THE PHILOSOPHY OF DRESS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9041, 28 January 1908, Page 6

THE PHILOSOPHY OF DRESS.

"I like Mile. Cecile Sorel," writes r Mr James Douglas in M.A.P. "She is not only a charming Parisian act- < ress, but she is also a philosopher. There is a stupid delusion that men J are the only philosophers. It is a male delusion. Few men are philosophers. Most women are. A philosopher is a person who has perfected the art of dodging life. Men do not dodge life; they run their heads against it. Women dodge life every day and almost e7ery moment. Men play the game of life according to the rules. Women laugh at the rules. Mile. Sorel has been formulating the philosophy of dress. Her views are intensely practical. In the first place, money must not be considered. No woman can dress well who thinks of money. "The other day a husband asked for a separation from his wife on the ground that she was too extravagant. She spent £3,000 a year on dress. Mile. S">rel considers the man is a brute. She holds that it is impossible to dress on £3,000 a year. She thinks a woman might manage on £6,000 a year, but she would have to be careful. She would be forced to pinch and scrape. The fiercest economy would be necessary. She must avoid all extravagance. She must deny herself many luxuries. She must look twice at every sou. The wearing anxiety of her parsimony would probably make her plain. Indeed, it is doubtful whether it would be worth her while to try to make ends meet. It is so easy to be dowdy on £5,000 a year. "Mile. Sorel manages, by virtue of extreme frugality, to cover herself on £IO,OOO a year. But she is reduced to wearing a hundred-guinea dress no fewer than fifteen times. It is then a rag. I feel sorry for Mile. Sorel. , I wish 1 cor 1 ' play Cophetua to her Beggar Maid, l blush when I think of the thousands we are wasting on cripples and Crosby Halla while this poor but beautiful creature languishes in Parisian penury. "It is absurd to suppose that there are many well-dressed women in the world. Sorel says there are only a few in Paris. Nothing but her modesty prevents her from revealing the bitter truth that there is only one. Her name happens to be Sorel. The others are Pseudo-Sorellians. I wonder if there is one well-dressed woman in London. If so, who is she? Perhaps Mrs Aria will tell us. But perchance it would not be fair, for everybody would imitate her, as everybody imitates Sorel. The philosophy of dress is based upon envy. There are many rungs in the ladder of fashion. Sorel is on the top rung, and every other woman is climbing after her. When she adds a new .rung, all the other women move up one. Pope was wrong when he alleged that every woman is at heart a rake. He would have been nearer the truth if he had said that every woman is at heart an ape. Sorel apes the eighteenth century, and the twentieth century apes Sorel. Therefore, our women of fashion are exactly two hundred years behind the times. Sorel fears only two things—to be imitated and not to be imitated. It is her ambition to be perpetually pursued, but never caught. She allures her pursuers by putting on new clothes and baffles them by a quickchange immediately afterwards. "Some idiots say that women are extravagant. It is a lie. Women are miserable misers. Is it their fault that vulgarity is cheap? Even Sorel would be delighted to buy a fifty-guinea hat for twelve and elevenpence. But beauty is always dsar. If it were cheap it would be dowdy. At the same time, dowdiness is not always cheap. You can be dowdy at any price you please. If cheapness were always vulgar Sorel would have a sinecure. But the cheap is the enemy of the dear. What was dear in the morning is cheap in the afternoon. That is why the mode is like manna, it must be gathered at dawn and discarded at noon. The manna was made by angels. So is the mode. Sorel is an archangel. It is nonsense to say that she is extravagant. Is Mr Pierpont Morgan extravagant? Yet he pays £200,000 for portraits of people who are not nearly so nice as Sorel. Is Mr Andrew Carnegie extravagant? Yet he spends millions on ugly little free libraries. Is Mr Rockefeller extravagnat? Yet he plays golf. Is Mr Morgan beautiful? No. Is Mr Carnegie beautiful? No. Is Mr Rockefeller beautiful? No. Is Sorel beautiful? Yes. Therefore, according to Keats, she is a joy for ever. What more do you want?"