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diff --git a/34092.txt b/34092.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21ac657 --- /dev/null +++ b/34092.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3290 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Dress as a Fine Art, by Mary Philadelphia Merrifield + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dress as a Fine Art + With Suggestions on Children's Dress + +Author: Mary Philadelphia Merrifield + +Release Date: October 17, 2010 [EBook #34092] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRESS AS A FINE ART *** + + + + +Produced by Jana Srna, Sharon Joiner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + For the text version, the capitalization on the title page was + adjusted to attempt to preserve relative importance of the text on + the page. Chapter descriptions in the Table of Contents were changed + from all caps to Title Case. Small caps elsewhere were converted to + all caps. Gesperrt (spaced out lettering), used in various places in + the front matter, and for chapter numbers, was not retained. + + Words in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. + + Punctuation varies widely and was kept as printed; most other + inconsistencies were kept as printed. Inconsistencies in spelling + retained, along with the few corrections made, are listed at the end + of this text. + + The original plates do not have captions. To make it easier for the + reader to check the text against the description of the figures, the + contents of each "List of Illustrations" entry has been copied into + the illustration tag for the corresponding plate. Except for the + frontispiece (Pl. 1), the captions for the plates have been moved + from the original mid-paragraph placement to between paragraphs. + + + + + [Illustration: Pl. 1. + + Figure 1. Head-dress of Lady Ardene. + 2. A kind of hat. + 3. Steeple head-dress. + 4, 6. Head-dresses of Lady Rolestone. + 5. Heart-shaped head-dresses. + 7, 8. Head-dresses of the time of Henry VIII. + 9, 11. Hats of the time of George II. + 10. Nithsdale hood. + 12. Hat of the time of William III. + 13, 14. Hats of the time of Charles I. + 15, 16, 17. Head-dresses of 1798. + 18. Head-dress of 1700. + 19. Head-dress of the time of Henry VI. + 20. Combination of figs. 7, 8. + 21, 22. Hats for ladies in 1786. + 23. Style of 1785. + 24, 25, 26. Style of 1782. + ] + + + + + DRESS + AS A FINE ART. + + WITH SUGGESTIONS ON CHILDREN'S DRESS. + + By MRS. MERRIFIELD. + + + With an Introduction on + HEAD DRESS. + + By Prof. Fairholt. + + + BOSTON: + JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. + + CLEVELAND, OHIO: + JEWETT, PROCTOR, AND WORTHINGTON. + + 1854. + + + + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by + JOHN P. JEWETT & CO., + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the + District of Massachusetts + + + + + PRESS OF GEO. C. RAND, + WOOD CUT AND BOOK PRINTER, + CORNHILL, BOSTON. + + STEREOTYPED AT THE + BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The fact that we derive our styles of dress from the same source as +the English, and that the work of Mrs. Merrifield has been circulated +among the forty thousand subscribers of the "London Art Journal," +might perhaps be deemed sufficient apology for offering it in its +present form to the American public. It has received the unqualified +approbation of the best publications in this country;--entire chapters +having been copied into the periodicals of the day; this added to the +above, and also to the high standing of the author, has induced the +publishers to offer it to the great reading public of this country. + +The chapter on Head-dresses, which commences the book, is of much +interest in itself, and affords an explanation of many of the +descriptions in the body of the work. + +The closing chapter, on Children's Dress, by Mrs. Merrifield, will be +deemed of more value by most persons than the cost of the entire work. + +A few verbal alterations only have been made in the original;--the +good sense of every reader will enable him to understand the local +allusions, and where they belong to England alone, to make the +application. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + CHAPTER I. + Description of Head-Dresses, 1 + + CHAPTER II. + Dress, as a Fine Art, 10 + + CHAPTER III. + The Head, 53 + + CHAPTER IV. + The Dress, 61 + + CHAPTER V. + The Feet, 73 + + CHAPTER VI. + Remarks on Particular Costumes, 84 + + CHAPTER VII. + Ornament--Economy, 95 + + CHAPTER VIII. + Some Thoughts on Children's Dress.--By Mrs. Merrifield, 121 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PLATE I. + + Figure 1. Head-dress of Lady Ardene. + 2. A kind of hat. + 3. Steeple head-dress. + 4, 6. Head-dresses of Lady Rolestone. + 5. Heart-shaped head-dresses. + 7, 8. Head-dresses of the time of Henry VIII. + 9, 11. Hats of the time of George II. + 10. Nithsdale hood. + 12. Hat of the time of William III. + 13, 14. Hats of the time of Charles I. + 15, 16, 17. Head-dresses of 1798. + 18. Head-dress of 1700. + 19. Head-dress of the time of Henry VI. + 20. Combination of figs. 7, 8. + 21, 22. Hats for ladies in 1786. + 23. Style of 1785. + 24, 25, 26. Style of 1782. + + + PLATE II. + + Figure 27. Style of 1782. + 28, 30. Head-dress of 1790. + 29. Head-dress of the French peasantry. + 31. Fashion of 1791. + 32, 33. Fashion of 1789. + 36. Head-dress of the commencement of the present century. + 35. English housemaid. + 37. Gigot sleeves, with cloak worn over. + 38. From a picture in the Louvre. + + + PLATE III. + + Figure 39. Dress, with short waist and sleeves. + 41. Dress of the mother of Henry IV. + 40. Dress of Henrietta Maria. + 42. From the "Illustrated London News." + + + PLATE IV. + + Figures 43, 44. From the plates of Sommaering, shows the waist of the + Venus of antiquity. + 45, 46. The waist of a modern lady, from the above. + 49. From the "London News." + 50. Woman of Mitylene. + 53. Algerine woman. + 54. The archon's wife. + + + PLATE V. + + Figure 47. Athenian peasant. + 48. Shepherdess of Arcadia. + 51. Athenian woman. + 52. French costume of the tenth century. + 62. Lady of the time of Henry V. + + + PLATE VI. + + Figure 55. After Parmegiano. + 56. Titian's daughter. + 57. Lady Harrington. + 59. Roman peasant. + 61. Gigot sleeves. + + + PLATE VII. + + Figure 63. From Bonnard's Costumes. + 64. Sancta Victoria. + 65. Anne, Countess of Chesterfield, from Vandyck. + 67. Woman of Markinitza. + + + PLATE VIII. + + Figure 60. Lady Lucy Percy, from Vandyck. + 69, 70. By Jules David, in "Le Moniteur de la Mode." + 68. The hoop, after Hogarth. + + + PLATE IX. + + Figure 66. From Rubens's "Descent from the Cross." + 71. From a drawing by Gainsborough. + 72. Woman of Myconia. + 74. Queen Anne. + + + PLATE X. + + Figure 73. Charlotte de la Tremouille. + 75. After Gainsborough. + 76. After Gainsborough. + 77. Costume of Mrs. Bloomer. + + + PLATE XI. + + Figure 78. From the embroidery on fig. 47, pl. 5. + 79. From the sleeve of the same dress, above. + 80. From the sleeve of the pelisse. + 81. The pattern embroidered from the waist to the skirt + of the dress, fig. 51, pl. 5. + 82. The border of the shawl, fig. 51. + 83. Sleeve of the same, figure 51. + 84. Design on the apron, fig. 48, pl. 5. + 85. From the border of the same dress, fig. 48. + + + PLATE XII. + + Figure 86. Pattern round the hem of the long under dress, + fig. 51, pl. 5. + 87, 88. Borders of shawls. + 89. Infant's dress, exhibited at the World's Fair in + London. + 90, 91. From "Le Moniteur de la Mode," by Jules David and + Reville, published at Paris, London, New York, + and St. Petersburg. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +DESCRIPTION OF HEAD-DRESSES. + + +Fig. 1 is a front view of a head-dress of Lady Arderne, (who died +about the middle of the fifteenth century.) The caul of the head-dress +is richly embroidered, the veil above being supported by wires, in the +shape of a heart, with double lappets behind the head, which are +sometimes transparent, as if made of gauze. + +Such gauze veils, or rather coverings for the head-dress, are +frequently seen in the miniatures of MSS. Figs. 2, 3, are here +selected from the royal MS. In Fig. 3, the steeple head-dress of the +lady is entirely covered by a thin veil of gauze, which hangs from its +summit, and projects over her face. Fig. 2 has a sort of hat, widening +from its base, and made of cloth of gold, richly set with stones. Such +jewelled head-dresses are represented on the heads of noble ladies, +and are frequently ornamented in the most beautiful manner, with +stones of various tints. + +The slab to the memory of John Rolestone, Esq., sometime Lord of +Swarston, and Sicili, his wife, in Swarkstone Church, Derbyshire, who +died in 1482, gives the head-dress of the said Sicili as represented +in Fig. 6. It is a simple cap, radiating in gores over the head, +having a knob in its centre and a close falling veil of cloth affixed +round the back. It seems to have been constructed as much for comfort +as for show: the same remark may be applied to Fig. 4, which certainly +cannot be recommended for its beauty, being a stunted cone, with a +back veil closely fitting about the neck, and very sparingly +ornamented; it was worn by Mary, wife of John Rolestone, who died in +1485. These may both have been plain country ladies, far removed from +London, and little troubled with its fashionable freaks. Fig. 5 +represents the fashionable head-dress of the last days of the house of +York. It has been termed the heart-shaped head-dress, from the +appearance it presents when viewed in front, which resembles that of a +heart, and sometimes a crescent. It is made of black silk or velvet, +ornamented with gold studs, and having a jewel over the forehead. It +has a long band or lappet, such as the gentlemen then wore affixed to +their hats. Figs. 7 and 8 represent head-dresses worn in the time of +Henry VIII. These are a sort of cap, which seem to combine coverchief +and hood. Fig. 7 was at this time the extreme of fashion. It is edged +with lace, and ornamented with jewelry, and has altogether a look of +utter unmeaningness and confusion of form. Fig. 8 has a hood easier of +comprehension, but no whit better in point of elegance than her +predecessors; it fits the head closely, having pendent jewels round +the bottom and crossing the brow. Figs. 9 and 11 are hats of a very +simple style, such as were worn during the reign of George II., when +an affected simplicity, or milk-maiden look, was coveted by the +ladies, both high and low. The hood worn by Fig. 10 was a complete +envelope for the head, and was used in riding, or travelling, as well +as in walking in the parks. These were called Nithsdales, because Lady +Nithsdale covered her husband's face with one of them, after dressing +him in her clothes, and thus disguised he escaped from the Tower. +Fig. 12 represents a hat worn during the reign of William III. by a +damsel who was crying, "Fair cherries, at sixpence a pound!" It is of +straw, with a ribbon tied around it in a simple and tasteful manner; +the hat is altogether a light and graceful affair, and its want of +obtrusiveness is perhaps its chief recommendation. Figs. 13 and 14 are +hats such as were worn by citizens and their wives during the reigns +of James and Charles I. Figs. 15, 16, 17, were such head-dresses as +were in vogue in 1798. Fig. 15 was of a deep orange color, with bands +of dark chocolate brown; a bunch of scarlet tufts came over the +forehead, and it was held on the head by a kerchief of white muslin +tied beneath the chin. Fig. 16 is a straw bonnet, the crown decorated +with red perpendicular stripes, the front over the face plain, and a +row of laurel leaves surrounds the head; a lavender-colored tie +secures it under the chin. Bonnets somewhat similar to those now worn +were fashionable two years previous to this; yet a small, low-crowned +hat, like the one in Fig. 17, was as much patronized as any head-dress +had ever been. + +Cocked hats, such as is represented in Fig. 18, were worn by the +gentlemen in the last part of the year 1700. Fig. 19 represents one +of the head-dresses worn during the reign of Henry VI. It is a +combination of coverchief and turban. Fig. 20 is a combination of the +head-dress of Fig. 7 with the lappeted hood of Fig. 8. In 1786, a very +large-brimmed hat became fashionable with the ladies, and continued in +vogue for the next two years; an idea of the back view of it is given +in Fig. 21, and a front view in Fig. 22. It was decorated with triple +feathers, and a broad band of ribbon was tied in a bow behind, and +allowed to stream down the back. The elegance of turn which the brim +of such a hat afforded was completely overdone by the enormity of its +proportion; and the shelter it gave the face can now be considered as +the only recommendation of this fashion. The hat worn by Fig. 23 was +the style of 1785. Feathers were then much in favor, and a poet of the +time writes of the ladies,-- + + "No longer they hunt after ribbons and lace; + _Undertakers_ have got in the milliner's place; + With hands sacrilegious they've plundered the dead, + And transferred the gay plumes from the hearse to the head." + + [Illustration: Pl. 2. + + Figure 27. Style of 1782. + 28, 30. Head-dress of 1790. + 29. Head-dress of the French peasantry. + 31. Fashion of 1791. + 32, 33. Fashion of 1789. + 36. Head-dress of the commencement of the present century. + 35. English housemaid. + 37. Gigot sleeves, with cloak worn over. + 38. From a picture in the Louvre. + ] + +Fig. 24 represents the head-dress worn in 1782. At no period in the +history of the world was any thing more absurd in head-dress than the +one here depicted. The body of this erection was formed of tow, over +which the hair was turned, and false hair added in great curls; bobs +and ties, powdered to profusion, then hung all over with vulgarly +large rows of pearls, or glass beads, fit only to decorate a +chandelier; flowers as obtrusive were stuck about this heap of finery, +which was surmounted by broad silken bands and great ostrich feathers, +until the head-dress of a lady added three feet to her stature, and +"the male sex," to use the words of the "Spectator," "became suddenly +dwarfed beside her." To effect this, much time and trouble were +wasted, and great personal annoyance was suffered. Heads, when +properly dressed, "kept for three weeks," as the barbers quaintly +phrased it; that they would not really "keep" longer, may be seen by +the many receipts they gave for the destruction of insects, which bred +in the flour and pomatum so liberally bestowed upon them. Fig. 25 is +another fashionable outdoor head-dress. Fig. 26 represents one of +the hats invented to cover the head when full dressed. It is as +extravagant as the head-dresses. It is a large but light compound of +gauze, wire, ribbons, and flowers, sloping over the forehead, and +sheltering the head entirely by its immensity. Fig. 27 shows how +immensely globular the head of a lady had become; it swells all around +like a huge pumpkin, and curls of a corresponding size aid in the +caricature which now passed as fashionable taste. As if this were not +load enough for the fair shoulders of the softer sex, it is swathed +with a huge veil or scarf, giving the wearer an exceedingly top-heavy +look. In 1790, the ladies appeared in hats similar to those worn by +the gentlemen in 1792; these are represented in Figs. 28 and 30. They +were gayly decorated with gold strings, and tassels, crossed and +recrossed over the crown. The brims were broad, raised at the sides, +and pointed over the face in a manner not inelegant. Fig. 29 has the +tall, ugly bonnet, copied from the French peasantry; a long gauze +border is attached to the edges, which hangs like a veil around the +face, and partially conceals it. A hat of a very piquant character was +adopted by the ladies in 1791, of which a specimen is given in +Fig. 31. It is decorated with bows, and a large feather nods not +ungracefully over the crown from behind. A person with good face and +figure must have looked becomingly beneath it. Fig. 32 is an example +of the bad taste which still peeped forth. It is one of the most +fashionable head-dresses worn in 1789, and is the back view of a +lady's head, surmounted by a very small cap or hat, puffed round with +ribbon; the hair is arranged in a long, straight bunch down the neck, +where it is tied by a ribbon, and flows in curls beneath; long curls +repose one on each shoulder, while the hair at the sides of the +head is frizzed out on each side in a most fantastic form. The hat of +Fig. 33, shaped like a chimney pot, and decorated with small tufts of +ribbon, and larger bows, which fitted on a lady's head like the cover +on a canister, was viewed with "marvellous favor" by many a fair eye, +in the year 1789. It was sometimes bordered with lace, as in Fig. 29, +thus hiding the entire head, and considerably enhancing its ugliness. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DRESS, AS A FINE ART. + + +In a state so highly civilized as that in which we live, the art of +dress has become extremely complicated. That it is an art to set off +our persons to the greatest advantage must be generally admitted, and +we think it is one which, under certain conditions, may be studied by +the most scrupulous. An art implies skill and dexterity in setting off +or employing the gifts of nature to the greatest advantage, and we are +surely not wrong in laying it down as a general principle, that every +one may endeavor to set off or improve his or her personal appearance, +provided that, in doing so, the party is guilty of no deception. As +this proposition may be liable to some misconstruction, we will +endeavor to explain our meaning. + +In the first place, the principle is acted upon by all who study +cleanliness and neatness, which are universally considered as positive +duties, that are not only conducive to our own comfort, but that +society has a right to expect from us. Again: the rules of society +require that to a certain extent we should adopt those forms of dress +which are in common use, but our own judgment should be exercised in +adapting these forms to our individual proportions, complexions, ages, +and stations in society. In accomplishing this object, the most +perfect honesty and sincerity of purpose may be observed. No deception +is to be practised, no artifice employed, beyond that which is +exercised by the painter, who arranges his subjects in the most +pleasing forms, and who selects colors which harmonize with each +other; and by the manufacturer, who studies pleasing combinations of +lines and colors. We exercise taste in the decoration and arrangement +of our apartments and in our furniture, and we are equally at liberty +to do so with regard to our dress; but we know that taste is not an +instinctive perception of the beautiful and agreeable, but is founded +upon the observance of certain laws of nature. When we conform to +these laws, the result is pleasing and satisfactory; when we offend +against them, the contrary effect takes place. Our persons change with +our years; the child passes into youth, the youth into maturity, +maturity changes into old age. Every period of life has its peculiar +external characteristics, its pleasures, its pains, and its pursuits. +The art of dress consists in properly adapting our clothing to these +changes. + +We violate the laws of nature when we seek to repair the ravages of +time on our complexions by paint, when we substitute false hair for +that which age has thinned or blanched, or conceal the change by +dyeing our own gray hair; when we pad our dress to conceal that one +shoulder is larger than the other. To do either is not only bad taste, +but it is a positive breach of sincerity. It is bad taste, because the +means we have resorted to are contrary to the laws of nature. The +application of paint to the skin produces an effect so different from +the bloom of youth, that it can only deceive an unpractised eye. It +is the same with the hair: there is such a want of harmony between +false hair and the face which it surrounds, especially when that face +bears the marks of age, and the color of the hair denotes youth, that +the effect is unpleasing in the extreme. Deception of this kind, +therefore, does not answer the end which it had in view; it deceives +nobody but the unfortunate perpetrator of the would-be deceit. It is +about as senseless a proceeding as that of the goose in the story, +who, when pursued by the fox, thrust her head into a hedge, and +thought that, because she could no longer see the fox, the fox could +not see her. But in a moral point of view it is worse than silly; it +is adopted with a view to deceive; it is _acting a lie_ to all intents +and purposes, and it ought to be held in the same kind of detestation +as falsehood with the tongue. Zimmerman has an aphorism which is +applicable to this case--"Those who conceal their age do not conceal +their folly." + +The weak and vain, who hope to conceal their age by paint and false +hair, are, however, morally less culpable than another class of +dissemblers, inasmuch as the deception practised by the first is so +palpable that it really deceives no one. With regard to the other +class of dissemblers, we feel some difficulty in approaching a subject +of so much delicacy. Yet, as we have stated that we are at liberty to +improve our natural appearance by well-adapted dress, we think it +our duty to speak out, lest we should be considered as in any way +countenancing deception. We allude to those physical defects +induced by disease, which are frequently united to great beauty +of countenance, and which are sometimes so carefully concealed by +the dress, that they are only discovered after marriage. + +Having thus, we hope, established the innocence of our motives, we +shall proceed to mention the legitimate means by which the personal +appearance may be improved by the study of the art of dress. + +Fashion in dress is usually dictated by caprice or accident, or by the +desire of novelty. It is never, we believe, based upon the study of +the figure. + +It is somewhat singular that while every lady thinks herself at +liberty to wear any textile fabric or any color she pleases, she +considers herself bound to adopt the form and style of dress which the +fashion of the day has rendered popular. The despotism of fashion is +limited to _form_, but _color_ is free. We have shown, in another +essay, (see closing chapter,) what licentiousness this freedom in the +adoption and mixture of colors too frequently induces. We have also +shown that the colors worn by ladies should be those which contrast +or harmonize best with their individual complexions, and we have +endeavored to make the selection of suitable colors less difficult by +means of a few general rules founded upon the laws of harmony and +contrast of colors. In the present essay, we propose to offer some +general observations on form in dress. The subject is, however, both +difficult and complicated, and as it is easier to condemn than to +improve or perfect, we shall more frequently indicate what fashions +should not be adopted, than recommend others to the patronage of our +readers. + +The immediate objects of dress are twofold--namely, decency and +warmth; but so many minor considerations are suffered to influence us +in choosing our habiliments, that these primary objects are too +frequently kept out of sight. Dress should be not only adapted to the +climate, it should also be light in weight, should yield to the +movements of the body, and should be easily put on or removed. It +should also be adapted to the station in society, and to the age, of +the individual. These are the essential conditions; yet in practice +how frequently are they overlooked; in fact, how seldom are they +observed! Next in importance are general elegance of form, harmony in +the arrangement and selection of the colors, and special adaptation in +form and color to the person of the individual. To these objects we +purpose directing the attention of the reader. + +It is impossible, within the limits we have prescribed ourselves, to +enter into the subject of dress minutely; we can only deal with it +generally, and lay down certain broad principles for our guidance. If +these are observed, there is still a wide margin left for fancy and +fashion. These may find scope in trimmings and embroidery; the +application of which, however, must also be regulated by good taste +and knowledge. The physical variety in the human race is infinite; so +are the gradations and combinations of color; yet we expect a few +forms of dress to suit every age and complexion! Instead of the +beautiful, the graceful, and the becoming, what are the attractions +offered by the dress makers? What are the terms used to invite the +notice of customers? Novelty and distinction. The shops are "Magasins +de Nouveautes," the goods are "distingues," "recherches," "nouveaux," +"the last fashion." The new fashions are exhibited on the elegant +person of one of the dress maker's assistants, who is selected for +this purpose, and are adopted by the purchaser without reflecting how +much of the attraction of the dress is to be ascribed to the fine +figure of the wearer, how much to the beauty of the dress, or whether +it will look equally well on herself. So the fashion is set, and then +it is followed by others, until at last it becomes singular not to +adopt some modification of it, although the extreme may be avoided. +The best dressers are generally those who follow the fashions at a +great distance. + +Fashion is the only tyrant against whom modern civilization has not +carried on a crusade, and its power is still as unlimited and despotic +as it ever was. From its dictates there is no appeal; health and +decency are alike offered up at the shrine of this Moloch. At its +command its votaries melt under fur boas in the dog days, and freeze +with bare necks and arms, in lace dresses and satin shoes, in January. +Then, such is its caprice, that no sooner does a fashion become +general, than, let its merits or beauties be ever so great, it is +changed for one which perhaps has nothing but its novelty to recommend +it. Like the bed of Procrustes, fashions are compelled to suit every +one. The same fashion is adopted by the tall and the short, the stout +and the slender, the old and the young, with what effect we have daily +opportunities of observing. + +Yet, with all its vagaries, fashion is extremely aristocratic in its +tendencies. Every change emanates from the highest circles, who reject +it when it has descended to the vulgar. No new form of dress was ever +successful which did not originate among the aristocracy. From the +ladies of the court, the fashions descend through all the ranks of +society, until they at last die a natural death among the cast-off +clothes of the housemaid. Fig. 35. + +Had the Bloomer costume, which has obtained so much notoriety, been +introduced by a tall and graceful scion of the aristocracy, either of +rank or talent, instead of being at first adopted by the middle ranks, +it might have met with better success. We have seen that Jenny Lind +could introduce a new fashion of wearing the hair, and a new form of +hat or bonnet, and Mme. Sontag a cap which bears her name. But it was +against all precedent to admit and follow a fashion, let its merits be +ever so great, that emanated from the stronghold of democracy. We are +content to adopt the greatest absurdities in dress when they are +brought from Paris, or recommended by a French name; but American +fashions have no chance of success in aristocratic England. It is +beginning at the wrong end. + +The eccentricities of fashion are so great that they would appear +incredible if we had not ocular evidence of their prevalence in +the portraits which still exist. At one period we read of horned +head-dresses, which were so large and high, that it is said the doors +of the palace at Vincennes were obliged to be altered to admit Isabel +of Bavaria (queen of Charles VI. of France) and the ladies of her +suite. In the reign of Edward IV., the ladies' caps were three +quarters of an ell in height, and were covered by pieces of lawn +hanging down to the ground, or stretched over a frame till they +resembled the wings of a butterfly.[1] At another time the ladies' +heads were covered with gold nets, like those worn at the present day. +Then, again, the hair, stiffened with powder and pomatum, and +surmounted by flowers, feathers, and ribbons, was raised on the top +of the head like a tower. Such head-dresses were emphatically called +"_tetes_." (See chapter on Head-Dress.) Fig. 36. But to go back +no farther than the beginning of the present century, where Mr. +Fairholt's interesting work on British Costume terminates, what +changes have we to record! The first fashion we remember was that of +scanty clothing, when slender figures were so much admired, that many, +to whom nature had denied this qualification, left off the under +garments necessary for warmth, and fell victims to the colds and +consumptions induced by their adoption of this senseless practice. To +these succeeded waists so short that the girdles were placed almost +under the arms, and as the dresses were worn at that time indecently +low in the neck, the body of the dress was almost a myth. Fig. 39. + + [1] Mr. Planche has shown, in his "History of British Costume," that + these head-dresses are the prototypes of those still worn by the + women of Normandy. + +About the same time, the sleeves were so short, and the skirts so +curtailed in length, that there was reason to fear that the whole +of the drapery might also become a myth. A partial reaction then +took place, and the skirts were lengthened without increasing the +width of the dresses, the consequence of which was felt in the +country, if not in the towns. Then woe to those who had to cross +a ditch or a stile! One of two things was inevitable; either the +unfortunate lady was thrown to the ground,--and in this case it +was no easy matter to rise again,--or her dress was split up. The +result depended entirely upon the strength of the materials of +which the dress was composed. The next variation, the _gigot_ +sleeves, namely, were a positive deformity, inasmuch as they gave +an unnatural width to the shoulders--a defect which was further +increased by the large collars which fell over them, thus violating +one of the first principles of beauty in the female form, which +demands that this part of the body should be narrow; breadth of +shoulder being one of the distinguishing characteristics of the +stronger sex. We remember to have seen an engraving from a portrait, +by Lawrence, of the late Lady Blessington, in which the breadth of the +shoulders appeared to be at least three quarters of a yard. When a +person of low stature, wearing sleeves of this description, was +covered with one of the long cloaks, which were made wide at the +shoulders to admit the sleeves, and to which was appended a deep and +very full cape, the effect was ridiculous, and the outline of the +whole mass resembled that of a haycock with a head on the top. +Fig. 37. One absurdity generally leads to another; to balance the wide +shoulders, the bonnets and caps were made of enormous dimensions, and +were decorated with a profusion of ribbons and flowers. So absurd was +the whole combination, that, when we meet with a portrait of this +period, we can only look on it in the light of a caricature, and +wonder that such should ever have been so universal as to be adopted +at last by all who wished to avoid singularity. The transition from +the broad shoulders and gigot sleeves to the tight sleeves and +graceful black scarf was quite refreshing to a tasteful eye. These +were a few of the freaks of fashion during the last half century. Had +they been quite harmless, we might have considered them as merely +ridiculous; but some of them were positively indecent, and others +detrimental to health. We grieve especially for the former charge: it +is an anomaly for which, considering the modest habits and education +of our countrywomen, we find it difficult to account. + +It is singular that the practice of wearing dresses cut low round the +bust should be limited to what is called full dress, and to the +higher, and, except in this instance, the more refined classes. Is it +to display a beautiful neck and shoulders? No; for in this case it +would be confined to those who had beautiful necks and shoulders to +display. Is it to obtain the admiration of the other sex? That cannot +be; for we believe that men look upon this exposure with unmitigated +distaste, and that they are inclined to doubt the modesty of those +young ladies who make so profuse a display of their charms. But if +objectionable in the young, whose youth and beauty might possibly be +deemed some extenuation, it is disgusting in those whose bloom is +past, whether their forms are developed with a ripe luxuriance which +makes the female figures of Rubens appear in comparison slender and +refined, or whether the yellow skin, stretched over the wiry sinews of +the neck, remind one of the old women whom some of the Italian masters +were accustomed to introduce into their pieces, to enhance, by +contrast, the beauty of the principal figures. Every period of life +has a style of dress peculiarly appropriate to it, and we maintain +that the uncovered bosom so conspicuous in the dissolute reign of +Charles II., and from which, indeed, the reign of Charles I. was not, +as we learn from the Vandyck portraits, exempt, should be limited, +even in its widest extension, to feminine youth, or rather childhood. + +If the dress be cut low, the bust should be covered after the modest +and becoming fashion of the Italian women, whose highly picturesque +costume painters are so fond of representing. The white drapery has a +peculiarly good effect, placed as it is between the skin and +richly-colored bodice. As examples of this style of dress, we may +refer to Sir Charles Eastlake's "Pilgrims in Sight of Rome," "The +Grape Gatherer of Capri," by Lehmann, and "The Dancing Lesson," by +Mr. Uwins, all of which are engraved in the _Art Journal_. Another +hint may be borrowed from the Italian costume; we may just allude to +it _en passant_. If bodices fitting to the shape must be worn, they +should be laced across the front in the Italian fashion. Fig. 38. By +this contrivance the dress will suit the figure more perfectly, and as +the lace may be lengthened or shortened at pleasure, any degree of +tightness may be given, and the bodice may be accommodated to the +figure without compressing it. We find by the picture in the Louvre +called sometimes "Titian's Mistress" that this costume is at least as +old as Titian. + +We have noticed the changes and transitions of fashion; we must +mention one point in which it has continued constant from the time of +William Rufus until the present day, and which, since it has entailed +years of suffering, and in many instances has caused death, demands +our most serious attention. We allude to the pernicious practice of +tight lacing, which, as appears from contemporary paintings, was as +general on the continent as in England. + +The savage American Indian changes the shape of the soft and elastic +bones of the skull of his infant by compressing it between two boards; +the intelligent but prejudiced Chinese suffers the head to grow as +nature formed it, but confines the foot of the female to the size of +an infant's; while the highly-intellectual and well-informed European +lady limits the growth of her waist by the pressure of the stays. When +we consider the importance of the organs which suffer by these +customs, surely we must acknowledge that the last is the most +barbarous practice of the three. + +We read in the history of France that the war-like Franks had such a +dislike to corpulency that they inflicted a fine upon all who could +not encircle their waists with a band of a certain length. How far +this extraordinary custom may have been influential in introducing the +predilection for small waists among the ladies of that country, as +well as our own through the Norman conquerors, we cannot determine. + +During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the whole of the upper part of +the body, from the waist to the chin, was encased in a cuirass of +whalebone, the rigidity of which rendered easy and graceful movement +impossible. The portrait of Elizabeth by Zucchero, with its stiff +dress and enormous ruff, and which has been so frequently engraved, +must be in the memory of all our readers. Stiffness was indeed the +characteristic of ladies' dress at this period; the whalebone cuirass, +covered with the richest brocaded silks, was united at the waist with +the equally stiff vardingale or fardingale, which descended to the +feet in the form of a large bell, without a single fold. + +There is a portrait in the possession of Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald of the +unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, when quite young, in a dress of this +kind; and one cannot help pitying the poor girl's rigid confinement in +her stiff and uncomfortable dress. Fig. 41 represents Jeanne d'Albret, +the mother of Henry IV., in the fardingale. + + [Illustration: Pl. 3. + + Figure 39. Dress, with short waist and sleeves. + 41. Dress of the mother of Henry IV. + 40. Dress of Henrietta Maria. + 42. From the "Illustrated London News." + ] + +With Henrietta Maria dresses cut low in the front, (Fig. 40,) and +flowing draperies, as we find them in the Vandyck portraits, came +into fashion, but the figure still retained its stiffness around the +waist, and has continued to do so through all the gradations and +variations in shape and size of the hoop petticoat, and the scanty +draperies of a later period, until the present day.[2] + + [2] The fardingale differed from the hoop in the following + particulars: The hoop petticoat was gathered round the waist, while + the fardingale was without a fold of any description. The most + extraordinary instances we remember to have seen of the fardingale, + are in two or three pictures of the Virgin in the Spanish gallery in + the Louvre, where the fardingale in which the Virgin is dressed + takes the form of an enormous mitre. + +If the proportions of the figure were generally understood, we should +not hear of those deplorable, and in many cases fatal, results of +tight lacing which have unfortunately been so numerous. So general has +the pernicious practice been in this country, that a medical friend, +who is professor of anatomy in a provincial academy, informed us that +there was great difficulty in procuring a model whose waist had not +been compressed by stays. That this is true of other localities +besides that alluded to, may be inferred from a passage in Mr. Hay's +lecture to the Society of Arts "On the Geometrical Principles of +Beauty," in which he mentions having, for the purpose of verifying his +theory, employed "an artist who, having studied the human figure at +the life academies on the continent, in London, and in Edinburgh, was +well acquainted with the subject," to make a careful drawing of the +best living model which could be procured for the purpose. Mr. Hay +observes, with reference to this otherwise fine figure, that "the +waist has evidently been compressed by the use of stays." In further +confirmation of the prevalence of this bad habit, we may refer to +Etty's pictures, in which this defect is but too apparent. + +We fear, from Mr. Planche's extracts, that the evil was perpetuated by +the poets and romance writers of the Norman period; and we are sure +that the novelists of our own times have much to answer for on this +score. Had they not been forever praising "taper waists," tight lacing +would have shared the fate of other fashions, and have been banished +from all civilized society. Similar blame does not attach to the +painter and sculptor. The creations of their invention are modelled +upon the true principles of proportion and beauty, and in their works +a small waist and foot are always accompanied by a slender form. In +the mind of the poet and novelist the same associations may take +place: when a writer describes the slender waist or small foot, he +probably sees _mentally_ the whole slender figure. The small waist is +a _proportionate_ part of the figure of his creation. But there is +this difference between the painter and sculptor, and the novelist. +The works of the first two address themselves to the eye, and every +part of the form is present to the spectator; consequently, as regards +form, nothing is left to the imagination. With respect to the poet and +novelist, their creations are almost entirely mental ones; their +descriptions touch upon a few striking points only, and are seldom so +full as to fill up the entire form: much is, therefore, necessarily +left to the imagination of the reader. Now, the fashion in which the +reader will supply the details left undetermined by the poet and +novelist, and fill up their scanty and shadowy outlines, depends +entirely upon his knowledge of form; consequently, if this be small, +the images which arise in the mind of the reader from the perusal of +works of genius are confused and imperfect, and the proportions of one +class of forms are assigned to, or mingled with, those of others, +without the slightest regard to truth and nature. When we say, +therefore, that writers leave much to the imagination, it may too +frequently be understood, to the _ignorance_ of the reader; for the +imaginations of those acquainted with form and proportion, who +generally constitute the minority, always create well-proportioned +ideal forms; while the ideal productions of the uneducated, whether +expressed by the pencil, the chisel, or the pen, are always ill +proportioned and defective. + +The most efficient method of putting an end to the practice of +tight lacing will be, not merely to point out its unhealthiness, +and even dangerous consequences, because these, though imminent, are +uncertain,--every lady who resorts to the practice hoping that she, +individually, may escape the penalty,--but to prove that the practice, +so far from adding to the beauty of the figure, actually deteriorates +it. This is an effect, not doubtful, like the former case, but an +actual and positive fact; and, therefore, it supplies a good and +sufficient reason, and one which the most obtuse intellect can +comprehend, for avoiding the practice. Young ladies will sometimes, it +is said, run the risk of ill health for the sake of the interest that +in some cases attaches to "delicate health;" but is there any one who +would like to be told that, by tight lacing, she makes her figure not +only deformed, but positively ugly? This, however, is the plain +unvarnished truth; and, by asserting it, we are striking at the root +of the evil. The remedy is easy: give to every young lady a general +knowledge of form, and of the principles of beauty as applied to the +human frame, and when these are better understood, and acted on, tight +lacing will die a natural death. + +The study of form, on scientific principles, has hitherto been limited +entirely to men; and if some women have attained this knowledge, it +has been by their own unassisted efforts; that is to say, without the +advantages which men derive from lectures and academical studies. In +this, as in other acquirements, the pursuit of knowledge, as regards +women, is always attended with difficulties. While fully concurring in +the propriety of having separate schools for male and female students, +we do think that a knowledge of form may be communicated to all +persons, and that a young woman will not make the worse wife, or +mother, for understanding the economy of the human frame, and for +having acquired the power of appreciating its beauties. We fear that +there are still some persons whose minds are so contracted as to think +that, not only studies of this nature, but even the contemplation of +undraped statuary, are derogatory to the delicacy and purity of the +female mind; but we are satisfied that the thinking part of the +community will approve the course we recommend. Dr. Southwood Smith, +who is so honorably distinguished by his endeavors to promote the +sanatory condition of the people, strenuously advocates the necessity +of giving to all women a knowledge of the structure and functions of +the body, with a view to the proper discharge of their duties as +mothers. He remarks (Preface to "Philosophy of Health") on this +subject, "I look upon that notion of delicacy which would exclude +women from knowledge calculated in an extraordinary degree to open, +exalt, and purify their minds, and to fit them for the performance of +their duties, as alike degrading to those to whom it affects to show +respect, and debasing to the mind that entertains it." + +At the present time, the knowledge of what constitutes true beauty of +form is, perhaps, best acquired by the contemplation of good pictures +and sculpture. This may not be in the power of every body; casts, +however, may be frequently obtained from the best statues; and many +of the finest works of painting are rendered familiar to us by +engravings. The _Art Journal_ has done much in diffusing a taste for +art, by the engravings it contains from statues, and from the fine +works of English art in the "Vernon Gallery." Engravings, however, can +of course represent a statue in one point of view only; but casts are +now so cheap as to be within the reach of all persons. Small models of +the "Greek Slave" are not unfrequently offered by the Italian image +venders for one shilling; and although these are not sharp enough to +draw from, the form is sufficiently correct to study the general +proportions of the figure; and as this figure is more upright than +statues usually are, it may be found exceedingly useful for the above +purpose. One of these casts, or, if possible, a sharper and better +cast of a female figure, should be found on the _toilette_ of every +young lady who is desirous of obtaining a knowledge of the proportions +and beauties of the figure. + +We believe it will always be found that the beauty of a figure depends +not only upon the symmetry of the parts individually, but upon the +harmony and proportion of each part to the rest. The varieties of the +human form have been classed under the general heads of the broad, the +proportionate, and the slender. + +The first betokens strength; and what beauty soever, of a peculiar +kind, it may display in the figure of the Hercules, it is not adapted +to set off the charms of the female sex. If, however, each individual +part bears a proportionate relation to the whole, the figure will not +be without its attraction. It is only when the proportions of two or +three of the classes are united in one individual, that the figure +becomes ungraceful and remarkable. The athletic--if the term may be +applied to females--form of the country girl would appear ridiculous +with the small waist, and the white and taper fingers, and small feet +of the individuals who come under the denomination of slender forms. +The tall and delicate figure would lose its beauty if united to the +large and broad hands which pertain to the stronger type. A small +waist and foot are as great a blemish to an individual of the broad +variety as a large waist and foot are to the slender. "There is a +harmony," says Dr. Wampen, "between all the parts in each kind of +form, but each integral is only suited to its own kind of form. True +beauty consists not only in the harmony of the elements, but in their +being suitable to the kind of form." Were this fundamental truth but +thoroughly understood, small waists and small feet would be at a +discount. When they are recognized _as small_, they have ceased to be +beautiful, because they are disproportionate. Where every part of a +figure is perfectly proportioned to the rest, no single parts appear +either large or small. + +The ill effects of the stays in a sanatory point of view have been +frequently pointed out, and we hope are now understood. It will, +therefore, be unnecessary to enlarge on this head. We have asserted +that stays are detrimental to beauty of form; we shall now endeavor to +show in what particulars. + + [Illustration: Pl. 4. + + Figures 43, 44. From the plates of Sommaering, shows the waist of the + Venus of antiquity. + 45, 46. The waist of a modern lady, from the above. + 49. From the "London News." + 50. Woman of Mitylene. + 53. Algerine woman. + 54. The archon's wife. + ] + +The natural form of the part of the trunk which forms the waist is not +absolutely cylindrical, but is flattened considerably in front and +back, so that the breadth is much greater from side to side than +from front to back. This was undoubtedly contrived for wise purposes; +yet fashion, with its usual caprice, has interfered with nature, and +by promulgating the pernicious error that a rounded form of the waist +is more beautiful than the flattened form adopted by nature, has +endeavored to effect this change by means of the stays, which force +the lower ribs closer together, and so produce the desired form. +Nothing can be more ungraceful than the sudden diminution in the size +of the waist occasioned by the compression of the ribs, as compared +with the gently undulating line of nature; yet, we are sorry to say, +nothing is more common. A glance at the cuts, Figs. 43, 44, 45, 46, +from the work of Sommaering, will explain our meaning more clearly than +words. Fig. 43 represents the natural waist of the Venus of antiquity; +Fig. 45, that of a lady of the modern period. The diagrams 44 and 46 +show the structure of the ribs of each. + +It will be seen that, by the pressure of the stays, the arch formed by +the lower ribs is entirely closed, and the waist becomes four or five +inches smaller than it was intended by nature. Is it any wonder that +persons so deformed should have bad health, or that they should +produce unhealthy offspring? Is it any wonder that so many young +mothers should have to lament the loss of their first born? We have +frequently traced tight lacing in connection with this sad event, and +we cannot help looking upon it as cause and effect. + +By way of further illustration, we refer our readers to some of the +numerous engravings from statues in the _Art Journal_, which, though +very beautiful, are not distinguished by small waists. We may mention, +as examples, Bailey's "Graces;" Marshall's "Dancing Girl Reposing;" +"The Toilet," by Wickman; "The Bavaria," by Schwanthaler; and "The +Psyche," by Theed. + +There is another effect produced by tight lacing, which is too +ungraceful in its results to be overlooked, namely, that a pressure on +one part is frequently, from the elasticity of the figure, compensated +by an enlargement in another part. It has been frequently urged by +inconsiderate persons, that, where there is a tendency to corpulency, +stays are necessary to limit exuberant growth, and confine the form +within the limits of gentility. We believe that this is entirely a +mistake, and that, if the waist be compressed, greater fulness will be +perceptible both above and below, just as, when one ties a string +tight round the middle of a pillow, it is rendered fuller at each end. +With reference to the waist, as to every thing else, the _juste +milieu_ is literally the thing to be desired. + +It has been already observed, that a small waist is beautiful only +when it is accompanied by a slender and small figure; but, as the part +of the trunk, immediately beneath the arms, is filled with powerful +muscles, these, when developed by exercise, impart a breadth to this +part of the figure which, by comparison, causes the waist to appear +small. A familiar example of this, in the male figure, presents itself +in the Hercules, the waist of which appears disproportionately small; +yet it is really of the normal size, its apparent smallness being +occasioned by the prodigious development of the muscles of the upper +part of the body. + +The true way of diminishing the apparent size of the waist, is, as we +have remarked above, by increasing the power of the muscles of the +upper part of the frame. This can only be done by exercise; and as +the habits of society, as now constituted, preclude the employment +of young ladies in household duties, they are obliged to find a +substitute for this healthy exertion in calisthenics. There was a time +when even the queens of Spain did not disdain to employ their royal +hands in making sausages; and to such perfection was this culinary +accomplishment carried at one period, that it is upon record that the +Emperor Charles V., after his retirement from the cares and dignities +of the empire, longed for sausages "of the kind which Queen Juana, now +in glory, used to pride herself in making in the Flemish fashion." +(See Mr. Stirling's "Cloister Life of Charles V.") This is really like +going back to the old times, when-- + + "The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts." + +In England, some fifty years ago, the young ladies of the ancient city +of Norwich were not considered to have completed their education, +until they had spent some months under the tuition of the first +confectioner in the city, in learning to make cakes and pastry--an art +which they afterwards continued when they possessed houses of their +own. This wholesome discipline of beating eggs and whipping creams, +kneading biscuits and gingerbread, was calculated to preserve their +health, and afford sufficient exercise to the muscles of the arms and +shoulders, without having recourse to artificial modes of exertion. + +It does not appear that the ancients set the same value upon a small +waist as the moderns; for, in their draped female figures, the whole +circuit of the waist is seldom visible, some folds of the drapery +being suffered to fall over a part, thus leaving its exact extent to +the imagination. The same remark is applicable to the great Italian +painters, who seldom marked the whole contour of the waist, unless +when painting portraits, in which case the costume was of course +observed. + +It was not so, however, with the shoulders, the true width of which +was always seen; and how voluminous soever the folds of the drapery +around the body, it was never arranged so as to add to the width of +the shoulders. Narrow shoulders and broad hips are esteemed beauties +in the female figure, while in the male figure the broad shoulders and +narrow hips are most admired. + + [Illustration: Pl. 5. + + Figure 47. Athenian peasant. + 48. Shepherdess of Arcadia. + 51. Athenian woman. + 52. French costume of the tenth century. + 62. Lady of the time of Henry V. + ] + +The costume of the modern Greeks is frequently very graceful, (Fig. 47, +peasant from the environs of Athens,) and it adapts itself well +to the figure, the movements of which it does not restrain. The +prevailing characteristics of the costume are a long robe, reaching to +the ground, with full sleeves, very wide at the bands. This dress is +frequently embroidered with a graceful pattern round the skirt and +sleeves. Over it is worn a pelisse, which reaches only to the knees, +and is open in front; either without any sleeves, or with tight ones, +finishing at the elbows; beneath which are seen the full sleeves of +the long robe. The drapery over the bust is full, and is sometimes +confined at the waist by a belt; at others it is suffered to hang +loosely until it meets the broad, sash-like girdle which encircles the +hips, and which hangs so loosely that the hands are rested in its +folds as in a pocket. + +The drapery generally terminates at the throat, under a necklace of +coins or jewels. The most usual form of head-dress is a veil so +voluminous as to cover the head and shoulders; one end of the veil is +frequently thrown over the shoulder, or gathered into a knot behind. +The shoes, apparently worn only for walking, consist generally of a +very thick sole, with a cap over the toes. + +One glance at the graceful figures in the plates is sufficient to +show how unnecessary stays are to the beauty of the figure. Fig. 48, +Shepherdess of Arcadia. + +The modern Greek costumes which we have selected for our +illustrations, from the beautiful work of M. de Stackelberg, +("Costumes et Peuples de la Grece Moderne," published at Rome, +1825,) suggest several points for consideration, and some for our +imitation. The dress is long and flowing, and high in the neck. It +does not add to the width of the shoulders; it conceals the exact +size of the waist by the loose pelisse, which is open in front; it +falls in a graceful and flowing line from the arm-pits, narrowing +a little at the waist, and spreading gently over the hips, when +the skirt falls by its own weight into large folds, instead of +curving suddenly from an unnaturally small waist over a hideous +bustle, and increasing in size downward to the hem of the dress, +like a bell, as in the present English costume. + +Figs. 42 and 49 are selected from the "Illustrated London News." +(Volume for 1851, July to December, pp. 20 and 117.) The one +represents out-door costume, the other in-door. Many such are +scattered through the pages of our amusing and valuable contemporary. +For the out-door costume we beg to refer our readers to the large +woodcut in the same volume, (pp. 424, 425.) If a traveller from a +distant country, unacquainted with the English and French fashions, +were to contemplate this cut, he would be puzzled to account for the +remarkable shape of the ladies, who all, more or less, resemble the +figure we have selected for our illustration; and, if he is any thing +of a naturalist, he will set them down in his own mind as belonging to +a new species of the genus _homo_. Looking at this and other prints of +the day, we should think that the artists intended to convey a satire +on the ladies' dress, if we did not frequently meet with such figures +in real life. + +The lady in the evening dress (Fig. 49) is from a large woodcut in the +same journal representing a ball. This costume, with much pretension +to elegance, exhibits most of the faults of the modern style of dress. +It combines the indecently low dress, with the pinched waist, and the +hoop petticoat. In the figure of the woman of Mitylene, (Fig. 50,) the +true form and width of the shoulders are apparent, and the form of the +bust is indicated, but not exposed, through the loosely fitting +drapery which covers it. In the figure of the Athenian peasant, +(Fig. 47,). the loose drapery over the bust is confined at the waist +by a broad band, while the hips are encircled by the sash-like girdle +in which the figure rests her hands. The skirt of the pelisse appears +double, and the short sleeve, embroidered at the edge, shows the full +sleeve of the under drapery, also richly embroidered. In the second +figure from the environs of Athens, (Fig. 51,) we observe that the +skirt of the pelisse, instead of being set on in gathers or plaits, as +our dresses are, is "gored," or sloped away at the top, where it +unites almost imperceptibly with the body, giving rise to undulating +lines, instead of sudden transitions and curves. In the cut of the +Arcadian peasant, (Fig. 48,) the pelisse is shortened almost to a +spencer, or _cote hardie_, and it wants the graceful flow of the +longer skirt, for which the closely fitting embroidered apron is no +compensation. This figure is useful in showing that tight bodies may +be fitted to the figure without stays. The heavy rolled girdle on the +hips is no improvement. The dress of the Algerine woman, (Fig. 53,) +copied from the "Illustrated London News," bears a strong resemblance +to the Greek costume, and is very graceful. It is not deformed either +by the pinched waist or the stays. In the tenth century, the French +costume (Fig. 52) somewhat resembled that of the modern Greeks; the +former, however, had not the short pelisse, but, in its place, the +ladies wore a long veil, which covered the head, and reached nearly to +the feet. + +The Greek and Oriental costume has always been a favorite with +painters: the "Vernon Gallery" furnishes us with two illustrations; +and the excellent engravings of these subjects in the _Art Journal_ +enable us to compare the costumes of the two figures while at a +distance from the originals. The graceful figure of "The Greek Girl," +(engraved in the _Art Journal_ for 1850,) painted by Sir Charles +Eastlake, is not compressed by stays, but is easy and natural. The +white under-drapery is confined at the waist, which is short, by a +broad girdle, which appears to encircle it more than once, and adds to +the apparent length of the waist; the open jacket, without a collar, +falls gracefully from the shoulders, and conceals the limits of the +waist; every thing is easy, natural, and graceful. M. De Stackelberg's +beautiful figure of the "Archon's Wife" (Fig. 54) shows the district +whence Sir C. Eastlake drew his model. There is the same flowing +hair,--from which hang carnations, as in the picture in the "Vernon +Gallery,"--the same cap, the same necklace. But in the baron's figure, +we find the waist encircled with a broad band, six or seven inches in +width, while the lady rests her hand on the sash-like girdle, which +falls round the hips. + +Turn we now to Pickersgill's "Syrian Maid," (engraved in the _Art +Journal_ for 1850:) here, we see, the artist has taken a painter's +license, and represented the fair Oriental in stays, which, we +believe, are happily unknown in the East. How stiff and constrained +does this figure appear, after looking at Sir C. Eastlake's beautiful +"Greek Girl;" how unnatural the form of the chest! The limits of the +waist are not visible, it is true, in the "Syrian Maid," but the +shadow is so arranged, that the rounded form, to which we have before +alluded, and which fashion deems necessary, is plainly perceptible; +and an impression is made that the waist is small and pinched. + +We could mention some cases in which the girdle is omitted altogether, +without any detriment to the gracefulness of the figure. Such dresses, +however, though illustrative of the principle, are not adapted to the +costume of real life. In sculpture, however, they frequently occur. +We may mention Gibson's statue of her majesty, the female figure +in M'Dougall's "Triumph of Love," and "Penelope," by Wyatt, which +are engraved in the _Art Journal_, (the first in the year 1846, the +others in 1849.) But the drapery of statues can, however, scarcely +be taken as a precedent for that of the living subject, and although +we mention that the girdle is sometimes dispensed with, we are far +from advocating this in practice; nay, we consider the sash or girdle +is indispensable; all that we stipulate for is, that it should not be +so tight as to compress the figure, or impede circulation. + +In concluding our remarks on this subject, we would observe, that the +best means of improving the figure are to secure freedom of motion by +the use of light and roomy clothing, and to strengthen the muscles by +exercise. We may also observe, that singing is not only beneficial to +the lungs, but that it strengthens the muscles, and increases the size +of the chest, and, consequently, makes the waist appear smaller. +Singing, and other suitable exercises in which both arms are used +equally, will improve the figure more than all the backboards in the +world. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE HEAD. + + +There is no part of the body which has been more exposed to the +vicissitudes of fashion than the head, both as regards its natural +covering of hair, and the artificial covering of caps and bonnets. At +one time, we read of sprinkling the hair with gold dust; at another +time, the bright brown hair, of the color of the horse-chestnut, so +common in Italian pictures, was the fashion. This color, as well as +that beautiful light golden tint sometimes seen in Italian pictures +of the same period, was frequently the result of art, and receipts +for producing both tints are still to be found in old books of +"_secreti_." Both these were in their turn discarded, and after a +time the real color of the hair was lost in powder and pomatum. The +improving taste of the present generation is, perhaps, nowhere more +conspicuous than in permitting us to preserve the natural color of +the hair, and to wear our own, whether it be black, brown, or gray. +There is also a marked improvement in the more natural way in which +the hair has been arranged during the last thirty years. We allude, +particularly, to its being suffered to retain the direction intended +by nature, instead of being combed upright, and turned over a cushion +a foot or two in height. + +These head-dresses, emphatically called, from their French origin, +_tetes_, were built or plastered up only once a month: it is easy to +imagine what a state they must have been in during the latter part +of the time. Madame D'Oberkirch gives, in her Memoirs, an amusing +description of a novel head-dress of this kind. We transcribe it for +the amusement of our readers. + +"This blessed 6th of June she awakened me at the earliest dawn. I +was to get my hair dressed, and make a grand _toilette_, in order +to go to Versailles, whither the queen had invited the Countess du +Nord, for whose amusement a comedy was to be performed. These Court +_toilettes_ are never-ending, and this road from Paris to Versailles +very fatiguing, especially where one is in continual fear of rumpling +her petticoats and flounces. I tried that day, for the first time, a +new fashion--one, too, which was not a little _genante_. I wore in my +hair little flat bottles, shaped to the curvature of the head; into +these a little water was poured, for the purpose of preserving the +freshness of the natural flowers worn in the hair, and of which the +stems were immersed in the liquid. This did not always succeed, but +when it did, the effect was charming. _Nothing could be more lovely +than the floral wreath crowning the snowy pyramid of powdered hair!_" +Few of our readers, we reckon, are inclined to participate in the +admiration of the baroness, so fancifully expressed, for this singular +head-dress. + +We do not presume to enter into the question whether short curls are +more becoming than long ones, or whether bands are preferable to curls +of any kind; because, as the hair of some persons curls naturally, +while that of others is quite straight, we consider that this is one +of the points which must be decided accordingly as one style or the +other is found to be most suitable to the individual. The principle in +the arrangement of the hair round the forehead should be to preserve +or assist the oval form of the face: as this differs in different +individuals, the treatment should be adapted accordingly. + +The arrangement of the long hair at the back of the head is a matter +of taste; as it interferes but little with the countenance, it may be +referred to the dictates of fashion; although in this, as in every +thing else, simplicity in the arrangement, and grace in the direction +of the lines, are the chief points to be considered. One of the most +elegant head-dresses we remember to have seen, is that worn by the +peasants of the Milanese and Ticinese. They have almost uniformly +glossy, black hair, which is carried round the back of the head in a +wide braid, in which are placed, at regular intervals, long silver +pins, with large heads, which produce the effect of a coronet, and +contrast well with the dark color of the hair. + + [Illustration: Pl. 6. + + Figure 55. After Parmegiano. + 56. Titian's daughter. + 57. Lady Harrington. + 59. Roman peasant. + 61. Gigot sleeves. + ] + +The examples afforded by modern sculpture are not very instructive, +inasmuch as the features selected by the sculptors are almost +exclusively Greek, whereas the variety in nature is infinite. With the +Greek features has also been adopted the antique style of arranging +the hair, which is beautifully simple; that is to say, it is parted in +the front, and falling down towards each temple, while the long ends +rolled lightly back from the face so as to show the line which +separates the hair from the forehead, or rather where it seems, as it +were, to blend with the flesh tints--an arrangement which assists in +preserving the oval contour of the face, are passed over the top of +the ear, and looped into the fillet which binds the head. The very +becoming arrangement of the hair in the engraving, from a portrait by +Parmegianino, (Fig. 55,) is an adaptation of the antique style, and is +remarkable for its simplicity and grace. Not less graceful, although +more ornamental, is the arrangement of the hair in the beautiful +figure called "Titian's Daughter." Fig. 56. In both these instances, +we observe the line--if line it may be called--where the color of the +hair blends so harmoniously with the delicate tints of the forehead. +The same arrangement of the hair round the face may be traced in the +pictures by Murillo, and other great masters. + +Sir Joshua Reynolds has frequently evinced consummate skill in the +arrangement of the hair, so as to show the line which divides it from +the forehead. For some interesting remarks on this subject, we refer +our readers to an "Essay on Dress," republished by Mr. Murray from the +"Quarterly Review." Nothing can be more graceful than Sir Joshua's +mode of disposing of the hair when he was able to follow the dictates +of his own good taste; and he deserves great credit for the skill with +which he frequently treated the enormous head-dresses which in his +time disfigured the heads of our countrywomen. The charming figure +of Lady Harrington (Fig. 57) would have been perfect without the +superstructure on her beautiful head. How stiff is the head-dress of +the next figure, (Fig. 58,) also, after Sir Joshua, when compared with +the preceding. + +The graceful Spanish mantilla, to which we can only allude, is too +elegant to be overlooked: the modification of it, which of late years +has been introduced into this country, is to be considered rather as +an ornament than as a head-covering. It has been recently superseded +by the long bows of ribbon worn at the back of the head--a costume +borrowed from the Roman peasants. Fig. 59. The fashion for young +people to cover the hair with a silken net, which, some centuries ago, +was prevalent both in England and in France, has been again revived. +Some of the more recent of these nets are very elegant in form. + +The hats and bonnets have, during the last few years, been so moderate +in size, and generally so graceful in form, that we will not criticize +them more particularly. It will be sufficient to observe that, let the +brim be what shape it will, the crown should be nearly of the form +and size of the head. If this principle were always kept in view, as +it should be, we should never again see the monster hats and bonnets +which, some years ago, and even in the memory of persons now living, +caricatured the lovely forms of our countrywomen. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE DRESS. + + +We shall consider the dress, by which we mean, simply, the upper +garment worn within doors, as consisting of three parts--the sleeve, +the body, and the skirt. + +The sleeve has changed its form as frequently as any part of our +habiliments: sometimes it reached to the wrist, sometimes to a short +distance below the shoulder. Sometimes it was tight to the arm; +sometimes it fell in voluminous folds to the hands; now it was widest +at the top, then widest at the bottom. To large sleeves themselves +there is no objection, in a pictorial point of view, provided that +their point of junction with the shoulder is so conspicuous that they +do not add to the apparent width of the body in this part. The lines +of the sleeves should be flowing; and they are much more graceful when +they are widest in the lower part, especially when so open as to +display to advantage the beautiful form of the wrist and fore-arm. In +this way, they partake of the pyramid, while the inelegant gigot +sleeve, which for so long a period enjoyed the favor of the ladies, +presents the form of a cone reverted, and is obviously out of place in +the human figure. When the large sleeve, supported by canes or +whalebones, forms a continuous line with the shoulder, it gives +an unnatural width to this part of the figure--an effect that is +increased by the large collar which conceals the point where the +sleeve meets the dress. Examples of the large, open sleeve, in its +extreme character, may be studied with most advantage in the portraits +of Vandyck. Fig. 60, Lady Lucy Percy, after Vandyck. The effect of +these sleeves is frequently improved by their being lined with a +different color, and sometimes by contrasting the rich silk of the +outer sleeve with the thin gauze or lace which forms the immediate +covering of the arm. The figures in the plates will show the +comparative gracefulness of two kinds of large sleeves, namely, +that which is widest at the top, and that which is widest below. +If the outline of the central figure of our more modern group, +(Fig. 61,)--consisting of three figures, which is copied from a French +work,--were filled up with black, a person ignorant of the fashion +might, from the great width of the shoulders, have mistaken it for the +Farnese Hercules in petticoats. + +The large sleeves, tight in the upper part, and enlarging gradually to +the wrist, which are worn by the modern Greeks, are extremely +graceful. When these are confined below the elbow, which is sometimes +done for convenience, they resemble somewhat the elbow sleeves with +wide ruffles which were so common in the time of Sir Joshua Reynolds. +Sleeves like those now worn in Greece were fashionable in France in +the tenth century, and again about the beginning of the sixteenth +century. They were also worn by Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of Henry +IV., and are seen in Fig. 41. + +A very elegant sleeve, fitting nearly close at the shoulder, and +becoming very full and long till it falls in graceful folds almost +to the feet, prevailed in England during the time of Henry V. and +VI. Fig. 62, copied from a manuscript of the time of Henry V., now +preserved in the British Museum. On the authority of Professor +Heideloff, it is said to have existed also in Flanders in the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and in France in the fifteenth +century. In the examples of continental costume, the _tout ensemble_ +is graceful, and especially the head-dress; while in England the +elegant sleeve is accompanied with very short waists, and with the +hideous, horned head-dresses then fashionable. The effect of these +sleeves much resembles that of the mantles of the present day, and +from its wide flow is only adapted for full dress, or out-of-door +costume. The sleeves worn under these full ones were generally tight. +At a much later period, the large sleeves were made of more moderate +dimensions, both in length and width, and a full sleeve of fine lawn +or muslin, fastened at the wrist with a band, and edged with a lace +ruffle, was worn beneath. This kind of sleeve has recently been again +introduced into England, but has given place to another form, in which +the under sleeve of lace or muslin, being of the same size as the +upper, suffers the lower part of the arm to be visible. The effect of +this sleeve, which is certainly becoming to a finely-formed arm, is +analogous to that of the elbow sleeve, which, with its deep ruffles of +point lace, is frequent on the portraits of Sir Joshua Reynolds. + + [Illustration: Pl. 7. + + Figure 63. From Bonnard's Costumes. + 64. Sancta Victoria. + 65. Anne, Countess of Chesterfield, from Vandyck. + 67. Woman of Markinitza. + ] + +The slashed sleeve, criticized by Shakspeare in the "Taming of the +Shrew," was sometimes very elegant. The form in which it appears in +Fig. 63, worn in the fifteenth century, is particularly graceful. Not +so, however, the lower part of the sleeve. + +In the preceding remarks, we have considered the sleeve merely in a +picturesque point of view, without reference to its convenience or +inconvenience. + +The length of the waist has always been a matter of caprice. Sometimes +the girdle was placed nearly under the arms; sometimes it passed +to the opposite extreme, and was suffered to fall upon the hips. +Sometimes it was drawn tightly round the middle, when it seemed to cut +the body almost in two, like an hourglass. Judging from what we see, +we should say that this is a feat which many ladies of the present +time are endeavoring to achieve. The first and third cases are almost +equally objectionable, because they distort the figure. The hip +girdle, which is common in Greece (as shown in Figs. 48 and 53) +and Oriental countries, prevailed also in England and France some +centuries ago. The miniatures of old manuscripts furnish us with +examples of long-waisted dresses fitting closely to the person, +sometimes stiffened like the modern stays, at others yielding to the +figure. The waist of this kind of dress reached to the hips, where it +was joined to the full petticoat, which was gathered round the top--an +extremely ungraceful fashion. The hip girdle, properly used, is, +however, by no means inelegant. It is not at all necessary that it +should coincide with the waist of the dress; it should be merely +looped or clasped loosely round the figure, and suffered to fall to +its place by its own weight. But to enable it to do so in a graceful +manner, it is essential that the skirt of the dress should be so +united with the body as to produce no harsh lines of separation, or +sudden changes of curvature; as, for example, when the skirt is set on +in full plaits, or gathers, and spread over a hoop. We have before +noticed, that this point was attended to by Rubens, (Fig. 66,) by +Vandyck, (Fig. 65,) by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and by the modern Greeks. +We refer also to the elegant figure 64. The most natural situation for +the girdle, or point of junction of the body with the skirt, is +somewhere between the end of the breast bone and the last rib, as seen +in front--a space of about three or four inches. Fashion may dictate +the exact spot, but within this space it cannot be positively wrong. +The effect is good when the whole space is filled with a wide sash +folded round the waist, as in Sir C. Eastlake's "Greek Girl," or some +of the graceful portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds. How much more +elegant is a sash of this description than the stiff line which +characterizes the upper part of the dress of "Sancta Victoria." +(Fig. 64.) The whalebone, or busk, is absolutely necessary to keep the +dress in its proper place. The resemblance in form between the body of +the dress of this figure and those now or recently in fashion cannot +fail to arrest the attention of the reader. Stiff, though, as it +undoubtedly is, the whole dress is superior to the modern in the +general flow of the lines uniting the body and skirt. Long skirts are +more graceful than short ones, and a train of moderate length adds to +the elegance of a dress, but not to its convenience. Long dresses, +also, add to the apparent height of a figure, and for this reason they +are well adapted to short persons. For the same reason, waists of +moderate length are more generally becoming than those that are very +long, because the latter, by shortening the skirt of the dress, +diminish the apparent height. + +Besides the variation in length, the skirts of dresses have passed +through every gradation of fulness. At one time, it was the fashion +to slope gradually from the waist, without gathers or plaits; then a +little fulness was admitted at the back; then a little at the front, +also. The next step was to carry the fulness all round the waist. In +the graceful costume of the time of Vandyck, and even in the more +stiff and formal dress delineated in the pictures of Rubens, the skirt +was united to the body by large, flat plaits, when the fulness +expanded gradually and gracefully, and the rich material of the dress +spread in well-arranged folds to the feet. The lines were gently +undulating and graceful, and that unnatural and clumsy contrivance +called a "bustle"--a near relation of the hoop and fardingale--was at +that time happily unknown. This principle of uniting the skirt +gradually with the body of the dress is carried out to the fullest +extent by the modern Greeks. In the figure of the peasant from the +neighborhood of Athens, (Fig. 47,) the pelisse is made without gathers +or plaits: the skirt, which hangs full round the knees, is "gored" or +sloped away till it fits the body at the waist. The long underskirt +is, as we find from the figure of the woman of Makrinitza, (Fig. 67,) +gathered several times, so as to lie flat to the figure, instead of +being spread over the inelegant "bustle." It is only necessary to +compare these graceful figures, in which due regard has been paid to +the undulating lines of the figure, with a fashionable lady of the +present day, whose "polka jacket," or whatever may be the name of this +article of dress, is cut with violent and deep curves, to enable it to +spread itself over the bustle and prominent folds of the dress. + + [Illustration: Pl. 8. + + Figure 60. Lady Lucy Percy, from Vandyck. + 69, 70. By Jules David, in "Le Moniteur de la Mode." + 68. The hoop, after Hogarth. + ] + +Not satisfied with the bustle in the upper part of the skirt, some +ladies of the present day have returned to the old practice of wearing +hoops, to make the dresses stand out at the base. These are easily +recognized in the street by the "swagging"--no other term will exactly +convey the idea--from side to side of the hoops, an effect which is +distinctly visible as the wearer walks along. It is difficult to +imagine what there is so attractive in the fardingale and hoop, +that they should have prevailed, in some form or other, for so many +years, and that they should have maintained their ground in spite of +the cutting, though playful, raillery of the "Spectator," and the +jeers and caricatures of less refined censors of the eccentricities +of dress. They were not recommended either by beauty of line or +convenience, but by the tyrant Fashion, and we owe some gratitude to +George IV., who banished the last relics of this singular fashion from +the court dress, of which, until his time, it continued to form a +part. Who could imagine that there would be an attempt to revive the +hoop petticoat in the nineteenth century? We invite our readers to +contrast the lines of the drapery in the figures after Vandyck, +(Figs. 60 and 61,) and those in the modern Greek costume, (Figs. 51 +and 54,) with that of a lady in a hoop, after a satirical painter, +Hogarth, (Fig. 68,) and two figures from a design by Jules David, in +"Le Moniteur de la Mode," a modern fashionable authority in dress. +(Figs. 69 and 70.) There can be no doubt which is the most graceful. +The width of the shoulders and the tight waist of the latter, will not +escape the notice of our readers. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE FEET. + + +The same bad taste which insists upon a small waist, let the height +and proportions of the figure be what they will, decrees that a small +foot is essential to beauty. + +Size is considered of more importance than form; and justly so if it +is a _sine qua non_ that the foot must be small, because the efforts +that are made to diminish its size generally render it deformed. We +have before mentioned that to endeavor to diminish the size of the +human body in a particular part, is like tying a string round the +middle of a pillow; it only makes it larger at the extremities. It +is so with the waist, it is so with the foot. If it be crippled in +length, or in width across the toes, it spreads over the instep and +sides. The Italians and other nations of the south of Europe have +smaller hands and feet than the Anglo-Saxons; and as this fact is +generally known, it is astonishing that people of sense should persist +in crippling themselves merely for the reputation of having small +feet. Here again we have to complain of poets and romance writers; +ladies would not have pinched their feet into small shoes, if these +worthies had not sung the praises of "tiny feet." + + "Her feet, beneath her petticoat, + Like little mice, stole in and out, + As if they feared the light." + +Nor are painters--portrait painters, we mean, and living ones too--it +is needless however, to mention names--entirely free from blame for +thus ministering to vanity and false taste. They have sacrificed truth +to fashion in painting the feet smaller than they could possibly be in +nature. + +But it is not only with the endeavor to cripple their dimensions that +we are inclined to quarrel. We object _in toto_ to the shape of the +shoe, which bears but little resemblance to that of the foot. We have +heard persons say that they could never see any beauty in a foot. No +wonder, when they saw none but those that were deformed by corns and +bunions. How unlike is such a foot to the beautiful little--for little +it really is in this case--fat foot of a child, before its beauty has +been spoiled by shoes, or even to those of the barefooted children one +sees so frequently in the street. Were it not for these opportunities +of seeing nature we, in this country, should have but little idea of +the true shape of the human foot, except what we learn from statues. +According to a recent traveller, we must go to Egypt to see beautiful +feet. It is impossible, he says, to see any thing more exquisite than +the feet and hands of the female peasants. The same beauty is +conspicuous in the Hindoo women. + +Let us compare now the shape of the foot with that of the sole of a +shoe. When the foot is placed on the ground, the toes spread out, the +great toe is in a straight line with the inner side of the foot, and +there is an opening between this and the second toe. The ancients +availed themselves of this opening to pass through it one of the +straps that suspended the sandal. + +The moderns on the contrary press the toes closely together, in order +to confine them within the limits of the shoe; the consequence is, +that the end of the great toe is pressed towards the others, and out +of the straight line, the joint becomes enlarged, and thus the +foundation is laid for a bunion; while the toes, forced one upon +another, become distorted and covered with corns. + +One of the consequences of this imprisonment of our toes is, that, +from being squeezed so closely together, they become useless. Let any +one try the experiment of walking barefooted across the room, and +while so doing look at the foot. The toes, when unfettered by the +shoes, spread out and divide from one another, and the body rests on a +wider and firmer base. We begin to find we have some movement in our +toes; yet, how feeble is their muscular power, compared with that of +persons who are unaccustomed to the use of shoes! + +The Hindoo uses his toes in weaving; the Australian savage is as +handy (if the term can be applied to feet) with this member, as +another man is with his hands; it is the unsuspected instrument with +which he executes his thefts. The country boy, who runs over the roof +of a house like a cat, takes off his shoes before he attempts the +hazardous experiment; he has a surer hold with his foot on the smooth +slates and sloping roof. The exercise of the muscles of the foot has +the effect of increasing the power of those of the calf of the leg; +and the thinner the sole, and the more pliant the materials of which +the shoe is made, the more the power is developed. + +Dancing masters, who habitually wear thin shoes, have the muscles of +the leg well developed, while ploughmen, who wear shoes with soles an +inch thick, have very little calf to their leg. The French sabot is, +we consider, better than the closely fitting shoe of our country +people; because it is so large, that it requires some muscular +exertion to keep it in its place. We have frequently seen French boys +running in sabots, the foot rising at every step almost out of the +unyielding wooden shoe. Wooden clogs and pattens are as bad as the +thick shoes of the country people. When clogs are necessary, the sole +should be made of materials which will yield to the motion of the +foot. The American Indian's moccasins are a much better covering for +the foot than our shoes. + +If thick soles are objectionable by impeding the free movement of the +limb, what shall we say to the high heel which was once so popular, +and which threatens again to come into fashion? It is to be hoped, +however, when the effects of wearing high heels are duly considered, +that this pernicious custom will not make progress. It is well for +their poor unfortunate votaries, that the introduction of certain +fashions is gradual; that both mind and body--perhaps we should be +more correct in saying the person of the wearer and the eye of the +spectator--are, step by step, prepared for the extreme point which +certain fashions attain; they have their rise, their culminating +point, and their decline. The attempt to exchange the short waists, +worn some thirty or forty years ago, for the very long waists seen +during the past year, would have been unsuccessful; the transition +would have been too great--too violent; the change was effected, but +it was the work of many years. The same thing took place with regard +to the high head-dresses which were so deservedly ridiculed by +Addison, and in an equally marked degree with respect to high heels. +The shoes in the cut, after Gainsborough, (Fig. 71,) are fair +specimens of what were in fashion in his time. Let the reader compare +the line of the sole with that of the human foot placed, as nature +intended it, flat on the ground. The heel was in some cases four and a +half inches high; the line, therefore, must have been in this case, a +highly inclined plane, undulating in its surface, like the "line of +beauty" of Hogarth. The position of the foot is that of a dancer +resting on the toes, excepting that the heel is supported, and the +strain over the instep and contraction of the muscles of the back of +the leg and heel must be considerable; so much so we are told, that +the contraction of the latter becomes habitual; consequently, those +persons who have accustomed themselves to the use of high heels, are +never afterwards able to do without them. It is said that "pride never +feels pain;" we should think the proverb was made for those who wear +high heels, for we are told, although we cannot speak from personal +experience, that the pain on first wearing shoes of this kind, in +which the whole weight of the body seems to thrust the toes forward +into the shoe, is excruciating; nothing but fashion could reconcile +one to such voluntary suffering. The peas in the shoes of the pilgrims +could scarcely be more painful. + + [Illustration: Pl. 9. + + Figure 66. From Rubens's "Descent from the Cross." + 71. From a drawing by Gainsborough. + 72. Woman of Myconia. + 74. Queen Anne. + ] + +It was with some surprise that we found among M. Stackelberg's +graceful costumes of modern Greece a pair of high-heeled shoes, +(Fig. 72,) which might rival in ugliness and inconvenience any +of those worn in England. + +We have known an instance where the lady's heels were never less than +an inch and a half high. We were sorry to observe some of these +high-heeled shoes in the great exhibition, and still more so, to see +that shoes with heels an inch high are likely to be fashionable +this season. Could we look forward to this height as the limit of the +fashion, we might reconcile ourselves to it for a time; but, judging +from past experience, there is reason to fear that the heel will +become continually higher, until it attains the elevation of former +years. Not content with imprisoning our feet in tight shoes, and +thereby distorting their form and weakening their muscular power, we +are guilty of another violence towards nature. Nature has made our +toes to turn inwards; when man is left to himself the toes naturally +take this direction, though in a much less degree than in the infant. +The American Indian will trace a European by his footprints, which he +detects by the turning out of the toes; a lesson we are taught in our +childhood, and especially by our dancing master. Sir Joshua Reynolds +used to say, "The gestures of children, being all dictated by nature, +are graceful; affectation and distortion come in with the dancing +master." Now, observe the consequence of turning out the toes. The +inner ankle is bent downwards towards the ground, and the knees are +drawn inwards, producing the deformity called knock-kneed; thus the +whole limb is distorted, and consequently weakened; there is always a +want of muscular power in the legs of those who turn their toes very +much outwards. It must be remarked, however, that women, from the +greater breadth of the frame at the hips, naturally turn the toes +out more than men. In this point also, statues may be studied with +advantage. Where form only is considered, it is generally safer to +refer to examples of sculpture than painting; because in the latter, +the artist is apt to lose sight of this primary object in his +attention to color and form; besides, it is the sculptor only, who +makes an exact image of a figure which is equally perfect, seen from +all points of view. The painter makes only a pictorial or perspective +representation of nature, as seen from one point of view only. + +What pains we take to distort and disfigure the beautiful form that +nature has bestowed upon the human race! Now building a tower on the +head, then raising the heel at the expense of the toe; at one time +confining the body in a case of whalebone, and compressing it at the +waist like an hour glass; at another, surrounding it with the enormous +and ungraceful hoop, till the outline of the figure is so altered, +that a person can scarcely recognize her own shadow as that of a human +being. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +REMARKS ON PARTICULAR COSTUMES. + + +We must now offer a few brief remarks upon certain costumes which +appear to us most worthy of our attention and study, for their general +elegance and adaptation to the figure. + +Of the modern Greek we have already spoken. The style of dress which +has been immortalized by the pencil of Vandyck is considered among the +most elegant that has ever prevailed in this country. It is not, +however, faultless. The row of small curls around the face, however +becoming to some persons, is somewhat formal; and although the general +arrangement of the hair, which preserves the natural size and shape of +the head, is more graceful than that of the time of Sir Joshua +Reynolds, we think it would have been more pleasing had it left +visible the line which divides the hair from the forehead. With +regard to the dress itself, it is apparent, in the first place, that +the figures are spoiled by stays; secondly, that the dress is cut too +low in front; and thirdly, that the large sleeves sometimes give too +great width in front to the shoulders. These defects are, in some +degree, counterbalanced by the graceful flow of the ample drapery, and +of the large sleeves, which are frequently widest at their lower part, +and by the gently undulating line which unites the waist of the dress +with the skirt. The Vandyck dress, with its voluminous folds, is, +however, more appropriate to the inhabitants of palaces, than to the +ordinary occupants of this working-day world. The drapery is too wide +and flowing for convenience. The annexed cut, (Fig. 73,) representing +Charlotte de la Tremouille, the celebrated Countess of Derby, exhibits +some of the defects and many of the beauties of the Vandyck dress. + +Lely's half-dressed figures may be passed over without comment; +they are draped, not dressed. Kneller's are more instructive on the +subject of costume. The dress of Queen Anne, (Fig. 74,) in Kneller's +portrait, is graceful and easy. The costume is a kind of transition +between the Vandyck and Reynolds style. The sleeves are smaller at the +shoulder than in the former, and larger at the lower part than in the +latter; in fact, they resemble those now worn by the modern Greeks. +The dress is cut higher round the bust, and is longer in the waist +than the Vandycks, while the undulating line uniting the body and +skirt is still preserved. While such good examples were set by the +painters--who were not, however, the inventors of the fashions they +painted--it is astonishing that these graceful styles of dress should +have been superseded in real life by the lofty head-dresses and +preposterous fashions which prevailed during the same period and long +afterwards, and which even the ironical and severe remarks of Addison, +in the "Spectator," were unable to banish from the circles of fashion. + +Speaking of the dresses of ladies during the reigns of James II. and +William III., Mr. Planche, in his "History of British Costumes," says, +"The tower or commode was still worn, and the gowns and petticoats +flounced and furbelowed, so that every part of the garment was in +curl;" and a lady of fashion "looked like one of those animals," says +the "Spectator," "which in the country we call a Friesland hen." But +in 1711 we find Mr. Addison remarking, "The whole sex is now dwarfed +and shrunk into a race of beauties that seems almost another species. +I remember several ladies who were once nearly seven foot high, that +at present want some inches of five. How they come to be thus +curtailed I cannot learn; whether the whole sex be at present under +any penance which we know nothing of, or whether they have cast their +head-dresses in order to surprise us with something in that kind which +shall be entirely new: though I find most are of opinion they are at +present like trees lopped and pruned, that will certainly sprout up +and flourish with greater heads than before." + +The costume of the time of Sir Joshua Reynolds, as treated by this +great artist, though less splendid, appears to us, with the exception +of the head-dress, nearly as graceful, and far more convenient than +the Vandyck dress. It is more modest, more easy, and better adapted to +show the true form of the shoulders, while the union of the body of +the dress with the skirt is effected in the same graceful manner as in +the Vandyck portraits. The materials of the drapery in the latter are +generally silks and satins; of the former, it is frequently muslin and +stuff of a soft texture, which clings more closely to the form. That +much of the elegance of both styles of dress is to be attributed +to the skill and good taste of the painters, is evident from an +examination of portraits by contemporary artists. Much also may be +ascribed to the taste of the wearer. + +There are some people who, though habited in the best and richest +clothes, never appear well dressed; their garments, rumpled and +untidy, look as if they had been pitched on them, like hay, with a +fork; while others, whose dress consists of the most homely materials, +appear well dressed, from the neatness and taste with which their +clothes are arranged. + + [Illustration: Pl. 10. + + Figure 73. Charlotte de la Tremouille. + 75. After Gainsborough. + 76. After Gainsborough. + 77. Costume of Mrs. Bloomer. + ] + +Many of the costumes of Gainsborough's portraits are elegant and +graceful, with the frequent exception of the extravagant head-dress +and the high-heeled shoes. The easy and very pleasing figure, +(Fig. 75,) after this accomplished artist, is not exempt from the +above defects. + +In our next illustration, (Fig. 76,) Gainsborough has not been so +happy. The lady is almost lost in her voluminous and fluttering +drapery, and the dishevelled hair and the enormous hat give to the +figure much of the appearance of a caricature. + +Leaving now the caprices of fashion, we must notice a class of persons +who, from a religious motive, have resisted for two hundred years the +tyranny of fashion, and, until recently, have transmitted the same +form of dress from mother to daughter for nearly the same period of +years. The ladies of the Society of Friends, or, as they are usually +called, "Quakers," are still distinguished by the simplicity and +neatness of their dress--the quiet drabs and browns of which +frequently contrast with the richness of the material--and by the +absence of all ornament and frippery. Every part of their dress is +useful and convenient; it has neither frills, nor flounces, nor +trimmings to carry the dirt and get shabby before the dress itself, +nor wide sleeves to dip in the plates and lap up the gravy and sauces, +nor artificial flowers, nor bows of ribbons. The dress is long enough +for decency, but not so long as to sweep the streets, as many dresses +and shawls are daily seen to do. Some few years back the Quaker ladies +might have been reproached with adhering to the letter, while they +rejected the spirit, of their code of dress by adhering too literally +to the costume handed down to them. The crowns of their caps were +formerly made very high, and for this reason it was necessary that the +crowns of their bonnets should be high enough to admit the cap crown; +hence the peculiarly ugly and remarkable form of this part of the +dress. The crown of the cap has, however, recently been lowered, and +the Quaker ladies, with much good sense, have not only modified the +form of their bonnets, but have also adopted the straw and drawn silk +bonnet in their most simple forms. In the style of their dress, also, +they occasionally approach so near the fashions generally worn, that +they are no longer distinguishable by the singularity of their dress, +but by its simplicity and chasteness. + +We venture now to devote a few words to the Bloomer costume, +(Fig. 77,) although we are aware that we are treading on tender +ground, especially as the costume involves a sudden and complete +change in the dress. Independently of its merits or demerits, there +are several reasons why it did not succeed in this country. In the +first place, as we have before observed, it originated in America, +and was attempted to be introduced through the middle ranks. In the +second place, the change which it endeavored to effect was too sudden. +Had the alteration commenced with the higher classes, and the change +been effected gradually, its success might possibly have been different. +Thirdly, the large hat, so well adapted to the burning sun of America, +was unnecessary, and remarkable when forming a part of the costume of +adult ladies in this country, although we have seen that hats quite as +large were worn during the time of Gainsborough. Another reason for +the ill success of the Bloomer costume is to be found in the glaring +and frequently ill-assorted colors of the prints of it, which were +every where exposed in the shop windows. By many sober-minded persons, +the large hat and glaring colors were looked upon as integral parts +of the costume. The numerous caricatures also, and the injudicious +attempts to make it popular by getting up "Bloomer Balls," contributed +to render the costume ridiculous and unpopular. + +Setting aside the hat, the distinguishing characteristics of the +costume are the short dress, and a polka jacket fitting the body at +the throat and shoulders, and confined at the waist by a silken sash, +and the trousers fastened by a band round the ankle, and finished off +with a frill. On the score of modesty there can be no objection to +the dress, since the whole of the body is covered. On the ground +of convenience it recommends itself to those who, having the +superintendence of a family, are obliged frequently to go up and down +stairs, on which occasions it is always necessary to raise the dress +before or behind, according to circumstances. The objection to the +trousers is not to this article of dress being worn, since that is a +general practice, but to their being seen. Yet we suspect few ladies +would object on this account to appear at a fancy ball in the Turkish +costume. + +The disadvantages of the dress are its novelty--for we seldom like a +fashion to which we are entirely unaccustomed--and the exposure which +it involves of the foot, the shape of which, in this country, is so +frequently distorted by wearing tight shoes of a different shape from +the foot. The short dress is objectionable in another point of view, +because, as short petticoats diminish the apparent height of the +person, none but those who possess tall and elegant figures will look +well in this costume; and appearance is generally suffered to prevail +over utility and convenience. If to the Bloomer costume had been added +the long under-dress of the Greek women, or had the trousers been as +full as those worn by the Turkish and East Indian women, the general +effect of the dress would have been much more elegant, although +perhaps less useful. Setting aside all considerations of fashion, as +we always do in looking at the fashions which are gone by, it was +impossible for any person to deny that the Bloomer costume was by far +the most elegant, the most modest, and the most convenient. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ORNAMENT--ECONOMY. + + +Ornament, although not an integral part of dress, is so intimately +connected with it, that we must devote a few words to the subject. + +Under the general term of ornament we shall include bows of ribbon, +artificial flowers, feathers, jewels, lace, fringes, and trimmings of +all kinds. Some of these articles appear to be suited to one period +of life, some to another. Jewels, for instance, though suitable +for middle age, seem misplaced on youth, which should always be +characterized by simplicity of apparel; while flowers, which are so +peculiarly adapted to youth, are unbecoming to those advanced in +years; in the latter case there is contrast without harmony; it is +like uniting May with December. + +The great principle to be observed with regard to ornament is, that it +should be appropriate, and appear designed to answer some useful +purpose. A brooch, or a bow of ribbon, for instance, should fasten +some part of the dress; a gold chain should support a watch or an +eyeglass. Trimmings are useful to mark the borders or edges of the +different parts of the dress; and in this light they add to the +variety, while by their repetition they conduce to the regularity of +the ornamentation. + + [Illustration: Pl. 11. + + Figure 78. From the embroidery on fig. 47, pl. 5. + 79. From the sleeve of the same dress, above. + 80. From the sleeve of the pelisse. + 81. The pattern embroidered from the waist to the skirt + of the dress, fig. 51, pl. 5. + 82. The border of the shawl, fig. 51. + 83. Sleeve of the same, figure 51. + 84. Design on the apron, fig. 48, pl. 5. + 85. From the border of the same dress, fig. 48. + ] + +Ornament is so much a matter of fashion, that beyond the above remarks +it scarcely comes within the scope of our subject. There is one point, +however, to which the present encouragement of works of design induces +us to draw the attention of our readers. We have already borrowed from +the beautiful work of M. de Stackelberg, some of the female figures in +illustration of our views with regard to dress; we have now to call +the attention of our readers to the patterns embroidered on the +dresses. These are mostly of classic origin, and prove that the +descendants of the Greeks have still sufficient good taste to +appreciate and adopt the designs of their glorious ancestors. The +figures in the plates being too small to show the patterns, we have +enlarged some of them from the original work, in order to show the +style of design still cultivated among the peasants of Greece, and +also because we think the designs may be applied to other materials +besides dress. Some of them appear not inappropriate to iron work. +When will our people be able to show designs of such elegance? Fig. 78 +is an enlarged copy of the embroidery on the robe of the peasant from +the environs of Athens, (Fig. 47.) It extends, as will be seen, half +way up the skirt. Fig. 79 is from the sleeve of the same dress. +Fig. 80 is the pattern embroidered on the sleeve of the pelisse. +Fig. 81 is the pattern from the waist to the hem of the skirt of an +Athenian peasant's dress, (Fig. 51.) Fig. 82 is the border to the +shawl; Fig. 83, the sleeve of the last-mentioned dress; Fig. 84, the +design on the apron of the Arcadian peasant, (Fig. 48.) Fig. 85 is +the border of the same dress. Fig. 86 is the pattern round the hem of +the long under-dress of the Athenian peasant, (Fig. 51;) Fig. 87, the +border of a shawl, or something of the kind. Fig. 88 is another +example. The brocade dress of Sancta Victoria (Fig. 64) offers a +striking contrast to the simple elegance of the Greek designs. It is +too large for the purpose to which it is employed, and not sufficiently +distinct; and, although it possesses much variety, it is deficient in +regularity; and one of the elements of beauty in ornamental design, +namely, repetition, appears to be entirely wanting. In these respects, +the superiority of the Greek designs is immediately apparent. They +unite at once symmetry with regularity, and variety with repetition. + + [Illustration: Pl. 12. + + Figure 86. Pattern round the hem of the long under dress, + fig. 51, pl. 5. + 87, 88. Borders of shawls. + 89. Infant's dress, exhibited at the World's Fair in + London. + 90, 91. From "Le Moniteur de la Mode," by Jules David and + Reville, published at Paris, London, New York, + and St. Petersburg. + ] + +The examination of these designs suggests the reflection that when we +have once attained a form of dress which combines ease and elegance +with convenience, we should tax our ingenuity in inventing ornamental +designs for decorating it, rather than seek to discover novel forms of +dress. + +The endless variety of textile fabrics which our manufacturers are +constantly producing, the variety, also, in the colors, will, with +the embroidery patterns issued by our schools of design, suffice to +appease the constant demand for novelty, which exists in an improving +country, without changing the form of our costume, unless to adopt +others which reason and common sense point out as superior to that in +use. We are told to try all things, and to hold fast to that which is +good. The maxim is applicable to dress as well as to morals. + +The subject of economy in dress, an essential object with many +persons, now claims our attention. We venture to offer a few remarks +on this head. Our first recommendation is to have but few dresses at a +time, and those extremely good. If we have but few dresses, we wear +them, and wear them out while they are in fashion; but if we have many +dresses at once, some of them become quite old-fashioned before we +have done with them. If we are rich enough to afford the sacrifice, +the old-fashioned dress is got rid of; if not, we must be content to +appear in a fashion that has long been superseded; and we look as if +we had come out of the tombs, or as if one of our ancestors had +stepped out of her picture frame, and again walked the earth. + +As to the economy of selecting the best materials for dresses, we +argue thus: Every dress must be lined and made up, and we pay as much +for making and lining an inferior article, as we do for one of the +best quality. Now, a good silk or merino will wear out two bad ones; +therefore, one good dress, lining and making, will cost less than two +inferior ones, with the expenses of lining and making them. In point +of appearance, also, there is no comparison between the two; the good +dress will look well to the last, while one of inferior quality will +soon look shabby. When a good silk dress has become too shabby to be +worn longer as a dress, it becomes, when cut up, useful for a variety +of purposes; whereas an inferior silk, or one purely ornamental, is, +when left off, good for nothing. + +Plain dresses, that is to say, those of a single color, and without +a pattern, are more economical as well as more quiet in their +appearance than those of various colors. They are also generally less +expensive, because something is always paid for the novelty of the +fashion; besides, colored and figured dresses bear the date on the +face of them, as plainly as if it was there in printed characters. The +ages of dress fabrics are known by the pattern; therefore dresses of +this description should be put on as soon as purchased, and worn out +at once, or they will appear old-fashioned. There is another reason +why vari-colored dresses are less economical than others. Where there +are several colors, they may not all be equally fast, and if only one +of them fades the dress will lose its beauty. Trimmings are not +economical; besides their cost in the first instance, they become +shabby before the dress, and if removed, they generally leave a mark +where they have been, and so spoil the appearance of the dress. + +Dresses made of one kind of material only, are more durable than those +composed of two; as, for instance, of cotton and silk, of cotton and +worsted, or of silk and worsted. When the silk is merely thrown on +the face of the material, it soon wears off. This is also the case in +those woollen or cotton goods which have a silken stripe. + +The question of economy also extends to colors, some of which are much +more durable than others. For this we can give no rule, except that +drabs and other "Quaker colors," as they are frequently called, are +amongst the most permanent of all colors. For other colors we must +take the word of the draper. There is no doubt, however, but that the +most durable colors are the cheapest in the end. In the selection of +colors, the expense is not always a criterion; something must be paid +for fashion and novelty, and perhaps for the cost of the dye. The +newest and most expensive colors are not always those which last the +longest. + +It is not economical to have the dresses made in the extremity of the +fashion, because such soon become remarkable; but the fashions should +be followed at such a distance, that the wearer may not attract the +epithet of old-fashioned. + +We conclude this part of our subject with a few suggestions relative +to the selection of different styles and materials of dress. + +The style of dress should be adapted to the age of the wearer. As a +general rule, we should say that in youth the dress should be simple +and elegant, the ornaments being flowers. In middle age, the dress may +be of rich materials, and more splendid in its character; jewels are +the appropriate ornaments. In the decline of life, the materials of +which the dress is composed may be equally rich, but with less +vivacious colors: the tertiaries and broken colors are particularly +suitable, and the character of the whole costume should be quiet, +simple, and dignified. The French, whose taste in dress is so far in +advance of our own, say, that ladies who are _cinquante ans sonnes_, +should neither wear gay colors, nor dresses of slight materials, +flowers, feathers, or much jewelry; that they should cover their hair, +wear high dresses and long sleeves. + +Tall ladies may wear flounces and tucks, but they are less appropriate +for short persons. As a general rule, vertical stripes make persons +appear taller than they really are, but horizontal stripes have a +contrary effect. The latter, Mr. Redgrave says, are not admissible in +garment fabrics, "since, crossing the person, the pattern quarrels +with all the motions of the human figure, as well as with the form of +the long folds in the skirts of the garment. For this reason," he +continues, "large and pronounced checks, however fashionable, are +often in bad taste, and interfere with the graceful arrangement of the +drapery." Is it to show their entire contempt for the principles of +design that our manufacturers introduced last year not only horizontal +stripes of conspicuous colors, but checks and plaids of immense size, +as autumnal fashions for dress fabrics? We had hoped that the ladies +would have shown the correctness of their taste by their disapproval +of these unbecoming designs, but the prevalence of the fashion at the +present time is another evidence of the triumph of fashion over good +taste. + +A white and light-colored dress makes the wearers appear larger, +while a black or dark dress causes them to appear smaller than they +actually are. A judicious person will, therefore, avail herself of +these known effects, by adopting the style of dress most suitable to +her stature. + +To sum up, in a few words, our impressions on this subject, we should +say that the best style of dress is that which, being exactly adapted +to the climate and the individual, is at once modest, quiet, and +retiring, harmonious in color and decoration, and of good materials. + +We conclude with the following admirable extract from Tobin's +"Honeymoon," which we earnestly recommend to the attention of our +fair readers. + + I'll have no glittering gewgaws stuck about you + To stretch the gaping eyes of idiot wonder, + And make men stare upon a piece of earth, + As on the star-wrought firmament--no feathers, + To wave as streamers to your vanity; + Nor cumbrous silk, that with its rustling sound + Makes proud the flesh that bears it. She's adorned + Amply, that in her husband's eye looks lovely-- + The truest mirror that an honest wife + Can see her beauty in! + + _Julia._ I shall observe, sir. + + _Duke._ I should like well to see you in the dress I last presented + you. + + _Julia._ The blue one, sir? + + _Duke._ No, love,--the white. Thus modestly attired, + A half-blown rose stuck in thy braided hair, + With no more diamonds than those eyes are made of, + No deeper rubies than compose thy lips, + Nor pearls more precious than inhabit them, + With the pure red and white, which that same hand + Which blends the rainbow, mingles in thy cheeks; + This well-proportioned form (think not I flatter) + In graceful motion to harmonious sounds, + And thy free tresses dancing in the wind, + Thou'lt fix as much observance, as chaste dames + Can meet without a blush. + +We look forward hopefully to a day when art-education will be extended +to all ranks; when a knowledge of the beautiful will be added to that +of the useful; when good taste, based upon real knowledge and common +sense, will dictate our fashions in dress as in other things. We have +schools of art to reform our taste in pottery, hardware, and textile +fabrics, not to speak of the higher walks of art, painting, sculpture, +and architecture. The handle of a jug, the stem of a wine glass, +the design for dress silks or lace veils, will form the subjects +of lectures to the students of the various schools of design; +disquisitions are written on the important question whether the +ornamental designs should represent the real form of objects, or only +give a conventional representation of them; while the study of the +human figure, the masterpiece of creation, is totally neglected, +except by painters and sculptors. We hope that the study of form will +be more extended, that it will be universal, that it will, in fact, +enter into the general scheme of education, and that we shall +hereafter see as much pains bestowed in improving by appropriate +costume the figure which nature has given us, as we do now in +distorting it by tight stays, narrow and high-heeled shoes, and all +the other deformities and eccentricities of that many-faced monster, +fashion. The economy of the frame, and the means of preserving it in +health and beauty, should form an integral part of education. There +can be no true beauty without health; and how can we hope to secure +health if we are ignorant of the means of promoting it, or if we +violate its precepts by adopting absurd and pernicious fashions? +Surely it is not too much to hope that dressmakers will hereafter +attend the schools of design, to study the human form, and thence +learn to appreciate its beauties, and to clothe it with appropriate +dress, calculated to display its beauties to the greatest advantage, +and to conceal its defects--the latter with the reservation we have +already noticed. We hope, also, that the shoemaker will learn to model +the shoe upon the true form of the foot. + +Manufacturers are now convinced of the importance and utility of +schools of design; and whether the article hereafter to be produced be +a cup and saucer, a fender, a pattern for a dress, or for furniture, +for a service of plate or a diamond tiara, it is thought proper that +the pupil, as a preliminary course that cannot be dispensed with, +should commence with the study of the human figure. Yet is not dress +an art-manufacture as well as a cup and saucer, or a teaboard? Is +there less skill and talent, less taste required to clothe the form +which we are told is made after God's own image, than to furnish an +apartment? Why should not dressmakers and tailors attend the schools +of design, as well as those artisans who are intended to be employed +in what are called art-manufactures? Why should not shoemakers be +taught the shape and movements of the foot? If this were the case, we +are satisfied that an immediate and permanent improvement would be the +consequence in our style of dress. Would any person acquainted with +the human form, and especially with the little round form of an +infant, have sent to the Great Exhibition an infant's robe shaped like +that in our cut. Fig. 89. An infant with a waist "growing fine by +degrees and beautifully less"!--was there ever such a deformity? We +believe that many portrait painters stipulate that they should be +allowed to dictate the dress, at least as regards the arrangement of +the colors, of their sitters; the reason of this is, that the +painter's selection of dress and color is based upon the study of the +figure and complexion of the individual, or the knowledge of the +effects of contrast and harmony of lines, tissues, and colors, while +the models which are presented for his imitation too frequently offer +to his view a style of dress, both as regards form and color, which +set the rules of harmony at defiance. Now, only suppose that the +dressmaker had the painter's knowledge of form and harmony of lines +and colors, what a revolution would take place in dress? We should no +longer see the tall and the short, the slender and the stout, the +brown and the fair, the old and the young, dressed alike, but the +dress would be adapted to the individual; and we believe that, were +the plan of study we recommend generally adopted, this purpose might +always be effected without the sacrifice of what is now the grand +desideratum in dress--novelty. + +The reasons why the art of dressmaking has not hitherto received the +attention which it deserves, are to be sought for in the constitution +of society. The branches of manufacture which require a knowledge of +design, such as calico printing, silk and ribbon weaving, porcelain +and pottery, and hardware manufactures, are conducted on a large +scale by men of wealth and talent, who, if they would compete +successfully with rival manufacturers, find it necessary to study and +apply to their own business all the improvements in science, with +which their intercourse with society gives them an opportunity of +becoming acquainted. It is quite otherwise with dressmaking. A woman +is at the head of every establishment of this kind, a woman generally +of limited education and attainments, from whom cannot be expected +either liberality of sentiment or enlarged views, but who possibly +possesses some tact and discrimination of character, which enables her +to exercise a kind of dictatorial power in matters of dress over her +customers; these customers are scarcely better informed on the subject +than herself. + +The early life of the dressmaker is spent in a daily routine of labor +with the needle, and when she becomes a mistress in her turn, she +exacts from her assistants the same amount of daily labor that was +formerly expected from herself. Work, work, work with the needle from +almost childhood, in the same close room from morning to night, and +not unfrequently from night to morning also, is the everlasting +routine of the monotonous life of the dressmakers. They are working +for bread, and have no leisure to attend to the improvement of the +mind, and the want of this mental cultivation is apparent in the +articles they produce by their labor. When one of the young women who +attends these establishments to learn the trade, thinks she has had +sufficient experience, she leaves the large establishment, and sets up +in business on her own account. In this new situation she works +equally hard, and has, therefore, no time for improving her mind or +taste. Of the want of this, however, she is not sensible, because she +can purchase for a trifle all the newest patterns, and the thought +never enters her poor little head, that the same fashion may not suit +all her customers. This defective education of the dressmakers, or +rather their want of knowledge of the human form, is one of the great +causes of the prevalence of the old fashion of tight lacing; it is so +much easier to make a closely-fitting body suit over a tight stay than +it is on the pliant and yielding natural form, in which, if one part +be drawn a little too tight, or the contrary, the body of the dress is +thrown out of shape. Supposing, on the other hand, the fit to be +exact, it is so difficult to keep such a tight-fitting body in its +place on the figure without securing its form by whalebones, that +it is in vain to expect the stays to become obsolete until the +tight-fitting bodice is also given up. + +This will never take place until not only the ladies who are to be +clothed, but the dressmakers, shall make the human form their study, +and direct their efforts to set off their natural advantages by +attending to the points which are their characteristic beauties. A +long and delicate throat, falling shoulders, not too wide from point +to point, a flat back, round chest, wide hips--these are the points +which should be developed by the dress. Whence it follows, that every +article of dress which shortens the throat, adds height or width to +the shoulders, roundness to the back, or flatness to the chest, must +be radically wrong in principle, and unpleasant and repulsive in +effect. In the same manner, whatever kind of dress adds to the height +of a figure already too tall and thin, or detracts from the apparent +height of the short and stout, must be avoided. These things should +form the study of the dressmaker. + +As society is now constituted, however, the dressmaker has not, as we +have already observed, leisure to devote to studies of the necessity +and importance of which she is still ignorant. The reform must be +begun by the ladies themselves. They must acquire a knowledge of form, +and of the principles of beauty and harmony, and so exercise a +controlling influence over the dressmakers. By this means, a better +taste will be created, and the dressmakers will at length discover +their deficiency in certain guiding principles, and will be driven +at last to resort to similar studies. But in this case a startling +difficulty presents itself--the poor dressmaker is at present +over-worked: how can she find leisure to attend the schools of +design, or even pursue, if she had the ability, the necessary studies +at home? A girl is apprenticed to the trade at the age of thirteen or +fourteen; she works at it all her life, rising early, and late taking +rest; and what is the remuneration of her daily toil of twelve hours? +Eighteen pence, or at most two shillings a day, with her board![3] As +she reckons the value of the latter at a shilling, it follows, that +the earnings of a dressmaker, in the best period of her life, who goes +out to work, could not exceed fifteen shillings, or, at the most, +eighteen shillings a week, if she did not--at the hazard of her +health, which, indeed, is frequently sacrificed--work at home before +she begins, and after she has finished, her day's work abroad. The +carpenter or house painter does not work harder, or bring to bear on +his employment greater knowledge, than the poor dressmaker; yet he has +four shillings sixpence a day, without his board, while she has only +what is equivalent to two shillings sixpence, or three shillings. What +reason can be assigned why a woman's work, if equally well done, +should not be as well paid as that of a man? A satisfactory reason has +yet to be given; the fact, however, is indisputable, that women are +not in general so well paid for their labor as men. + + [3] Of course it will be understood that these are the English + prices; but does not the comparison hold good between male and + female labor in this country? + +Although these remarks arose naturally out of our subject, we must +not digress too far. To return to the dressmaker. If the hours of +labor of these white slaves who toil in the dressmaking establishments +were limited to ten or twelve hours, as in large factories, two +consequences would follow: the first is, that more hands would be +employed, and the second, that the young women would have time to +attend schools, and improve their minds. If they could also attend +occasional lectures on the figure, and on the harmony of color and +costume with reference to dress, the best effects would follow. + +Those dressmakers who are rich enough, and, we may add, many ladies +also, take in some book of fashions with colored illustrations, and +from this they imbibe their notions of beauty of form and elegance of +costume. How is it possible, we would ask, for either the dressmaker +or the ladies who employ them to acquire just ideas of form, or of +suitable costume, when their eyes are accustomed only to behold such +deformed and unnatural representations of the human figure as those in +the accompanying plates? Figs. 90 and 91. Is it any wonder that small +waists should be admired, when the books which aspire to be the +handmaids and mirrors of fashion present to their readers such libels +on beauty of form? Now, suppose that lithographed drawings of costumes +issued occasionally from the schools of design, is it not reasonable +to suppose that, with the knowledge which the students have acquired +of the human figure, the illustrations would be more accurate +imitations of nature? An eye accustomed to the study of nature can +scarcely bear to contemplate, much less to imitate, the monsters of a +depraved taste which disgrace the different publications that aspire +to make known the newest fashions. Many of the illustrations of these +publications, although ill proportioned, are executed in a certain +stylish manner which takes with the uneducated, and the mechanical +execution of the figures is also good. This, however, is so far from +being an advantage, that it only renders them the more dangerous; like +the song of the siren, they lead only to evil. + +We are told that many of the first Parisian artists derive a +considerable part of their income from drawing the figures in the +French books of fashion and costume, and that, in the early part of +his career, Horace Vernet, the president of the French Academy, did +not disdain to employ his talents in this way. We cannot, however, +refrain from expressing our surprise and honest indignation that +artists of eminence, especially those who, like the French school, +have a reputation for correct drawing, and who must, therefore, be so +well acquainted with the actual as well as ideal proportions of the +female figure, should so prostitute their talents as to employ them in +delineating the ill-proportioned figures which appear in books of +fashions. It is no small aggravation of their offence, in our eyes, +that the figures should be drawn in such graceful positions, and with +the exception of the defective proportions, with so much skill. These +beauties only make them more dangerous; the goodness of their +execution misleads the unfortunate victims of their fascination. What +young lady, unacquainted with the proportions of the figure, could +look on these prints of costumes and go away without the belief that a +small waist and foot were essential elements of beauty? So she goes +home from her dressmaker's, looks in the glass, and not finding her +own waist and foot as small as those in the books of fashion, gives +her stay-lace an extra tightening pull, and, regardless of corns, +squeezes her feet into tight shoes, which makes the instep appear +swollen. Both the figures in our last plates were originally drawn and +engraved by Jules David, and Reville, in "_Le Moniteur de la Mode_," +which is published at Paris, London, New York, and St. Petersburg. +Let our readers look at these figures, and say whether the most +determined votary of tight lacing ever succeeded in compressing her +waist into the proportions represented in these figures. + +We should like to hear that lectures were given occasionally, by a +lady in the female school of design, on the subjects of form, and of +dress in its adaptation to form and to harmony of color. We have no +doubt that a lady competent to deliver these lectures will readily be +found. After a course of these lectures, we do not hesitate to predict +that illustrations of fashion emanating from this source would be, +in point of taste, every thing that could be desired. We venture to +think that the students of the female school may be as well and as +profitably employed in designing costumes, as in inventing patterns +for cups and saucers or borders for veils. Until some course, of the +nature we have indicated, is adopted, we cannot hope for any permanent +improvement in our costume. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SOME THOUGHTS ON CHILDREN'S DRESS. + +BY MRS. MERRIFIELD. + + +Can any good and sufficient reason be given, said a friend, as we were +contemplating the happy faces and lively gestures of a party of boys +and girls, who, one cold, frosty evening, were playing at the old game +called "I sent a letter to my love," why, when one of the party picks +up the ball which another has thrown down, the boys always stoop, +while the girls (with the exception of one little rosy girl, who is +active and supple as the boys) invariably drop on one knee? At first +we almost fancied this must be a new way of playing the game; but when +one of the seniors threw a handful of _bonbons_ among the children, +and in their eager scramble to pick up the tempting sweets we +observed the same respective actions, namely, that the boys stooped, +while the girls knelt on one knee, we began to meditate on the cause +of this diversity of action. A little more observation convinced us +that the girls, though equally lively, were less free in their +movement than the boys. We observed, also, that every now and then +some of the girls stopped and hitched their clothes, (which appeared +almost in danger of falling off,) with an awkward movement, first upon +one shoulder, and then on the other, while others jerked one shoulder +upwards, which caused the sleeve on that side to sink nearly to the +elbow. "Now," we exclaimed, "we can solve the problem: the different +actions are caused by the difference in the dress; let us see where +the difference lies." So we continued our observations, and soon found +that the boys were all dressed in high dresses up to the throat, while +the bands which encircled their waists were so loose as merely to keep +the dress in its place without confining it; in short, that their +dress did not offer the slightest restraint on their freedom of +movement. It was otherwise with the girls, excepting the little rosy +girl before mentioned: they were dressed in low dresses, and their +shoulders were so bare that we involuntarily thought of a caterpillar +casting its skin, and began to fear, from the uneasy movement of their +shoulders, that the same thing might happen to the children, when we +observed that this was rendered impossible by the tightness of the +clothes about the waist. The mystery was now cleared up; the tightness +of the dress at the waist, while it prevented the children from +"slipping shell," as it were, entirely destroyed their freedom of +movement. We could not help contrasting these poor girls--dressed in +the very pink of fashion, with their bare shoulders, compressed +waists, and delicate appearance--with the rosy face, quick and active +movement, and thick waist of the little girl before alluded to; and we +sighed as we thought that, induced by the culpable folly or ignorance +of parents, + + "Pale decay + Would steal before the steps of time, + And snatch 'their' bloom away." + +"Whence does it arise," continued my friend, "that the boys are clad +in warm dresses, suited to the season, their chests and arms protected +from the wintry air, and their feet incased in woollen stockings, +while the girls are suffered to shiver at Christmas in muslin dresses, +with bare necks and arms, and silk or thin cotton stockings? Are they +less susceptible of cold than boys? Is their circulation less languid, +that their clothes are so much thinner? Are their figures better, +their health stronger, for the compression of their tender bodies by +stays?" At this point our cogitations were stopped by a summons to +supper; and after supper, hats and shawls were produced, and we took +our leave. Our young companions, fatigued with their exertions, soon +fell asleep in the corners of the carriage, and we were left to our +own meditations. Our thoughts once more reverted to the subject of +children's dress, and gradually assumed the following form:-- + +The subject of dress, which is so important both to our health +and comfort, is usually treated as a matter of fashion, and is +regulated partly by individual fancy, partly by the dictates of +the _modiste_. Fashion, as it applies to the costume of men, is, +with the exception of the hat, controlled by convenience and common +sense; but with regard to the dress of women and children, neither +of these considerations has any weight. The most extravagant and +_bizarre_ arrangements of form and colors will meet with admirers and +imitators, provided they emanate from a fashionable source. The dress +of children, especially, appears to be exceedingly fantastic in its +character, and, with regard to that of girls, is ill adapted to secure +the enjoyment of health and the perfect development of the figure. We +venture to offer a few remarks on this highly interesting theme. + +In discussing the subject of children's dress, several points +present themselves for our consideration, namely, first, the +adaptation of the costume to the climate, the movements, and +healthful development of the figure; and secondly, the general +elegance of the habiliments, the harmony of the colors, and their +special adaptation to the age and individual characteristics of +children. The first are essential conditions; the latter, though too +frequently treated as the most important, may, in comparison with +the first, be deemed non-essentials. We shall remark on these +subjects in the before-mentioned order. + +With regard to the adaptation of the dress of children to the climate, +this appears so evident that any observations upon it might be deemed +almost unnecessary; yet, in practice, how little is it understood! The +great object in view in regulating the warmth of the clothing, is to +guard the wearer from the vicissitudes of the climate, and to equalize +the circulation, which is accelerated by heat and retarded by cold. +Children are habitually full of activity, which quickens the +circulation and produces a determination to the skin; in other words, +causes some degree of perspiration, and if this, perspiration be +suddenly checked by the application of cold, illness in some shape or +other is induced. In order to lessen this risk, the clothing should +be light and warm; sufficiently warm to shield the child from the +effects of cold, but not to elevate greatly the temperature of the +body. The latter would only render the child more susceptible of cold. +Children are, by some over-careful but not judicious parents, so +burdened with clothes that one is surprised to find they can move +under the vast encumbrance. + +There is much diversity of opinion among medical men as to the +propriety of wearing flannel next to the skin. The arguments appear to +be in favor of the practice, provided that the thickness of the +flannel be proportioned to the seasons of the year. In winter it +should be thick; in summer it can scarcely be too thin. Flannel is +preferable to linen or calico, because, although it may be saturated +with perspiration, it never strikes cold to the skin; whereas linen, +under similar circumstances, always does, and the sudden application +of cold to the skin, when warmed by exercise, checks the circulation, +and causes illness. + +Parents are frequently guilty of much inconsistency in the clothing +of their children. The child, perhaps, has delicate lungs; it must, +therefore, have warm clothing; so garment after garment, made +fashionably, that is to say, very full and very short, is heaped one +upon the other over the chest and upper part of the body, until the +poor child can scarcely move under the heavy burden with which, with +mistaken kindness, it has been laden, while the lower limbs, in which +the circulation is most languid, and which require to be protected as +well as the chest, are frequently exposed to the air, and the foot is +covered with a shoe which is too thin to keep it dry. The consequence +of this arrangement is, that the child, oppressed by the weight of its +clothing, becomes overheated, and being cooled too hastily, catches +severe colds. + +The habiliments of children cannot be too light in weight; and this is +perfectly consistent with a proper degree of warmth. Those parents are +greatly to blame who, influenced only by appearance, and the wish to +dress their children fashionably, add to the weight of their clothing +by introducing so much unnecessary fulness into the skirts. + +The next point for consideration, and which is not inferior in +importance to the last, is the adaptation of the dress to the +movements and healthful development of the figure; and, strange to +say, this point is almost entirely overlooked by those who have the +management and control of children, although a few honest and sensible +medical men have raised their warning voices against the system now +pursued. + +We hear every where of the march of intellect; we are perpetually told +that the schoolmaster is abroad; lessons and masters of all kinds are +endeavoring + + "To teach the young idea how to shoot;" + +while the little delicate frame which is to bear all this mental labor +is left to the ignorance of mothers and nurses, and the tender mercies +of the dressmaker, who seems to think that the human frame is as +easily moulded into an imitation of those libels on humanity +represented in books of fashionable costume as the materials with +which she works. Would that we had powers of persuasion to convince +our readers how greatly these figures, with their excessively-small +waists, hands and feet, deviate from the actual proportions of +well-formed women! Unfortunately, the pinched waist is too common in +real life for those unacquainted with the proportions of the figure +not to think it one of the essential elements of beauty. So far, +however, from being a beauty, a small waist is an actual blemish. +Never, until the economy of the human frame is studied by all classes, +and a knowledge of the principles on which its beauties depend is +disseminated among all ranks, can we hope that just ideas will be +entertained on this subject. + +If there is one thing in which the schoolmaster or the reformer +is more wanted than in another, it is in our dress. From our birth +to our death we are the slaves of fashion, of prejudice, and of +circumstances. The tender, unresisting infant, the delicate girl, the +mature woman, alike suffer from these evil influences; some fall +victims to them, others suffer during life. Let us consider the dress +of an infant. Here, however, it must be acknowledged that of late +years much improvement has taken place in some respects, although much +still remains to be done. Caps, with their trimming of three or four +rows of lace, and large cockades which rivalled in size the dear +little round face of the child, are discontinued almost entirely +within doors, though the poor child is still almost overwhelmed with +cap, hat, and feathers, in its daily airings, the additional weight +which its poor neck has to sustain never once entering into the +calculation of its mother and nurse. Fine feathers, it is said, make +fine birds. This may be true with respect to the feathered creation, +but it is not so with regard to children. They suffer from the +misplaced finery, and from the undue heat of the head. And yet the +head has, generally speaking, been better treated by us than the rest +of the body. When we look back upon the history of costume, it really +seems as if men--or women, shall we say?--had exercised their +ingenuity in torturing the human frame, and destroying its health and +vigor. + +The American Indian compresses the tender skull of the infant, and +binds its little body on to a flat board; the Chinese squeezes the +feet of the females; the Italian peasants, following the custom of the +Orientals, still roll the infant in swathing bands; the little legs of +the child, that when left to its own disposal are in perpetual motion, +now curled up to the body, then thrust out their extreme length, to +the evident enjoyment of their owner, are extended in a straight line, +laid side by side, and bandaged together, so that the infant reminds +one in shape of a mummy. In this highly cultivated country we are +guilty towards our infants of practices quite as senseless, as cruel, +and as contrary to nature. The movements of the lower limbs, so +essential to the healthy growth of the child, are limited and +restrained, if not altogether prevented, by the great weight that we +hang upon them. The long petticoats, in which every infant in this +country has been for centuries doomed to pass many months of its +existence, are as absurd as they are prejudicial to the child. The +evil has of late years rather increased than diminished, for the +clothes are not only made much longer, but much fuller, so that the +poor victim has an additional weight to bear. Many instances can be +mentioned in which the long clothes have been made a yard and a +quarter long. The absurdity of this custom becomes apparent, if we +only imagine a mother or nurse of short statue carrying an infant in +petticoats of this length; and we believe that long clothes are always +made totally irrespective of the height of mother or nurse. Imagine +one or the other treading on the robe, and throwing herself and the +child down! Imagine, also, the probable consequences of such an +accident! And when one ventures to express doubts as to the propriety +of dressing an infant in long clothes, instead of arguments in their +favor, one is met by the absurd remark, "A baby looks so grand in long +clothes!" We have for some years endeavored, as far as our influence +extended, to put an end to this practice, and in some cases we have +so far succeeded as to induce the mother to short-coat the child +before it was three months old, and even previous to this period to +make the under garments of a length suited to the size of the child, +while the frock or robe, as it is called, retained the fashionable +length. The latter, being of fine texture, did not add considerably to +the weight of the clothes. Children who have the free use of their +limbs not only walk earlier than others, but are stronger on their +feet. + +Another evil practice, which some years since prevailed universally, +was that of rolling a bandage, three inches in width, and two or three +yards in length, round the body of the child. The pain that such a +bandage, from its unyielding nature, would occasion, not to speak of +its ill effects on the health, may be readily imagined. This bandage +was, in fact, a kind of breaking in for the tight lacing, the penalty +which most females in this country have had, at some period or other, +to undergo. + +There is no end of the inconsistencies of children's dress. If, in +early infancy, they are buried in long petticoats, no sooner can they +walk than the petticoats are so shortened that they scarcely cover the +child's back when it stoops. The human race has a wonderful power of +accommodating itself to a variety of temperatures and climates; but +perhaps it is seldom exposed to greater vicissitudes than in the +change from long clothes to the extremely short and full ones that are +now fashionable. The very full skirt is not so warm in proportion to +its length as one of more moderate fulness; because, instead of +clinging round the figure, it stands off from it, and admits the air +under it. The former is also heavier than the latter, inasmuch as it +contains more material; and the weight of the clothing is a great +disadvantage to a child. A sensible medical writer, Dr. John F. South, +in an excellent little work entitled "Domestic Surgery," makes some +very judicious observations relative to children's dress. Of the +fashion of dressing boys with the tunic reaching to the throat, and +trousers, which are both so loose as to offer no impediment to +freedom of motion, he approves; but he condemns, in the strongest +terms, "the unnatural"--Mr. South remarks he had almost said +"atrocious--system to which, in youth, if not in childhood, girls are +subjected for the improvement of their figure and gait." + +It is fortunate for the present generation that it is the fashion +for the dresses of even little girls to be made as high as the +throat; the old fashion of cutting the frock low round the neck, +which still exists in what is called "full dress," is objectionable +on more than one account. In the first place, it is objected to on the +consideration of health; because the upper part of the chest is not +protected from the influence of currents of air, and by this means, as +Mr. South observes, the foundation is laid for irritable lungs. In the +next place, the dress is generally suffered to fall off the shoulders, +and is, in fact, only retained in its place by the tight band about +the waist. To avoid the uneasiness occasioned by the pressure of the +latter, the child slips its clothes off one shoulder, generally the +right, which it raises more than the other; the consequence of this +is, that the raised shoulder becomes permanently higher than the +other, and the spine is drawn towards the same side. It is said that +there is scarcely one English woman in fifty who has not one shoulder +higher or thicker than the other; and there appears but little doubt +that much of this deformity is to be ascribed to the above-mentioned +cause. In confirmation of this opinion, it may be mentioned that the +practice of wearing dresses low in the neck is almost peculiar to +English girls; French girls, nearly from infancy, wear high dresses, +and it is certain that deformity is not so frequent among French women +as it is among English. + +The discipline of tight lacing is frequently begun so early in life, +that the poor victim has little or no recollection of the pain and +suffering occasioned by the pressure of the stiff and uncomfortable +stays before the frame has become accustomed to them. Those of our +readers who were fortunate enough to escape this infliction in early +life, and who adopted stiff stays at a more mature age, can bear +testimony to the suffering occasioned by them during the first few +weeks of their use. "O," said a girl who put on stiff stays, for the +first time, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, "I wish bedtime was +come, that I might take off these stiff and uncomfortable stays, they +pain me so much." "Hush, hush!" exclaimed a starch old maiden aunt, +shocked at what she thought the indelicacy of the expression which +pain had wrung from the poor girl; "you must bear it for a time; you +will soon get used to it." Used to it! Yes, indeed, as the cook said +the eels did to skinning, and with, as regards the poor girls, almost +as disastrous consequences. + +There are three points of view in which tight lacing is prejudicial. +It weakens the muscles of the shoulders and chest, which rust, as it +were, for want of use; it injures, by pressure, the important organs +contained in the chest and trunk; and, lastly, instead of improving +the figure, it positively and absolutely deforms it. A waist +disproportionately small, compared with the stature and proportions of +the individual, is a greater deformity than one which is too large; +the latter is simply clumsy; it does not injure the health of the +person, while the former is not only prejudicial to health, but to +beauty. Were our fair readers but once convinced of this fact, there +would be an end of tight lacing; and the good results arising from the +abolition of this practice would be evident in the improved health of +the next generation. + +What a host of evils follow in the steps of tight lacing! Indigestion, +hysteria, spinal distortion, consumption, liver complaints, disease of +the heart, cancer, early death!--these are a few of them, and enough +to make both mothers and daughters tremble. It is an aggravation of +the evil that is brought upon us frequently by the agency of a +mother--of her upon whose affection and experience a child naturally +relies in all things, and whose lamentable ignorance of what +constitutes beauty of form, as well as her subjection to the thraldom +of fashion, is the prolific source of so much future misery to her +unsuspecting daughter. + +Education is the order of the day; but surely that education must be +very superficial and incomplete, of which the study of the economy of +the human form, its various beauties, and the wonderful skill with +which it was created, form no part. A girl spends several years in +learning French, Italian, and German, which may be useful to her +should she meet with French, Italians, or Germans, or should she visit +the continent; she spends three, four, five, and sometimes six hours a +day, in practising on the piano, frequently without having any real +talent for this accomplishment, while she is kept in utter ignorance +of that which is of vital consequence not only to herself, but to her +future offspring, namely, a knowledge of what constitutes true beauty, +and contributes to the preservation of health, and, we may also add, +of good humor and happiness; for it is one of the evils attending ill +health, that it frequently induces a fretful and irritable state of +mind. Instead of the really useful knowledge of the economy of the +frame, and the means of preserving health, girls are taught the +constrained attitudes and the artificial deportment of the dancing +master. The remark of Sir Joshua Reynolds on this subject has been +often quoted. He said, "All the motions of children are full of grace; +affectation and distortion come in with the dancing master." To +dancing itself there is not the slightest objection; it is at once an +agreeable and healthy occupation, and it affords a pleasing and +innocent recreation. The pleasure which most children take in it, in +spite of the "exercises" which they are compelled to practise, proves, +we think, its utility. + +The treatment of the feet is on a par with that of the rest of the +body. The toes are thrust close together into a shoe, the shape of the +sole of which does not resemble that of the foot. It is generally +narrower than the foot, which, therefore, hangs over the sides. The +soles of children's shoes are, moreover, made alike on both sides, +whereas the inside should be nearly straight, and the width of the +sole should correspond exactly with that of the foot. Boots, which +have been so fashionable of late years, are very convenient, and have +a neat appearance, but they are considered to weaken the ankle, +because the artificial support which they give to that part prevents +the full exercise of the muscles, which waste from want of use. Shoes +should be cut short in the quarter, because the pressure necessary to +keep such shoes as are now worn on the feet will, in this case, be on +the instep instead of the toes, which will, by this arrangement, have +more room. + +We shall conclude our observations on children's dress, considered in +a sanitary point of view, in the words of Mr. South. "If, then, you +wish your children, girls especially, to have the best chance of +health, and a good constitution, let them wear flannel next their +skin, and woollen stockings in winter; have your girls' chests covered +to the collar bones, and their shoulders _in_, not _out_ of their +dresses, if you would have them straight; and do not confine their +chests and compress their digestive organs by bone stays, or interfere +with the free movement of their chests by tight belts, or any other +contrivance, if you desire their lungs should do their duty, upon +which so mainly depends the preservation of health."--_Sharpe's London +Magazine._ + + ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ + +NOTE.--The Fig. 58, referred to on the top of page 59, is not found +in the plate; but the same style of dressing the hair may be seen in +Fig. 57. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes and Amendments: + +Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation retained: + + Ardene/Arderne + Makrinitza/Markinitza + Parmegianino/Parmegiano + outdoor/out-door + + 'Head Dress' on the title page was left un-hyphenated, as printed. + +Amendments to the text as originally printed: + + List of Illustrations and Chapter VII (caption for plate XII.) + '89, 90. From "Le Moniteur de la Mode,"' to + '90, 91. From "Le Moniteur de la Mode,"' + + Chapter II. + 'The lady in the evening dress (Fig 49)' to + 'The lady in the evening dress (Fig. 49)' + + Chapter VI. + 'The materials of the drapery in the latter is' to + 'The materials of the drapery in the latter are' + + Chapter VII. + 'ribbon, artificial flowers. feathers,' to + 'ribbon, artificial flowers, feathers,' + + 'the environs of Athens, (Fig. 49.)' to + 'the environs of Athens, (Fig. 47.)' + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dress as a Fine Art, by +Mary Philadelphia Merrifield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRESS AS A FINE ART *** + +***** This file should be named 34092.txt or 34092.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/0/9/34092/ + +Produced by Jana Srna, Sharon Joiner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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