The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-02-20
On neoo1lstte Dressing

I hope snail be pardoned for saying
something on the subject of decollette
! dressing, says writer in the New York
World. There is room here Tor real
reform. The question is, have the in
teIligent. substantial, influential women
the moral courage to combat the agrees
sIveness of a scandalous fashion that
had its great encouragement and saw
its EXTREMIST length in France at time
when virtue was but little respected,
and when almost every sound principle
of society and government was set at
naught? The decollette costume Of to-
day is quite as extreme as in the DAYS
of Louis XVI. or a little later, under
the directory. In truth, it is difficult to
see how it could ever have been or could
even be more extIeme than it is now
and be costume at all. 1t is the near
est to nothing to wear this side of Eve,
when she hastily improyised n scanty
ralment of fig leaves | am sure that if
the many perfectly innocent and GOOD
women who wear decollette dresses
would but stop moment and consider
the origin and history of that style of
attire and the opportunity it furnishes
the large part OF the world that il al
ways seeking for excuses for its own
wickedness as well as for grounds of
dlsreSpectful comment against what
ever is sacred or pure, they could but
blush at the hazard they are running
ami their failure to be truly loyal to
their own sex
l imagine no woman in decollete
dress, however pure her motives or
blamelesS her life, ever bursed upon an
assembled company without creating
more or less of shock. And why a
shock? The very reason WHY there is a
shock is TIE reason why she is violating
the rules OF prOpriety and good taste.
claim that respectable woman has
no right to shock people in this way.
She does it solely under the protecting
3gIs Of a fashion conceived and given
its first impetus by that condemned
and dispised class of her sex whom she
would not allow to kiss the hem of her
garment, and in so doing recognizes a !
power of which she should sometimes
at least be independent. To what ex-
tremities would a respectable woman !
go for the sake of compliance with |
the dictates of fashion? The subser- |
viency of womankind in this respect is |
humiiating and pitiful. Individually. !
private Judgment, Independence of |
character, respect of the proprieties of |
Life are all deserted and forgotten in the |
crazy, mad rush. What is condemned /
on the stage is practiced in the most .
exclusive circles of private life. Con- !
IS treated with contempt and .
no vi of 70 "a
If you find fault with it, the only an I
swer you get is shrug of the shoulders /
and another blind. reckless leap in the |
same direction. Woman is at once the /
most modest and immodest of human /
beings. She is modest by nature and .
through custom. The scores |
Of the decollette dresses worn now in
what is called society are grossly i'm
modest is no more debatoble PROPOSE
ton than that two and two makes four.
That any woman should ever be delud-
I'd into contrary belief is only an evil
ience of the dulling and debasing in
duence of fashion. 1t is not question
Of whether the fashion is bad or a
good one, but simply question wheth-
or it is the fashion. Admitted that it is
the fashion, that settles it. II is ac-
,epted, embraced, and adhered TO with
/ zeal that would do honor to better
;ause. If this is done at the sacrifice
VI modesty, the sacrifice is not realized
)y the woman who makes it, because
The satisfies her conscience by hiding
lnder an imaginary shield. 1t is a sac
'ihce nevertheless. She may not real
re it-she may be as innocent as q sun
,eam-but the great outside world real.
yes 1t and marvels at it, and makes evil
VI it. Thus she does herself wrong
md commits a crime against society.
;he makes herself an example that is
lsed to the debasement OF others, and
~ he. own trucking subserviency low
RS the standard of her sex and robs
herself of that charm of ideality with
which men delight to invest,her. The
iecollette dress as we see it nine times
nut of ten is a shame, a disgrace, and
n outrage. 1t ought not be tolerated
" respectable women for one moment.
they ought to rebel against it with one
leart and voice, and relegate it to where
constantly belongs. Let the woman
year it who invented it, and whose
motives in wearing it are never mis-
AIKEN.