LADIES' COLUM.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 142, 30 July 1880, Page 1 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUM.

COLOUR IN DRESS. The love of intense colour must go luu ;; hand by the way, -with the appreoiati* '■ rich stuffs. It is impossible iu any but ‘ noblest materials —I speak now of w ; tissues, not of ceramic wares—to realise | and brilliant colours. A gorgeous erii i chintz is impossible. The lustre of sati the depth of velvet, is necessary to bring •» the tint, and the shadows and lights of h< folds to, give its full gradations. Of necessity' of rich stuffs to perfect colour, I the power of tho power of the two iu e ! bination to hide even defects of form, shall bo convinced if wc think a moment the costume of Venice and Spain in tl classic days. If we criticise its pictures* effects, wc shall see how beauty depe: on material and colour—how often it wanting if we look for if. in form alone. I tightly-drawn, long, (fat bodices (lisp the shimmer of satin, the glow of velvett, the best advantage : but the form of 1 woman within is utterly hidden-—lay t vestied. Tho tight or pulled sleeves, t heavy perpendicular folds of the full sk gathered on tho hips, show most magnificent tho rarest gradations of colour the mater; can exhibit, and bring out most perfectly i heavy richness. But they tell us nothing the limbs they cover, it maims no difi’e encc what was below many ot the rob. Velasquez painted, The woman, apart fro; the superb life of face and hands, was but frame upon which to display the u tmos beauty of the loom. This is not the way i which the Greek chiton and chlamys coverei and decorated and explained the bod’ beneath, following its shape and motioi with a beauty almost higher than the un draped form could show. Softness was ali that was needed for such a dress. White flannel would have been an excellent material where form was tho first thought but fancy a dress of white I'annul made like that of Titian’s ‘ Lavinia,’ or of Pharaoh’s daughter in Veronese’s ‘ Finding of Moses,* at Dresden ! Colour such as tho Venetians loved is impossible without richness of surface and fold to render it, Aud richness of surface and fold would not make us admire some of tho forms the Renaissance tolerated without colour to dazzle and enthrall us. Tho black satin Fortuny painted so marvellously in a portrait seen at one of the New York Loan Exhibitions could not redeem an unpleasing form as do the cream satin and green velvet of Titian, the yellow damask of Veronese, and the rich brocades Yalasquez knew.—‘ Van Rensselaer.