The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-16
ENGLISH WOMEN OyERDREssED,
wall From British Masculinity Oppressed
by Tales Of Coronation Clothes.

by Tales OF Coronation Clothes.
The growing agitation Of John Bulls
women folks over what shall be worn and
what shall not be worn at the coronation
festivities In London next summer has
greatly stirred up some sections OF mas
culine England. The newspapers have
given up "A great deal Of their space to
predictions about the magnificent dress
ing and the display Of costly fabrics which
everybody is expecting. and the women's
papers are filled with columns of details
concerning the gowns Of this noble lady
and hat.
Masculine England. about whose corona
ton coats INC trousers nobody Is writing
anything to speak Of, doesn't like It a bit.
Bold spirits are writing to the Times TO
ask if. the women are not thinking too
much about their clothes. Several have
even limited that English women are be-
ginning 70 look overdressed.
Que indignant Englishman In a letter
to a woman's paper takes the matter very
seriously indeed He tells of lunching
In a fashionable restaurant In which there
were also a duchess, several peeresses and
many noble ladies, and Of being told by
an English woman, whose views were
tlillldI 10 his OWL. lIldl lDtIt WIS sCdINcl1
a IN In the room who did not look
more like a demi-mondaine than an English
lady
.Smothered In fnery,' Is a phrase used
Of English women in one Of the letters OF
protest against the raptures over femi-
ninity's coronation clothes. Here is part
Of a protest from Robert Hichens, who
Is best known as the author Of The Green
I ~ " Ia Qua Ia
Oscar Wilde and his Set a few years ago,
and OF several other works Of a similar
character:
Surely English women are breaking all
bounds In the matter of dress Surely
half London is r~idiculously, and | will add
Extensively, overdressed / nave been in
London for the last ten seasons. il not for
the whole, at any rate, for part Of the sum-
mer, and II seems TO Inc that with each
succeeding year, despite the delicious
example Of the Queen, the a and file of
society lose more in taste and descend
deeper into eXaggeration.
Last GeasOn l was perpetual!y sur
rounded by hats which were grotesque,
or which seemed grotesque 10 my mascu-
line eye. ! encountered distinguished
ladies who looked AZ ii tricked out 10 dance
before the car OF a modern BaCChus In a
climate more cold than that of NaNos.
i saw peTpetually young girls, even
debutantes. labOring under masses OF
ltdlDcIS anu u'htIs hllh tlbFllN uhNstEtl6
bedizened till their poor, tired faces, peerlng
forth from a cloud of juvenile chiEous,
looked really older than the hills.
People will, no doubt, be found 10 object
that there have always been oyeTdressed
women in society, mat 1la'heray has
laughed at them. that Panch has carl
catured them, that these remarks Of mine
are as old as the dowagers and the hills.
But | contend that there il a steady
crescendo in the extravaganza Of modern
! EVnlrEl ~ l - TannTI II lT.Ea AFI
that there Is also a crescendO IN the olabora-
ton Of costume. | sOlemuly affirm that
in my time, hats, for instance, have be-
come each season more prepU~tcrcus,
more flmboyant, more towering and
overwhelming.
When | was young | do not remember
seeing young mi-scs staggering under
ebon sarcophagi from which sprouted
the feather OF a whole ostrich farm, or
staring upon the world from beneath flower
gardens edged with fur-of all horrible
and unnatural combinations commend
me u fur and artificial A wcrs!-in which
the borders were marked out with lengths
of ribbon, while monstrous rosettes of silk
or satin couched in the recesses Of a jungle
of leaves"
II young married women must over
dress, says Mr.. HiChens-well, let them.
II dowagers decline 10 remember that the
beauty of age lies not In its dignity, but
I'm a rouged agility hedged about by all
the colors OF the rainbow. pity them and
pass them by with averted face and tears
of compassion. But don't overdress the
English girl.
Most OF us like a gay show, a picturesque
pageant; and some of us love all that IS
beautiful. But beauty is not always nestled
In the heart Of elaboration.
There is a dreadful word. one Of the
vulgarest words In the la~nRuage-the word
SNOWY Our over-dres~ed Lnglish women
are often nothing more nor less than SNOWY
-Some Of us will lift upour hands IN piuus
thankful,ess when they cease To make
themselves a living definition of an adj
ieCtive that should he sacred 90 the half
world IA the del GIT of the chrome lithO-
graphic housemaid who trips along on a
Sunday c~lutching feryentiy her guards
mans arm"