St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-07-25
TAILOR.MADE DRESSES.
Fashion Correspondent Rebels
Against Their Exactious.


Against Their Exactions.
So great humbug has not been added to
wOmen's costume in century as tailor
made dresses. If women f1attered them
selves they were going to be emancipated
from the evils of fashion and be free like
men, ''mannish'' in costume in short, they
never were so much mistaken. Except in
just the one particular of being made of
excellent material, the So-called tailor gown
eXaggerateS all the Inconvenience women
already endured in their dress, and adds to
it load which ought to break the back of
camel The tailor dress weghs-good
heavens, how the thing weighs.-seyen to
fifteen pounds. But women don't stop at a
little thing which would break the back
OF camel when they are in pursuit of
style.
The material of these dresses is all well
enough-strong and serviceabIe. Nature
and revelation indicate that where such a
fabric is worn at all it should be made up
plain and neat, falling smooth, with the
fewest possible wrinkles and the highest
possible weight. Its own thickness and
body should make it stay where it is put
Such light, simple basque and skirt, the
skirt without any lining. would be really a
godsend to the sex. 1t would be blessing
Tor bad weather and a comfort in good.
But no! Fashion never did dictate any,
thing simply decent and sensible in the
way of womans dress, 1 doubt if she
ever will. If you would take a mans Or
binary winter overcoat, put cushions and
steel hoops into it, plat the bottom all
around, and extend it till it sweeps the
ground. then take some yards of the same
material and festoon it in sort of double
back action way upon. the skirt, and make
the waist and sleeves as tight as they can
be crowded into without bursting. you will
have an exact idea of the beauty and COM
fort of the much -vaunted tailor dress. The
only satisfaction to me in the whole affair
is that men invented this dress, not women.
Whoever started it simply took women's
dress as it was already. made up of light,
soft material-silk, cashmere and calico
and reproduced it in the material of of which
mems coats and trousers are made There
| never was greater mistake; there never
was greater absurdity. The folds, the
fittings and the founcngs, and the furbe-
lows were endgrable in thin materials.
They even added grace to bean pole or
clothes-horse figure. But to copy them in
wooden is that every time a woman walks
out she goes with the pleasing consciousness
tiliG BIG 10 CdiIyluS Tile covering OIL nail
dozen sheep upon her back. | flatter my
self that is a stupidity only man dress
maker could be guilty of.
If there is one thing that woman has a
right to, it is the use of her feet. Walking
will make her healthy and handsome, and
she ought to do ten times as much as she
does. But walking i'll tailor made gown
is like convict trying to run away with a
ball and chain to his ankle When a
woman reaches home after such walk, in
stead of feeling bright and refreshed, she
drags upstairs, gasping for breath, as faint
| as if she had been working in coal mine.
Every free-bOrn woman rebels against
the the thing with all her soul, while she
| submits to it.
Besides, to fit in the approved mode,
these excruciating dresses must be so high
and close in the neck that woman cannot
possibly turn her head. Fashionable ladies
look as though they were choking. If any
body ever gets another one upon ME I'll
agree to go dead back on my woman's
rights principles. that's all. That, too,
| even though 1 never more look stylish ~ 81
Indeed, I'm not sure but the whole mode
of women's dress is all wrong any how
| n. Y. Fashion Letter.