The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-23
WHICH DRESS THE BETTER
AN ENG LISHMAN SAYS AMERICANS
ARE PADDED o MUCH.
Method. OF Ergiish .ua American Tsiiors
Compared-A PabeEyric or Old Clothes
Eneiishmen Defended from Criticism.

| metn0uN OF EnRNNn nno American Wv
Compared-A Papesyric OF Old Clothes
Englishmen Defended from Criticism.
There is an Englishman in this town who
wants to reply to the returned tourist who eH-
pressed the opinion In THE SuN last Sunday
that Englishmcn were not well dressed. as q
rule. and were not in Il with Americans in this
respect. This Englishman has spent about a
dozen years here. is fully naturalized, and
makes a trip over to the old country about every
four years.
ut depends entirely on how one looks at the
question" he said. ITO start with, all does not lie
in the mere fact OF good clothes. and the Irish
mans idea, as typiHed in our parades, that q
clean pair of shoes highly polished and q new
silk hat will cover up any defects Of seedy or
worn clothes will not go. The man must know
how to wear his clothes. and the American sys-
tenn makes this almost impossible, for the
wcarer IL rendered more self-conscious than he
otherwise would be by the omnipresent fact
that he has a new suit on. Every movement he
makes brings this to his mind, for the simple
reason that his tailor has insisted on padding
his chest and shoulders until he must feel
like Cleopatra in "Dombey and Son" when
they were putting up the scafTolding on which
TO build her figure. l think can say without
much fear OF contradiction that the majority OF
New York men are both hollow-chested and
round-backed. lido not wish to appear prcju-
diced, but a walk along the streets will lemon
strate this fact. Now, the American tailor
takes padding and builds the shoulders back,
fills up the chest, raises the tip of the shoulder
anywhere up to three inches, and then on this
foundation builds a coat that undeniably dts
without a crease so long as tho model Is quies-
cent. But the wearer feels and who can blame
him 2-tricsd up like a chicken for cooking. He
stands before the tailors glass, and is pleased
with the fit, and when he goes out he looks
in every window he passes to see IL it is
still fitting. But WOO to him IL he raises
his arm to take off his hat to a lady, for
up goes the wad of padding on the tip
Of the shoulder and the secret Of the fit is re-
vealed. Woe to him IL he bangles from q strap
on the elevated road after paying his nickel for
a seat; he may exercise all his Establishments
on the lady seated before him, but the wad is
omnipresent. and II he leans unduly forward
those behind him can see where the padding on
the back ends and the natural spine and flesh
appear down each side of the chest, stretching
which will mark the line Of padding as plain as
the sunshine. The waistcoat will do the same.
What does the artistic English tailor do for
the would. be well-dressed man 2 Well, he looks
likes, and then gives his advice. For the credit
of his business, he will prefer to drape the Cloth
that sRa P the drspe viii always isf Keep shape where tho
pad will crease. II one shoulder is a trife lower
than the other he will put in a pad at the side:
possible, but he will not, pad IL he can helpit
and only then, to MI hollqws,, not to build
a. 'Ot they say !" over there. tRRtolio%.ShestedJ,
With the shoulders turned right in on the
wear as much as possiblea coat that is not but
toned. This is because the coat can be so cut as
ness viii scarcely be pcrceptibie unless the coat
Is thrown back; If the shoulders no u are n, SSadly bent
Englishmpnl he will suggest n Prince Albert
coat. and the skirts OF THIS will be cut so as to
s enas P from The sn rear no to the 'front.'. and his coat.
while IL can be buttoned. Is not intended TO DO
worn 50; BY this means means, the st tailor .. T Idng hide ss Tie the
clothes last, just SO long the drape will be
IN Its place, unless IN Of course Thn cl tae we STn h Nar cns
large to the figure, to give perfect ease OF move
ment and to avoid wrinkles after short wear.
a double breasted sack coat would scarcely be
made by n good firm for a short man II he were
TO order It. The tailor would demonstrate with
him look ridiculous, and the man would, nine
times out OF ten. take the tailor's advice and
Where style that god of the metropolitan Amer
ican) comes in contact with SUITABILITY; IN Eng,
well.dressed Englishman.
TTFousers-it should be noted that the critic ho
called %d.t coI them uo ,p% InE, Of r MANS a yit drss ,ten; v6 5ae
legs are OF the New York type, which ] am sorry
70 have to describe as overhung at the knees;
all right. for the great bulk OF the tail9rs who
make trousers up 10 $40 appear TO have but one
idea in this city, and that is a straight line from
the thigh to tho foot. 4 YOU stand with the
knees straight and the calf we'll back. like those
dificult TO find a tailor who will consent to, be
persuaded to cut your trousers IN any other
You want them. and even bring him an
old pair 70 cut from, he looks at you
that you get a pair, cut straight, as usual, which
are bagged at the knees In two hours. II you
those of n RaXter street dummy. Another
curious feature of the American trousers never
found found in England is thSD5I.sSs OF diS H,Hip goods n;
coats and waistcoatS. The secIct OF the tailor
shape a week, and that, all the pressing in the
world will, not, keep them presentable., That;
course, is the suit of padded clothes in distinc-
ton to the draped one.
are new and makes II evident to every one that
he is painfully aware OF that fact, would not
pass as a well-dressed man In any country OF the
world but America, and there are cities here
where he would not. The Englishman as a rule
In moderate circumstances, His clothes never
look painfully new and they never look painfully
sive. Here the great bulk OF men in moderate
circumstances buy n suit. say, in the autumn,
and day In and day out they wear It until thrown
aside. They are In one constant see-saw from
clothes bandbox-new TO clothes wrinkled
creased, out OF shape, but not worn. On a bad
clothes. Witness Lord Hawkes. team that rainy
day. and the innumerable paragraphs that
greeted the astounding fact that they should go
out without umbrellas TO see the city in clothes
which one paper said were beneath criticism.'
Take the hat. Styles may come and STYLES
may 60, but the Englishman Of the class we are
speaking will go for comfort first and suitability
next. lie will not wear a narrow brimmed hat
on a head with IA round face, nor a very wide
brimmed one on a narrow face. Those who go
around in the streets In those cloth caps are OF
the type OF men who here wear red ties around
their neeks and strive to be very horsey and
think about them, the sensible Englishmsn
thinks OF those cloth cap mOnstrOsities and the
wearers Of loud checks. AS to shoes,
patent feathers, may, DO the style, but
the well dressed Englishman with a No. 10
foot will not wear them on the street,
making people mistake his feet for mirrors.
Neither will he outrage the proprieties by going
IN a public dinner In a new shirt, a new collar, "A
new hair cut, a new shave, a new tie, and old
cAlfskin boots. Go to DelmOnico's the next pub
lie dinner and use your eyes. The Engllshman
will be at ease in his accustomed suit Of even
ing dress; II may be ten years old, but IL will not
hang about him; but his American prototype
will be u painfully dressed and terribly systcmat-
Naallv VnFnRd mn hAlng a. IN The nlnnRF MAS An /