Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-05

,or tnis, gooo-natureo, nappy ION, VINO nad
just then come upon the scene, was one great,
beaming smile.
PICTURESQUE CLOTHS DEPARTING.
National Costumes Fading Away and the
World Steadily Dressing More Alike.
From the London telegraph.
Fashions, rs rule, like Morality in the
"Dunciad," "expire unawares," and costumes
which have been worn from time immemorial
fade away SO gradually that the period Of their
final disappearance is imperceptible. The
most experienced and the acutest of observers
would be puzzled to fix the precise date when
the nobility and gentry ceased to retain black
footmen; or when butchers left off top boots
such as we behold in Sir Edwin Landseer's
picture of blight Life and Low Life;' or
whom London servant maids repudisted the use
OF pattens. There have been, it is true, excep-
tons to the rule. Old editions of the Statutes
at Large" contain the act of parliament passed
after the rebellion of 1745, solemnly prohibiting
the assumption of the Highland dress in Scot
land while it is notorious that yellow starch
went out because Mrs. Turner poisoner in
the reign of James /, was hanged in q ruff
s:ifened with starch of the hue in question.
Similar squeamishness in 18i9 condemned black
satin a ma terial for ladies' dresses to more
than twenty years prescription, it having been
in II black satin dress that the murderess Maria
Manning was hanged at Horsemonser lane Jail.
To the instances in which certain fabric or
mode or color in apparel has for a definite rea-
son ceased at an ascertained date to be worn
must be added the proxlmate demise at Rouen
of n particular kind OF cheap blue cotton
handkerchiefs printed in four varieties Of tint
by the very old-fashioned wooden block pro-
cess. These kerchiefs, from period to which
the mind Of man runneth not to the contrary,
formed distinctive feature OF the picturesque
costume worn by the women of Plougastel,
near Brest, one Of the last remaining strong
holds of the ancient costume of Brittany. The
death of the manufacturer has put an end to
the production of the cheap block-printed
handkerchiefs, the sons are unwilling to
carry on the fabrication with the present
Anticipated plant and are possibly intent
on turning out tastefui cretonnes or japanese
designs printed in colors by steam from en-
graved steel rollers. Furthermore, the demand
for these special handkerchiefs has been grow
ing of late years small and unprofitably less.
Already the male Bretons have taken to having
their hair cut, and at the Pardon de Ploer-
mel, nowadays, there are quite as many
closely cropped rustics in wideawakes and suits
OF ''dlttoes' as there are peasants. with the
traditional flowing locks and clad in the tradi-
tional broad-brimmed castors and voluminous
galllgaskins of the antique province.
The plain truth is that picturesque costume
Is rapidly dying out. the whole world over.
Take the "Vierlander Madchen"-a decaying
race, by the way-who sells bouquets under tho
porticoes of the theaters at Hamburg; take the
Roman ''contadina, with her kirtle of cum
ningly contrasted hues. and the snowy ''fazzo-
letto" of white linen which she wears as a head
Dress take the Venetian "forage" and the
''portatrice daqua," or water carrier, and
contrast any one of these types with the Lon
don flower girl. 1t may not be generally known
that the astonishing picture" hat which that
hoarse-vOiced and sometimes intemperately
tongued young female wears is rather an ex-
pensive article than otherwise. for which she
pays by lnstallments, and sometimes even bal
lots for it, in the manner adopted by members
OF building societies. She patronizes. more.
over. a particular jacket, a particular length Of
skirt and kind of boot, and she would scorn to
alter the wondrous fringe" of hair cut over
her forehead.
The pity of it is that all these continental
costumes are drifting into extinction. In Rome
the ''fazZoetto' and the many-hued kirtle are
| rarely worn save by professional models for
artists and the Venetian flower girls who poster
the tourists at Florians the Speech to buy
| their posies. and often thrust them unlimited
into the travellers buttonholes. are rapidly re-
iinquishing their distinctive garb, and dressing
themselves after the fashions prescribed in the
plates of the cheap fashion periodicals As for
the gondoliers, they have abandoned the wear
ing of striking costume as completely
as they have discontinued their citations from
TassO.
strongly marked and extremely picturesque
Helvetic costume is adhered to, and in certain
parts of Norway, such the Hardanger and
Telemarken districts, the peasantry still wear
their characteristic native dresses, but in both
countries the 'wlde-awake hat and the suit of
"dittoes' for men and the cheap and ill-look-
ing parodies Of the Paris fashions for women
are steadily making their ignoble and depress-
ing way. 'Store clothes have even invaded
the Tyrol and the provinces of Austria, while
| = ~
wholly divorced themselves from the turban
and the caftan and have adopted a monotonous
dress in which the principal clements are the
scarlet fez cap and the single breasted frock
coat. The Osmanli. at Stamboul at least has
even given up the traditional ''chibouck' and
the ime-hOnOred "narRhlle, and smokes moth
ing but cigarettes.
1t is slightly cOnsoling to the lovers of the
picturesque to know that there are still some
40 900, 900 of Russian ''moujiks who are I'M
alterably conservative in their patronage Of
sheep skin "touloupes' and red cotton shirts
worn over their baggy inexpressbles. with
| boots reaching to the knee; but a Russian gen.
tleman when he is not in uniform, puts on
precisely such morning and evening dress as
are worn i'll London and Paris, in Milan and
| San Francisco while, among the Polish nobil-
| ity, where should We hope to find counter
part Of the costume worn by the heroic John
! Sobeski? Even the conventional "Uncle Sam, ~
| whom the Americans themselves laughingly ac-
cepted as type-the gaunt, high-cheekboned
| individual IN a suit of nankeen and ample
Panama hat-has vanished, and, but for an &C.
casonal cartoon, would be forgotten. 1t is the
| same with our John Bull. His spirit lives: his
idiosyncrasies are, happily. yet vigorous; but
his hat his broad-skirted coat, his feathers and
his tops are to be found only IN the columns OF
| our facetious contemporaries. Most varieties
of the costume of the past are dead, and the
rest are dying. What order of apparel is to
succeed them? Surely 'pot" hats, ''stovepipe''
hats and suits of ''dittoes" are not to be the
universal wear for mankind in the twentieth
| century.