MEN’S FASHIONS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 500, 15 August 1867, Page 1

MEN’S FASHIONS.

(From tho Quecu.) Tun theme of the vagaries of fashion, like that of the weather, is old, but always in.tmvs.ieg. We ira ;gi:'.c that the neve? nagging interest awakened by these subjects arises from tho fact that they are both of a personal nature. Tbo weath r uhect? us individually—wo are made hot or cold, (• ■mlurtablo or uncomfortable, ill or well by it. So the changes of fashion ■touch us all more or less. There are few, I indeed, who are abl ■ (o withstand the iu:!u mces of the changes that gradually como over the dress of the people surrounding t;u'm. But to hear men talk, one would think that one sex only was subject to the jiiiilu me?s of iick'e Fashion, and that on« jiioi (heirs. We hive not to go hick to jpietur s, however, to find out that nothing ys more absurdly wiliiout foundation tUau h; claim of men lobe exempt from the | government of change. Men’s fashions jare. perhaps, not quite so conspicuous la 'their variations as are those of women; but tho changes, like the gradual upheaval of certain portions of tho cart ,’s surface, though slow, are sure. Where, for example, are the !! Xoah’a Ark '’ coats in which the m m at a period of ten years ago used to delight. Like the past hours they are With the years heynuil tho flood.

\Vb«r j the Spanish cloaks, or the ponchos, or the thousand a.:d one varieties of outer ginuents that have year by year been tho objects of ailmi'-dioa to men, and thi mean? by which thay have cilVct -d their pe.voial ad M'inn eit and beautification ? They are quite o’o-e.leta as are now tho i fa-hints in winch W'jmen rejoiced at tho 'ime tho aboveinein ioued masculine garments were in vogue. C'onsid ning tho comparatively small amount of change possible to men in their I dress, whhout their incurring the odium of great siiiL'ulari'v, it, is remarkable to ■joserve the ingenuity thy (list-lay in makiu r the mast of tomr opponnaiti*-?. Mot oidy are c a;s ami trousers subject to per* u ami slight.. chang-'s in form, in arrangement of in ornamentation ; but cloves and Handkerchiefs, shirts and collars, pi.is and rings, ail obey the dictates of smn i leader of fashion, more or less disii.igmsiteil in hi., way. We are not awaro whether at the pro.-ent day there is any male personage to whom is attributed tho setting of men’s fashions, as people assign .11 women’s fashions to tho dictum ot tho i-hupre-s I'Ugenio. Who reigns now in tho v cited places of the great beaux of lno Urgency or of the fount D’Orsar ?• T’everihellos, f-sluons undoubtedly obtain among meii just as certainly as among tho toner sx, a,id are followed just as tl ivishly.

All men can geo and remark sapicntly on ilio unj'i •( liresipicncess and lolly of tho ilio hooupetlieoar., the hundred and one absurdities to which passion forclunge will loud even women of sense, line the power is not -iron to them of seeing themselves as oiiiers see them; and, therefore, th.y are blind to absurdities of the chimney pot hat in all its variations, and to tuoseof tho ordinary evening, costume of tlu-ir sex.

It is in the matter of shirts and collars tlim the greatest amount of ingenuity is displayed, and that each man exhibits most clearly his desire to bo like all others, lie was a bold man who tirst adopted tho turned down collars; but how speedily did every one else fjllovr his example 1 The collars, from me earliest ‘‘dog-collar” to the latest “ tdiaksperian.” have been adopted and discarded by an hula, nees over men precisely s-1 n.ilar to H al which dictate- tile adoption by woman of red or black hair, or the prevalence of short or long skirts. In (lie matter of beards and, whiskers, points in which, if at all, wo sluui'd expect to see some manifestations of indtviduaiitv, there may be noted an equal following of the prevalent fashions by men, who are quite ready to laugh at the women’ 3 curls and 1 lulls, chignons and “ love-L-ek.-v’ Jho gummed moustache or tho i:iii ing whiskers arc nol unlroquently to be uciicl i on loci s widen are neitiicr purely military nor to be seen sAelv in fall alall.

One of the latest matters in which tho iuiiow ing of ‘he fashions by men has been manif.'stiil, is the linger which they hare chosen to a torn wiiii tlie signet. J.IIO iiltle linger of each hand was lint upon ■•inch us. d to l e displayed whatever was a man’s special vainly m rings. But » step has been made, and it is now tho 11-urth linger wliicii is chosen to be decora* ed. All the rings, we suppose, hare been mudm d to suit . sigencics oi me case; for the lingers couid not have been altered l 1 r tne occasion. I’ne l.id is so, howcitr, ■ nil genuenicn now wear their nogs on i lie same linger as eng ged young ladies, tv helJter !a,.ies are about, to give special patronage to the linger neglected by gtni.euicu, time wtd snow. Considerable and anxious observation has led us to the conhuhon that the fashions of men are distinctly marked and exacting as these followed by women. .Urn are no more proof against their influences than are the women at whoso complaisant weakness they are yd pleased to rail : nor are the variations themselves the result of any cause more distinguished than that caprice w.iich is acknowledged to rule the fashions o£ women*