Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-02-04

no less slaves OI ldSHloH III tHo 4ii' ' ter of dress than women, and per hans even more restricted in the mat ter of styles than the fair sex, ls gradually dawning on masculine New York. Of course this condition oI all fairs has long been known to the per sons whose business. it.. is to deter+ mine these styles, but the average man has just as long been accustom4 cd to disclain upon his lndepend{ ence in this connection and to looh pitingly upon his women folk for| their slavery to the dictates of dress makers. While the designing of new. styles and the sale of patterns show ing the correct fashion in women I gowns is @ business of. tremendou't extent and the methods by which I is carried on are fairly well knoWlt to most persons, the subject of tash ions in mems clothes remains 4ls has long been an impenetrable mys tery of 999 out Of every thousah
 men. The styles In mems appare are just as memorable as are thos, that determine women's wear, ai6 though not 50 great in .Hariety antl subject to less frequent and radlca changes. Men who make a habit o,I correct dressing know that t&l coats should be made longer or shorter, more full or more closer fitting this season than last as the case may be, but why this IS so would be impossible for them to tell Most of them get the informatloi from their tailors or from observlnf other men. If pressed to account to' the decrees which are put forth iron season to season and which they fo' low unquestionably they probabl
 would hazard vague guess that the styles "came from London or els that they were the work of som mysterious. and invisible 1ndlvldua1 like the man highe|up'' in the gra1 investigations that occasionally talk place in various cities.
 It is obvious that the styles to oe followed by well-dressed men do no "iust grow in imitation of the nm mortal Topsv. Neither are there re cognized leaders of fashion amone men whose ideas on the subject U dress set the standard for the res of the fashionable world, as is to a extent true of womens crowns ana as was the case with men ill ths days of Beau Brummel and oths
 famous dandies of generations past Why is it then that We wear" our waistcoats buttoned high one seasoi and cut low another year Why do we disnlay braid on some kinds suits and not on others? Who tell us to wear certain garments on cef tain occasions and why do we obey
 The answer is really very simple although it doubtless would troubi
 the ordinary man to give it correct ly. There is very general lmpres sion that fashions in mems dress fol low the styles of London and aPrls This was the case in the early 1iat
 II, h,1+ hoe hpnn
 ing less and less true for the pas
 twenty-five years and at the presen time Americans are as independen
 of foEeign countries in the matter 0 clothes as they are in their form 0 government Some Americans stil have their suits made in London bu they are chiefly members of the E. pidly dwindling class of Angle-nan iacs which is far less influential nov than it was twenty years ago. Man
 of the fashionable b,tailors in NeN Ydlik and other large cities makt a habit of going to Europe ever,
 sumner and pick up occasional idea <. as to cut and fabric from their ob
 serv&tions, hut these influences al feet only the minor details of men garments. Experience has show
 that garments and styles adapted t English habits and to English waatf :. CT are less suitable to conditions o
 this side of the Atlantic. American
 never have accepted as bushes
 costume the frock coat and top h. :. to which the Englishman is still a
 most completely subservient. Nc
 have they taken kindly to the variet
 of top coats that flourish so luxur
 antly in King Georges domain. ri
 influence of Parisian customs on th dress of Americans is practically n
 and as Germans have no distincti,
 styles of their own in dress, u
 United States is practically free fro
 foreign Domination in this matter < Broadly speaking the styles of ga
 mants which Americans shall we;
 are determined by the wearers then # selves Comfort and conservatism a, BY the keynOtes of men's dress in u