The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-12-01
ARTISTIC DRESSING.
The Divine Sarah's Theories and
Practices-She Designs Her
Own costumes.

dressing is a charming product of
art and adds much to the enjoyment
OF her audience; but her dressing in
private life is more interesting still.
1t is full of lessons in beauty that
every woman can understand and
should turn to account. 1t should
rouse us to something like a sense Of
our folly in persisting in wearing
ugly clothes.
We are in great fortune to have a
living exenplar of the laws of art in
dress. Such an illustration does not
occur always in a generation. 1t is
so rare, indeed, that one may live a
lifetime through without ever being
reminded that dress ought to be the
creation of art. Ordinarily we con-
slider it in one or two ways. We either
submit 1t to the material rule of fash
ION, which imposes on US all kinds of
asticalities, or else, if we are strong
minded, we rebel and carry the mat
ter over into the world of reason, the
moral world. And the difference be-
tween these two is the difference be-
tween capricious nonsense and ugli-
ness. Neither side has the right of
the matter.
Dress properly belongs in the @s-
thetic domain. 1t is true that it is a
material necessity and that it must be
subject so moral laws, but these two
must be reconciled by art, Dress
must be the product and creation of
aesthetic laws, and there is no possi-
bility of its being beautiful by any
other means.
1t is a strange thing thai women
shouI9 spenu 50 lnuci " iiVes 40
sne ehorI 70 nahe uaess auu w. .e
beauty wlInoul iIs es9i oIoulms "
tnem 70 stuoy anu apply sne laws VI
are. - ~ asoIaSo h"n no prop
osieioh 10 40 tlils wouiu D0 g. NV Gus
10 % haru'y unue.s.ooa Dmo -"
vague Yea oha soiio'r oleo
a hate Ireeiaway Fowl oia l.oln an
Even acIieseee; WIS? :
IL Is 10 pe wen ulesseu, eAuiol. ware
rooes SO iiopeiess' from .iie af' soa ~.
point, as to De on a par IN quality
WIN Inose a pIGIures WHICH are re-
JeGteu ron tile 1niDi'ions.
IN nhe, we puoIlc IL Seleia soiaI
from true unu~erseanulls " tiie mat
ter that even those OF us VINO oeen
ourselves 10 pe oracular aoouI Eoh-
tent ourselves mostly WITH eAtoii'hS
the Greek and discussing a
OF a. return 10 tne all "
when Is mere ahectatioh
but Mime hnoWs InaC
beauty CANNOT pe III uress
any more IMAM IL cah on canvas eAs
sept Dy tne eterhal laws Oh art, anu
THIS Is why ner results are worm
study. Try to iuasIhe uresslhS,
wnich Is on a par IN astnetlc Value
a palntihg py urenze, anu
you Will nave some ioea OF the
qualty OF her prouuc III tnis ulrec-
lion. lhere Is VnaI IN ner most IN
inherent costume whicn rivers the eye
and delights n sense. II IS pc
Wiiderihgiy enective anu apparently
WITH the siightese OF means.
Inat there can De goou oresslhg IN
which fashion mas no voice or n
nuence is nara 0 Il the tasnlon T'uden
world TO Understand buG let US
anaiyze bernlardts dress ana see py
what means lts beauty Is produced.
is the way IL Is done:-
In n hrst place II ma assumed
that a creator can make a nor
beautiful form than the dressmaker
can. n is her ground principle OF
starting point. NO garment Is per-
mltted to alter or dlsgulse tne shape
OF her figure. The corset she does
not wear either on the Stage or on