San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-05-28
FASHIONS CHANGES.
Observations About woman's Wear an
The Aftifnhe of the Male SeN.

the Attitude of the Male Sex.
What queer thing fashion is, and
how few people have really Judgment
of their own, independent of the precept
and practice of their fellows! Who
would ever dream except from the law
of contradiction that the same ladies'
who, as girls, sewed every locket of
every size and shape that they possessed
on TO band of velvet, and, thus array
ed, set forth to a ball, would in later life
complacently contemplate their own
necks, innocent of single ornament?
For the last ten years the pendulum was
swung in the other direction. No one
has worn anything but diamonds, and
the question must sometimes occur to
the feeblest mind, Where do they all
come FROM" Come from, that is, not
internationally, but financially.
Our friends are no richer than they
were: nay, is it not notorious that we
are all poorer? They do not run into
debt; they are not like the virtuous
young man in "Beggars AID house
breakers first and journalists after; they
are not recklessly improvident in other
directions, but their wives, and even
their daughters, would not think of
dining out without wearing at least one
diamond brooch.
In wedding presents it is just the same
Thirty years ago the uncles and aunts of
the middle classes thought they had
done their duty handsomely by their re-
lations if they presented them with a
bracelet an inch wide, having the legend
"Marah," or "Mizpah,' or some other
Hebrew word chased on it in blue
enamel. Now, nothing under a pair of
silver muffineers is allowed TO pass, and
they are considered mean for any one
nearer than second cousin If the in
cautious male relative thinks he will
save himself trouble by inquiring what
the bridal pair would like, he is lost. 4
check toward furnishing is hirted at in
delicate terms, and the most courageous
Of mortals would hardly dare to make
one out for anything under twenty
pounds sterling. knowing as he does full
well that slip Of paper with his name
and the amount will be duly exposed
among the wedding presents.
AS to dress, in this as in other direc-
tons, the periodicity Of fashion is the
only thing certain about it. The civil
lied world has lately been suffering
from heavy Valois reaction, and such
has been the craze for tightness and
stiffness that ladies have not hesitated
to adopt fashions which the court of
Henri III or Charles * only reserved
for men. High, stiff. collars fatal to
people with short necks OF defective res
piration) have reigned side by side with
huge open ruffs, charming when seen
from the front, frightful when looked
at from behind. For years past it has
been impossible to induce any dress
maker to leave the sweeping line of the
neck and arm as nature made 1T Hus- |
bands may scold, aesthetic friends may
scott, but till the fat goes forth from !
the lawgivers of Paris women will have |
to wear humps on their shoulders in |
some wise after the fashion of the Refine |
Margot.
Nothing is more strange and worthy |
OF notice than the attitude OF the male
sex toward the attire of their woman
kind. In theory they may land dol
loudly object to special articles of cloth |
ing as being ugly" and absurd" Yet,
if the natural gentleness Of her sex in.
duces the lady to listen TO these obser-
vations and to try to conform to their
spirit, she will reap the invariable re-
ward of such patient Griseldas by her
husband or brother informing her, as
they return from the next fashionable
party, that "he does not know why it is.
but there is something rather odd about
her dress and he did not see any one else
with it." In theory men always desire
women to dress sensibly. In practice
they detest singularity and anything
that calls for remark. A mans ideal
dress for his female belongings is either
"black silk" or white muslin. Lon
don SnpctafOr