"Canadian Clouts" and the Alexandra Limp.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 18, 16 March 1870, Page 7

"Canadian Clouts" and the Alexandra Limp.

An Edinburgh correspondent writes : " Frost has set in with a sharpness which gives bloom to the cheeks, and—tell it not in Gath—to "the noses also of our pretty girls, and skating is going on with vigour on all our lochs and artificial ponds. Lady skaters liave an opportunity of displaying modified toilets and unexceptionable ankles if they have them ; if not, of covering them with pantalettes, with wicked little frills at the bottom, just meeting the tops of the boots. Of this new style of undei garments I have seen more than one pair surmounting neat feet, and completing with a certain amount of piquancy the short costume so necessary upon skates. Those who have got. good ankles, and know it, content themselves with stockings of marvellous hues and wonderful patterns ; tartans of all checks and colours, and devices of all kinds appear upon the legs of the girls of the period. What would our great-grandmothers have said to the apparition of a pair of beetles crawling out of the tops of a lady's boots or across her instep 1 ? Yet these devices, gorgeously wrought in brilliant hues of green and gold, I saw the other day upon a pair of stockings of soft grey silk. Ladies here are muffling up their heads in the long scarfs called ' Canadian clouts.' I saw two upon the ice the other day as completely wrapped in them about the hands and face as though they were mummies. These ' clouts' are very warm, but very ugly. Another monstrosity has made itself visible among the female promenades in Princesstreet, viz., 'the Alexandra limp!' Shoes with torturing heels in the middle of the foot. Grecian bends, and preposterous mincing steps as of a duck on hot plates, have been common enough—nay, I have even seen canes in the hands of some female frequenters of our fashionable exhibition streets ; but this newly-acquired affectation excels them all. It is as painful as it is idiotic and ludicrous. Taking my customary walk a few days ago, observant of men, women, and things, I met three—ladies I was goin;,' to say, as they wore female attire, and that made and adjusted in the height of fashion ; but as no true lady could possibly adopt a fancy which had its origin in the pain and suffering of one eo dearly beloved as our beautiful future Queen, we can only call them so by the courtesy due to all women, be they what they may. These ' ladies' wore the costume of the period, a little elaborated even, if that were possible. They were all three young, all three good-looking, and all three lame ! At least, such was my impression, seeing that they all carried handsome sticks and limped; but on looking back, as every one else did, I could discover no reason why they should do so, except the hideous puffing out and leaning forward which has become part of the educational deportment of our girls—l beg their pardon our young ladies; there are no girls now-a-days. Indeed, one decent woman expressed her pity in an audible 'Puir things!' as they passed ; but I was enlightened by hearing a pretty girl exclaim to her companion, ' Why, that's the Alexandra limp ! How ugly !' Ugly is a faint term to express what it is, but doubtless the same class of persons have introduced it to Buchanan-street by thi3 timo. Another thing remarkable about one of those girls was her hat. She had an immense quantity of grebe trimming about her dress generally, but the whole was surmounted by a hat of which nothing could be seen but a pheasant! Its head was in front, its tail behind, and the top of the hat was made of its breast. It looked at a distance like a sitting lien, and was very remarkable and ugly. With regard to the ' limp,' I heard that a fashionable Edinburgh shoe-maker-v one who carries the Royal arms over his shop front, actually made and vended the boots necessary to produce the deforniily, and that a pair of dainty boots had actually been exhibited in his window, one with a high heel and one without, labelled 'The Alexandra !' Not having seen the articles in question, however, I cannot vouch for the truth of the statement.— Glasgow Mail.