The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-15
FREAKS OF FASHION.

The Boston Globe informs its readers that
while Europe Is reviviDg the slX-ieet-ln-
diameter hoop San Francisco has started the
fashion of Turkish trousers. That is news
to US. Equestriennes in divided skirts have
been observed in the park, but unless the
beholder were informed in advance he would
not detect the departure from the regulation
unilateral riding habit. In the streets no
lady has been noticed in boomers, except
when a gathering of schoolteacherS intro
duces to our notice an eccentric lady from
the city where the Globe is published. The
ladies of San Francisco get their fashions
from the East; however eccentric some II
their opinions may be, they are far less
daring in matters of costume than their
sisters OF the Middle States. They are con-
tent to obey the DEGREES which emanate from
Paris, London and New York.
AS 10 Turkish trousers, it is improbable
they viii ever become part of the equipment
Of young women in any community where
good taste prevails, simply because they are
hdeous. They are among the most ancient
of garments. but in civilized Christian coun-
tries ladies never adopted them. They were
worn at Babylon and Nineyeh. among the
primitive Rindo0s and the earliest Chinese
the Greeks, who had correct ideas en- beauty,
would never adopt them; the Greek matrOn
and maiden wore a chiffon, which fell in
voluminous folds to the feet. When the
empire of the East was established and
the Greeks took on an oriental color,
the Asiatic fashion of trousers for
women overspread the empire as far
west as Greece itself and the de-
I'd o-fr aflan
which has been called Albanian, and which
was much affected at fancy balls in the days
of Lord Byron. Among the Albanian
Greeks the women wore trousers, the men
net. Travellers in Greece who jOuTneyed in
dread of bandtt used TO keen sharp eye
on the pedal extTemites Of the natives
whom they saw al a distance Ii their
skirts were short the travellers kept right
on; If they reached the ground it was a
good time TO lock TO the printing OF the
firearms.
When Mrs. Boomer undertook her dress
reform, about half a century ago. her first
idea was to borrow the garment which
Persian ladies weaT-trousers which were
enormously wide, and were gathered and
tied at the ankle. But il was discovered
that this article of apparel was suggestive
Of elephantiasis. a woman appeared to be
supported on two perpendicular holsters,
which, by internal machinery, were main
tanned in an upright position. Such a
vision WAS fatal to romance. Not even the
skill of the artists who illustrated "Lalla
Rookh" could make the ladies in that rather
fade poem other than monstr0us. Oh
servers Of the suite which the Shah OF Per-
STA took with him to London on his late
visit quite understood how man who had
been brought up on such a diet should ask
the British Prime Minister for half a dozen
English girls TO throw into his haTem by
way of leaven.
There is no reason why San Francisco
should not start fashion as we'll as Paris,
but the fact is that it never has. and
probably never will Fashion is the out
ward and visible sign Of an inward and
spiritual grace which is inbred in races and
is generally founded on physical reasons.
The oriental, tGiling on foot or on horseback
over long dusty and sandy spaces, cannot
enjoy his evening meal till he has washed
his feet: therefore be eschews stockings,
which would delay the ablution. Marching
hour after hour under a torrid sun the Arab
feels the necessity of covering his head with
many folds of wooden or cotton cloth,
which absorb the perspjration and shield the
organ from the solar rays, therefore he can
not endure the Christian hat. Fifteen or
twenty years ago, when japan proposed to
set geography at defiance and to become a
European country. the imperial family
adopted European fashions. The Emperor
d6nned the regulation swallow-tail. and the
Empress ordered dresses from Worth. The
ceurt at once followed so august an exam
pie. The Emperor still adheres to the
change, but the ladies of Toxic have gone
back to their native costume, which, to an
impartial observer, is as eenformabe to the
laws of beauty as our fashions, and to which
the japanese eye had been educated.
Each nation las its own fashions in dress,
and though they change from time to time
the changes are slow aud gradual. Such a
departure from custom a the adoption OF
Turkish trousers. either at San Francisco OF
at any other American city. is quite beyond
ropUa IF prcboliligv