New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-02
FOLLOWING TIE MODES
No More Senseless than Adherence
TO One Type Of Costume.

The dress OF European peasants which re-
mains the same for generations and even cen
turtles in some localities, is just as much fashion
as the dress Of the fashionable woman, which
changes every season." said Professor George
santayana, speaking the other day on Fashions
IN Art at the Brooklyn Institute.
I'VE speak of the constant changes of fashion
as peculiarly senseless. But II Is no more sense
less TO change a fashion than to adhere to It,
because fashion IS not based upon any reason,
and therefore there is no reason why It should
be permanent. This peasant costume, which
people think so quaint, has no more reference
TO utility beauty than that of the most
frivolous woman. 1t is very much overloaded;
it is very expensive in comparison with the
means of the people who wear it. And Yet the
people regard It with absolute veneration. They
have not sufficient imagination to change. Their
unchanging dress shows their unclangng
modes Of thought in everything. their lack Of
progress. their arrested development, their IN
questioning acceptance Of authority their ven
GRAFTON for whatever Is old and established.
People Of imagination always change their fash
IONS rapidly. and this is natural for fashion has
no basis in reason or utility, so the alert mind
tires of II and seeks novelty.
NATIONAL DRESS.
Fashion always seizes upon and exaggerates
something which IS normal. Thus blue becomes
the fashion, and an extraordinary number Of
women VIII wear blue one season. Blue is
beautiful color. but no more beautiful than any
other color. There is no sense or reason in its
exaEgeration But II q woman wears blue be-
cause It harnonizes best with her complexion
hair or eyes, because It produces q more pleas
ing effect than any other color, then she is no
longer acting under the dictates Of fashion.
Her use OF blue has become rational. and she
VII probably wear good deal OF blue through
life. When persons adopt certain style Of
shoe because it contributes to their comfort, q
certain style Of dress because It suits the lines
Of their figure. they adopting a rational
and not fashionable Iasis for dress, though
these articles may be both beautiful and fash
ionable. The rational IS not necessarily ugly
the fashionable necessarily pleasing. Nor is
the unchanging necessarily questionable. The
peasant sticks 10 one fashion for the same rea-
son that the society devotee changes hers every
season through vanity. The dress of men is
based more on utility than that Of women Yet
st has irrational features. and men stick to
these just as closely 10 the rational ones, be-
cause they are fashionable
There is fashion in art, Just as much in
dress. Of all the arts the one which has been
most swayed by fashion is architecture. That
IS right and natural. because while people are
not obliged to read poetry, hear music or see
pictures or stetuaTy, they are obliged to live in
houses and use public buildings, and will natu-
rally demand that these buildings embody their
own ideas. Fashions changed so rapidly in the
cathedral building Of Europe that the architects
-,
10 suit the changing taste. or all the cathedrais
OF Europe only one THAI of Cologne, was
finished according TO the plans Of the original
architect, and that was finished in the nine-
teenth century work of mingled archaeology
and piety
THE UNITARIAN GREEK.
THE true artist in architecture will exactly
suit his building to the purpose which It Is to
serve. He Will make it perfectly and sublimely
utilitarian, I'D in doing so he VIII also make it
beautiful. beauty Will consist IN the per-
lection and nobility Of the parts which serve
a useful purpose. He will not put IN windows
and doors or false arcades which serve TO pur-
pose simply for ornamentation. Even his deco
ration win a purpose. The necessities OF
the building leave some bare spares. He will
decorate these IN a manner t render them
more pleasing to the eye than bare space.
of all the architecture in the world the
Greek the most absolutely rational and the
least fashionable The Greek wanted place
Tor worship. II must be large enough for the
statues Of the gods, the services Of the priests,
and the placing Of offerings. Therefore he built
a moderate sized hall. He never made a thing
colossal for the sake OF having It colossal, like
the pyramids or enormously lofty like the
Gothic cathedral He saw no beauty in size for
the sake Of size or height for the sake of height
gie was satisfied IL his purpose was served. AT
heart his art unitarian. As he lived in a
climate which made the worshippeIs like to be
out Of doors, he built an open VeIanda along the
sides: and as it sometimes rained, he rooted this
Teranda. There must, Of course, be a roof and
the roof would naturally be fat, or. slightly
pitched for rain TO off Towers and spires
served no purpose and the Greek never thought
Of employing them. To support the roof there
must be columns, and naturally there was
floor. There You have the whole Of Greek
architecture. It's c1 luiste and immortal beauty
comes from the perfection witk which the Greek
made and adapted all these simple, natural
parts OF the building. Our love Of Greek art IS
q fashion. II ourselves were classic, If we
ourselves built the Greeks did, IN a simple
natural way which represented our needs with
out imitation superfiuities, we would think
nothing of Greek architecture. We would simply
regard II as natural"