The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-02-28
DURHAM. N. c.

into each Others hands-in which
| case, of course, the Introduction of the
crinoline is easily explained. Sup
posing that q lady's skirt contains
so many yards, the use of a crino-
line would swell it to three times its
size. The manufacturers would sell
three times the amount of material,
| and the dressmakers would, of course,
profit equally with the manufacture
ers. Such a theory would account for
the innumerable frills OF 10, for the
preposterous ''bustlesn of 'S5, and for
the sweltering trains OF go; but it GER
tainly would not account for the
tight-drawn, skinny skirts of 80. One
has only to consult fashion-books of
the last quarter of a century-the
back numbers of Punch will serve for
| the ~purpose-to see that some of the
most striking vagaries of fashion are
characterized by a decided saving of
material. No manufacturer who was
| anxious to increase the sale of his silks
| and satins would lend his c~ountenance
to a fashion which prescribed a decol-
lete bodice and a clinging skirt.
Moreover, q council acting for the
| allied interest of manufacturers and
milliners, would be incapable of keep
| ing their personality and their delib-
| erations secret. Our own explanation
of the mystery is a more simple,
| though, we must confess, a less salts
| factory one. In the first place, we
| believe there is no ruling mind, no
| system of deliberate invention or
choice at all. The leading dressmak-
ers of London and Paris find their
advantage in varying their designs as
frequently as possible: and wherever
a novelty achieves any success,
whether it be in London or in Paris,
it is inn diately copied by other
dressmakers, and its general adoption
is as rapid as that OF a slang word.
Equally rapid is it's course towards
exaggeration; it's salient features are
further and further enlarged until the
exaggeration becomes grotesQue, the
reaction sets in, and fashion swings
back to the other extreme.
SLEEVES.
Take, for example, those peculiar
sleeves which are now worn. They
began quite modestly in the shape of
a little puff upon the shoulder; these
eXcrescences grew until they de-
veloped into the enormous and I'M
slightly humps which almost eclipse
.the-wearer's head. when viewed from
one side. The next stage will be the
gradual retreat back from this O.
strosity to the perfectly plain sleeve.
The plain sleeve will begin to pail
again; someone will invent a swelling
at the elbow, and a swollen ell
bow will become fashionable. until
an exaggeration has caused it to
swell beyond all bounds, and then
back it will 60 to it's primitive SIM
plicity, until the whole operation
begins again da capo. The whole
working OF fashion may be divided
into three separate processes-genuine
improvements with an idea either to
beauty or comfort, which happen to
hit the popular taste; exaggeration of
these improvements; reaction from
the exaggeration. That, at least, is
how it appears to US. As to the
originators of the improvements. we
believe they may be counted by hun
dreds.
THEY FOLLOW THE LEADERS.
Let no man quarrel with woman
kind because they tamely submit to
an improvement of dress which they
do not like, and even consent to wear
it in it's exaggerated stage. 1t is very
easy to say that nothing obliges a
woman to wear a crinoline if she dis
likes. She must conform, to a certain
extent, to the dress of the majority,
unless she wishes to make herself un-
comfortably conspicuous, and attract
a disagreeable share of the pub
lie attention. In a world of ba-
loon-like women wearing crinolines,
she could no more go about with
clinging skirts than she could with
her hair down her back. For which
reason, should the tide of fashion set
towards that hoped abomination, we
should very much doubt the mainten-
ance for any length of time of a mo
Crinoline League" If only it were
possible, either through the agency of
ladies' newspapers or through the
dressmakers themselves-by boycott
ing, let us say, bankruptcies that
were hideous or uncomfortable-to
influence the original designers of
novelties, we believe that women
could defend themselves against some
of the worst Of the innovations which
they are invited to adopt. AS long,
however, as the origin of fashion re-
mains a mystery to them, and they
talk wildly of being tyrannized over
by a ''small clique of men," they are
hardly likely to find a voice in the
designing of their own ess.-London
Spectator.