The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-10-30

|
reign of James |, was hanged in a ruff
stiffened with starch of the hue in ques
ton. Similar squeamishness in 1S49 con
demned black satin as material for ladies
dresses to more than twenty years pro
scription, it having been in black satin
dress that the murderess Maria Manning
was hanged at Hersemonger Lane Jail.
A ONCE POPULAR KERCHIEF.
To the instances in which a certain fab
ric, or mode, or color in apparel has for a
definite reason ceased at an ascertained
date to be worn, must be added the proxi-
mate demise at Rouen of a particular kind
of cheap blue cotton handkerchiefs, printed
in four varieties of tint by the very old
fashioned wooden block process. These
kerchiefs, from period to which the mind
of man runneth not to the contrary, formed
distinctive feature of the picturesque cos
tune worn by the women of Plougastel,
near Brest, one~'of the last remaining
strongholds of the ancient costume of Brit
tany. The death of the manufacturer has
put an end to the production of the cheap
block printed handkerchiefs, as the sons
: are unwilling to carry on the fabrication
with the present Anticipated plant, and are
! possibly intent on turning out tasteful
creJonnes of Japanese designs printed in
colors by steam from engraved steel roll
ers. Furthermore, the demand for these
! special handkerchiefs has been growing of
! late years small and unprofitably less
! Already the male BretonS have taken to
! having their hair cut. and at the Pardon
J de Ploermel," nowadays, there are quite as
| many closely cropped rustics in wideawakes
and suits Of "dittoes" as there are peasants
with the traditional flowing locks and clad
| in the traditional broad brimmed castors
/ and voluminous galligaskins of the ANTIQUE
| province.
The plain truth is that picturesque cos
tune is rapidly dying out the whole world
over. Take the "Vierlander Madchen"-a
decaying race, by the way-who sells bou-
DUETS under the porticoes of the theaters at
Hamburg; take the Roman "contadina,"
with her kirtle of cunningly contrasted
hues and the snowy "fazzoletto" of white
| linen which she wears as a headdress; take
the Venetion ''horaja" and the ''portatrice
d'acqua" or water carrier, and contrast any
one of these types with the London flower
girl. 1t may not be generally known that
the astonishing picture" hat which that
hoarse voiced and sometimes Unexpectedly
tongued young female wears is rather an
expensive article than otherwise, for which
she pays by installments and sometimes
even ballots for it il the manner adopted
by building societies She patronizes,
moreover, a particular jacket, 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 these Continental
costumes are drifting into extinction. In
Rome the "fazzoletto' and the many hued
kirtle are rarely worn save by professional
models for artists, and the V aetian flower
girls who poster the tourists at Florian's
or the Specchi to buy their posies, and
often thrust them unlimited into the tray
elers' buttonholes, are rapidly relinquish-
ing their distinctive garb and dressing
themselves after the fashions prescribed in
plates of the cheap fashion periodicals. |
AS for the gondoliers, they have abandoned
the wearing of a striking costume as com
pletely as they have discontinued their |
citations from Tasso.
STORE CLOTHES" INVASIoNs.
There are still Swiss cantons in which |
the strongly marked and extremely pic |
turesque Helvetic costume is adhered to- |
and in certain parts of Norway, such as
the Hardanger and Telemarken districts, |
the peasantry still wear their characteris-
tic native dresses. But in both countries |
the ''wideawake hat" and the suit of dit |
toes" for men, and the cheap and i'll look |
ing parodies of the Paris fashions for |
women. are steadily making their ignoble |
and depressing way. "Store clothes" have |
even invaded the Tyrol and the provinces /
of Austria, while in European Turkey the |
upper classes have wholly divorced them /
selves from the turban and the caftan and |
have adopted monotonous dress in which |
the principal elements are the scarlet fez |
cap and the single breasted frock coat.
The osmauli at Stamboul at least, has
even given up the traditional "chibouck"
and the time honored "narghile," and
smokes nothing but cigarettes.
1t is slightly consoling TO the lovers of
the picturesque to know that there are
still some forty millions of Russian "mou-
jiks" who are unalterably conservative in
their patronage of sheepskin "touloupes.'
and red cotton shirts worn over their
baggy inexpressibles, with boots reaching
to the knee; but a Russian gentleman,
when he is not in uniform, puts on pre-
cisely such morning and evening dress as
are worn in London and Paris, in Milan
and in San Francisco; while among the
Polish nobility, where should we hope to
the heroic John Sebieski' Even the con-
ventional Uncle Sam, whom the Ameri-
cans themselves laughingly accepted as a
type-the gaunt, high cheek boned indi-
vidual IN a suit of nankeen and an ample
Panama hat-has vanished, and, but for
an occasional 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
cost, his feathers and his tops are 70 be
found only in the columns of our facetious
contemporaries. Most varieties of the COS
tune OF the past are dead and the rest are
dying. What order of apparel is TO SIC
coed them, Surely pot" hats, stove
pipe" hats and suits of "dittoes" are not
70 DC the universal wear for mankind in
the Twentieth century.-London TeIe-
graph.
Peru has been making wonderful pro-
greSS during the last three Years OWING n Z