | mean of
course the dress of men and of women.
have been sometimes accused of setting too high
tan importance on dress. To this answer that
dress in itself is thing to me absolutely unmpor-
tant. In fact tho more complete dress looks on
tho dunmy-hgure of the miIllnePs shop. the less
suitable is 1t for being worn The gorgeous costume,
OF II. Worihs atelier seems 10 ms like those Capo
di Monte cups, which all curves and cora-han-
dies, and covered over with Pantheon Of gods and
goddesses IN high excitement and higher relief that
Is to say. they curions things TO look at bat
tirely unfit for USE The French milliners consider
that women arc created specially for them by
Providence. in order to display their elaborate and
expensive | hold that dress is made for the
service of Humanity They think that Beauty is o
matter of frills and furbeows. care nothing nc
all for frllls aud don't know what furbelows
are. but great deal for the wonder and grace
Of the human Form, and | hold that the very first
canon of Is that Beauty is always organic, and
comes from within, aud not from without, comes
from the perfection Of its own being aud not from
any added prettiness. And that consequently the
beauty of dress depends entirely and absolutely
the loneliness il Shields and on the freedom and
motion that it does not impede
From this it follows that there ON DO beauty
Of national costume until there is a national knowl-
edge OF the proportions of tho human form. To
Greek and Roman such kno gledgo cane naturally
from the.gymna.um and the palestra. from the
l.. A. Il. h.
We must acquire it by tho employment of art in
education. And knowledge of the kind propose
would soon becoms tho inheritance of ALL if each
child were taught TO draw as early as it taught to
write
And If child does study the human figure it will
learn a great many valuable laws Of dress. II will
learn. for instance that waist very beautiful
and delicate curve the more delicate lthe more
beautiful and not, rs tho mill .ner fondly lmagineS,
an abrupt right angle sudden ~ occurring In the
middle of the person. tie viii learn again that
size has nothing to do with beauty. THIS. dare
say, very obvious proposition. So 1t Is. All
truths are perfectly obvious once ono sees thoin
The only thing IS to see them. Size Is mere accl-
dent of existence IL is not quality OF Beauty ever
A great cathedral IL beautiful bat 30 is tho bird
that nIes round its pinnacle and the butterfly that
settles its shaft. foot - not necessarily beau
tifu because it IL small. The smalles feet in the
world are those OF tho Chinese Ladies', and they arc
the highest also
IL is curious that so many people. while they
are quite really 20 recognize. in looking at an
ordinary drawing that the horizontal line of
freze aud dado dlmlnlshes the height OF the room,
and the vertical lines OF pillar or panel Increase IL.
vet shonld not see that the same laws apply TO
dress also. Indeed in modern costume the hOrl-
zontal line is used far too often. the vertical line
far too rarely and the Obque line scarcely at all.
Tho waist. for instance, is AZ rule placed too
low down. long waist implies short skirt,
which Ia always ungraceful as 1t conveys an effect
OF short limbs, whereas high waist gives an
opportuuty of fine sories of vertical lines falling
in the folds OF the dress down to the feet aud
giving "A sense OF tallness and grace. Broad pulled
slesves again. by intensitying the horizontal line
across the shoulders may be- worn by those that are
tall and slight. as they diminish any excessive
height and give proportion by those who are
small they should DO avoided. And the obliqne
line which one gets by cloak falling from the
shoulder across the body. or by gown looped up
at the side 10 suitable 20 almost all figures 10 Is
limo which corresponds TO th" direction oI motion.
and con yoys impression OF dignity as well as OF
freedom There are OF course many other apphea
ton. of these line, ! have mentioned merely one
laws OF architecture and OF dress really are aud
how much depends on Inc and proportion. lndeed
the test OF good costume II IT'S silhouette now, IN
fact. II would Look in sculpture
But besides line there also color. In decorating
n room. unless one wants the room 20 be either
chaos OF a museum, one must be quite certain OF
ones color-scheme So also in dress. The harmony
OF color must he clearly settled IL one Is snallthe
simplicity OF one color has many advantages II
one is taller two colors or three may be nsed do
not wish to give purely arlthmetical basis Tor an
e,thotc question but perhaps three shades OF color
the limit. At rate ~ should De remembered
that I'm looking at any beautifully dressed person
tho eye should be attracted Dy the loveness o line
and proportion. and the dress should appear
complete harmony from the head 10 tue ioct, ana
that tho sudden appearance OF any violent con-
trasting color in bow or riband, dstracts the eve
from the dignity Of the ensemble, and concentrates
Then as regards the kind of colors, should like
to state once for all that there IN no such thing as
specially artistic color. All good colors are equally
beautiful; ID is only in the question OF their COM
blnation that art comes in. And one shonid have
no more preference for one color over another imam
one has for one note the piano over its neighbour
Nor are there any sad colOrs There are bad coors,
such as Albert blue and magenta. ana arsenic
green and the coors OF auilne DIVES generally; put
a good color always gives one pleasure. Ani the
tertiary and secoTi airy colors are ior general use
the safest as they do not show wear easily ana
besides give one sense OF rop0-e anI gnlnI
dress should not be Ike steam WhStlo iOI al 'n"t
Then as regards pattern It should not be too
definite. A strongly marked cheek, ior Instance,
has many disadvantages. To BEGIN with, 1t makes
the slightest inequality In the hgnre, such as
pet,ycen the two shoulders. very apparent; then ~
is difficult 10 JOIN the pattern accurately al e tme
the pIopOrtions of the figure, ana gives the mere
details an abnormal Importance
Then again the pattern should not be TOO dig;
mention mis- because | happened lately IN LONDON
TO bo looking for some stamped gray push OF
velvet, suitable for making CLOAK OF. EVety snoP
that | went into the man showed me tho mos
enormous patterns things far too big Tor an ordl'
nary wall paper far too big for ordinary curtains,
things N fact. that would require iTgo pupi'y
building TO show them of TO any advantage;
entreated the .shopman TO show me pattern .nat
would be in some rational and relative proportion
TO the figure of somebody who was not over ten or
twelve feet In height lie replied that no was
extremely sorry but that 1t was imPossiole; 'no
smaller patterns were no longer being woven, IN
fact the big patterns were the fashion Now wa iS
he said the word fashion be mentioned what Is eno
great enemy " art in this century, as IN an cen
turies Fashion rests upon folly. Art rests upon
law Fashion is ephemeral AIT Is eternal Indeed
what is fashion reayI fashion Is me, n, S .
form of ngl.ness so absolutely unbearable thaG we
have to alter il every six months II is quite clear
that wero il beautiful aud rational we would not
alter ANYTHING that combined those two rare