The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-21
Bax on Toys.

80 oh hokD
When the modern man is accused of
-slavish conformity in the matter Of
dress he may perhaps feel a twinge of
conscience. When he is told that non
conformity in this respect often involves
a serious moral discipline" he may in
wardly admit the truth Of the statement.
He will probably allow that the dislike
Of the average man to appear singular" in
dress is usually unconquerable.' Nor
is he likely to maintain that the contem-
porary style Of male costume is passing
beautiful. In short, his attire lays him
open to the two charges of lacking in
dependence and of neglecting art.
The modern man has lately been thus
arraigned by In English writer of some
note, Mr.. ERNEST BELFoRr BAx, the
partner once upon a time Of WILLIAM
MORRIS in founding the Socialist League
and in editing its picturesque organ, the
Commorwedl. Nor is Mr.. BAx merely
critical. He goes on to preach what he
describes as the cult Of eccentricity in
dress MILL" he says, pleaded for
permission to be singular. What is
wanted now is an insistence on the duty
Of being singular, IN the social obligation
incumbent on every right minded person
to dress differently from other people"
Mr.. BAx gives two reasons for the
determinedly break the conventions of
dress shows evidence of being capable
of great things in other directions. "
Such is his first or moral plea. More
over" he adds, and this is his other
reason, you cannot have beauty with
out breaking the conventions" II the
conventions are once destroyed. he is
convinced, beauty will result. Out of
the chaos must inevitably emerge in
the end the cosmos of aesthetic taste a
standard"
From an artist, an individualist or an
aristocrat this sermon might plausibly
proceed. Coming from a Socialist it
sistency a common quality Of that sect.
One frequent ~socialistic trait may be
noted in it. however, somewhat in
adequate attention to history.
Mr.. BAI is surely a careless student
Of the past when he assumes that eccen-
tricity Of costume will inevitably" lead
to "the cosmos of aesthetic taste as stand
ard" Has Mr.. BAx ever cast his eye
over an illustrated treatise on costume'
And he surely ~disregards the records
again when he attributes the present
drab monotony Of male attire to the
fact that this is IN era of machine pro-
duction.' But to confute Mr.. BAx,
though that may be a by-result Of con-
sidering the question, is less u object
than to sllay those qualms Of the male
conscience conjectured above.
II the modern man feels. as We be-
lieve he often does, that he is rather
slavish in the uniformity OF his YES
tural tissue" and somewhat neglectful of
his decorative opportunities, we would
console him with a reminder that he
is sacrificing a lower independence to a
higher in this matter; and that il some
thing may be lost to art thereby,
thing is also gained.
In the first place, his uniform dress is
not due to anything so banausic as the
prevalence Of machinery; il has a most
honorable political origin. II mi to
him in direct descent from the Puritans,
| the Quakers and the French Revolution.
| Those great indicate the factors
which finally banished a%ristocratic and
military gewgaws and vanities from the
male garb and reduced it to the severe,
economic simplicity OF to-day. When
he walks abroad in his manhood COM
~paratively unadorned he may expand
his chest with a legitimate democratic
pride. His whole appearance, plain
| though it be, is a declaration Of indie
! pendence toward the ancien regime.
Secondly, il may well be argued that
this simplicity is c%onsonant with the
truest dignity of the male. In earlier
times man We'd with woman in seeking
adventurous aids to beauty. He would
put the whole stuffing of a mattress into
his "peascod bellied doublet,' or his
~~bombasted trunk hose" He would
wear Jewels in his hat, lace around his
throat, a muf on his hands. He in
vaded the entire female territory Of
fnery and occupied the larger part Of
il. PEPYs notes his -layings out for
clothes for myself and wife as follows:
For her about fl2, and for myself E55
or thereabouts, having made myself a
velvet cloak, two new cloth skirts, a new
shay gown, trimmed with gold buttons
and twist, with a lew hat, and silk tops
for my legs. and many other things;
being resolved, henceforward,' as he
~obscurely adds, TO 60 like myself
Nowadays the male is lee dependent