COMMON SENSE IN DRESS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume I, Issue 58, 22 March 1873, Page 3

COMMON SENSE IN DRESS.

i)iHST~AII honest and graceful dross should follow, »!m far as possible, the shape of the body as devised and found good by tho great Artificer. All that follows those beautiful linos muse be itself beautiful. AH that changes, deforma, or exaggerates those lines um«fc bo senseless, ugly, ludicrous, and untrue. Whether a gown swell out into tho hoops of the great tun of Heidelberg, or project backward like tho reverse aide of the Hottentot Venus, it is alike hideous. A gown may be of many folds, of many thicknesses, but it should not turn a woman into a caricature of the form Ood made, and made last of all. Secondly Dress should bo as much as possible true and honest — simple arid rich all good dress must be. There is no object, unless u Bedlamite one, for instance, in swelling the bond to tho size of a bushel, with heaps of tow and shreds of dead people's hair—hair, the an undents of which one idi udders to think of. The human head, strange to say, was grandly devued, ami need’s no improvement, if it bo only kept well filled with brains. To blow it up like a bladder, ia only what a feather-bonded milliner could wish to do, Tho perfect ideal of a head is a well shaped Greek head, simply bound by braids of its own glossy lour, knotted behind or woven into a crown mure beautiful than that of jewels. thirdly No thoughtful person, should fool any pleasure in wearing sham jewelry—sham any thin,'. All shams urc lies, pretonecs, dishoue.-t assumptions, unworthy of common sense unci real gentlehood. Tho beauty of gold is that it is gold, not that it looks hko gold ; too quiet satisfaction of wearing gold is that it is a, pure, lusting, beautiful metal, and just what it appears. To wear false gold is to wear miae ruble pinchbeck dereo* Don, worthy only of bagmen, bagwomca, swindlers, and courtesans, and unbc.,uum>g quiet honesty and tra.uk sincerity. ■fourthly a.nd lastly—Per feet dress should bo rich, but not exceptional. It should never try to catch tho eye, but pleu-o thy reuse, with a quicfc, almost unconscious cuifpi, it ia uuiy tho mounto* bank and the swindler w > -u agger in red and yellow. It is, or should no, only the Anouymtt who paints. Away, ! in-n, v, ,i n uii vulgar excess iu “ Silken coats, and caps, an;! guidon pings ; With euil'-, at, - i and things ; Wif a scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery ; ° With amber bracelets, b» .;•> , and all this knavery.” A wise pcipt- should dress like tho R rf,r -" ■-». u Tupi.i a •<;• Giorgoue’s pictures, ..•xioeo costume ym* irc-uv notice} thoiv Lera so glow with expre.i don, and arc so iajliact with, hope. VerLum sap.