ORNAMENT--ECONOMY.
Ornament, although not an integral part of dress, is so intimately
connected with it, that we must devote a few words to the subject.
Under the general term of ornament we shall include bows of ribbon,
artificial flowers, feathers, jewels, lace, fringes, and trimmings of
all kinds. Some of these articles appear to be suited to one period
of life, some to another. Jewels, for instance, though suitable
for middle age, seem misplaced on youth, which should always be
characterized by simplicity of apparel; while flowers, which are so
peculiarly adapted to youth, are unbecoming to those advanced in
years; in the latter case there is contrast without harmony; it is
like uniting May with December.
The great principle to be observed with regard to ornament is, that it
should be appropriate, and appear designed to answer some useful
purpose. A brooch, or a bow of ribbon, for instance, should fasten
some part of the dress; a gold chain should support a watch or an
eyeglass. Trimmings are useful to mark the borders or edges of the
different parts of the dress; and in this light they add to the
variety, while by their repetition they conduce to the regularity of
the ornamentation.
[Illustration: Pl. 11.
Figure 78. From the embroidery on fig. 47, pl. 5.
79. From the sleeve of the same dress, above.
80. From the sleeve of the pelisse.
81. The pattern embroidered from the waist to the skirt
of the dress, fig. 51, pl. 5.
82. The border of the shawl, fig. 51.
83. Sleeve of the same, figure 51.
84. Design on the apron, fig. 48, pl. 5.
85. From the border of the same dress, fig. 48.
]
Ornament is so much a matter of fashion, that beyond the above remarks
it scarcely comes within the scope of our subject. There is one point,
however, to which the present encouragement of works of design induces
us to draw the attention of our readers. We have already borrowed from
the beautiful work of M. de Stackelberg, some of the female figures in
illustration of our views with regard to dress; we have now to call
the attention of our readers to the patterns embroidered on the
dresses. These are mostly of classic origin, and prove that the
descendants of the Greeks have still sufficient good taste to
appreciate and adopt the designs of their glorious ancestors. The
figures in the plates being too small to show the patterns, we have
enlarged some of them from the original work, in order to show the
style of design still cultivated among the peasants of Greece, and
also because we think the designs may be applied to other materials
besides dress. Some of them appear not inappropriate to iron work.
When will our people be able to show designs of such elegance? Fig. 78
is an enlarged copy of the embroidery on the robe of the peasant from
the environs of Athens, (Fig. 47.) It extends, as will be seen, half
way up the skirt. Fig. 79 is from the sleeve of the same dress.
Fig. 80 is the pattern embroidered on the sleeve of the pelisse.
Fig. 81 is the pattern from the waist to the hem of the skirt of an
Athenian peasant's dress, (Fig. 51.) Fig. 82 is the border to the
shawl; Fig. 83, the sleeve of the last-mentioned dress; Fig. 84, the
design on the apron of the Arcadian peasant, (Fig. 48.) Fig. 85 is
the border of the same dress. Fig. 86 is the pattern round the hem of
the long under-dress of the Athenian peasant, (Fig. 51;) Fig. 87, the
border of a shawl, or something of the kind. Fig. 88 is another
example. The brocade dress of Sancta Victoria (Fig. 64) offers a
striking contrast to the simple elegance of the Greek designs. It is
too large for the purpose to which it is employed, and not sufficiently
distinct; and, although it possesses much variety, it is deficient in
regularity; and one of the elements of beauty in ornamental design,
namely, repetition, appears to be entirely wanting. In these respects,
the superiority of the Greek designs is immediately apparent. They
unite at once symmetry with regularity, and variety with repetition.
[Illustration: Pl. 12.
Figure 86. Pattern round the hem of the long under dress,
fig. 51, pl. 5.
87, 88. Borders of shawls.
89. Infant's dress, exhibited at the World's Fair in
London.
90, 91. From "Le Moniteur de la Mode," by Jules David and
Reville, published at Paris, London, New York,
and St. Petersburg.
]
The examination of these designs suggests the reflection that when we
have once attained a form of dress which combines ease and elegance
with convenience, we should tax our ingenuity in inventing ornamental
designs for decorating it, rather than seek to discover novel forms of
dress.
The endless variety of textile fabrics which our manufacturers are
constantly producing, the variety, also, in the colors, will, with
the embroidery patterns issued by our schools of design, suffice to
appease the constant demand for novelty, which exists in an improving
country, without changing the form of our costume, unless to adopt
others which reason and common sense point out as superior to that in
use. We are told to try all things, and to hold fast to that which is
good. The maxim is applicable to dress as well as to morals.
The subject of economy in dress, an essential object with many
persons, now claims our attention. We venture to offer a few remarks
on this head. Our first recommendation is to have but few dresses at a
time, and those extremely good. If we have but few dresses, we wear
them, and wear them out while they are in fashion; but if we have many
dresses at once, some of them become quite old-fashioned before we
have done with them. If we are rich enough to afford the sacrifice,
the old-fashioned dress is got rid of; if not, we must be content to
appear in a fashion that has long been superseded; and we look as if
we had come out of the tombs, or as if one of our ancestors had
stepped out of her picture frame, and again walked the earth.
As to the economy of selecting the best materials for dresses, we
argue thus: Every dress must be lined and made up, and we pay as much
for making and lining an inferior article, as we do for one of the
best quality. Now, a good silk or merino will wear out two bad ones;
therefore, one good dress, lining and making, will cost less than two
inferior ones, with the expenses of lining and making them. In point
of appearance, also, there is no comparison between the two; the good
dress will look well to the last, while one of inferior quality will
soon look shabby. When a good silk dress has become too shabby to be
worn longer as a dress, it becomes, when cut up, useful for a variety
of purposes; whereas an inferior silk, or one purely ornamental, is,
when left off, good for nothing.
Plain dresses, that is to say, those of a single color, and without
a pattern, are more economical as well as more quiet in their
appearance than those of various colors. They are also generally less
expensive, because something is always paid for the novelty of the
fashion; besides, colored and figured dresses bear the date on the
face of them, as plainly as if it was there in printed characters. The
ages of dress fabrics are known by the pattern; therefore dresses of
this description should be put on as soon as purchased, and worn out
at once, or they will appear old-fashioned. There is another reason
why vari-colored dresses are less economical than others. Where there
are several colors, they may not all be equally fast, and if only one
of them fades the dress will lose its beauty. Trimmings are not
economical; besides their cost in the first instance, they become
shabby before the dress, and if removed, they generally leave a mark
where they have been, and so spoil the appearance of the dress.
Dresses made of one kind of material only, are more durable than those
composed of two; as, for instance, of cotton and silk, of cotton and
worsted, or of silk and worsted. When the silk is merely thrown on
the face of the material, it soon wears off. This is also the case in
those woollen or cotton goods which have a silken stripe.
The question of economy also extends to colors, some of which are much
more durable than others. For this we can give no rule, except that
drabs and other "Quaker colors," as they are frequently called, are
amongst the most permanent of all colors. For other colors we must
take the word of the draper. There is no doubt, however, but that the
most durable colors are the cheapest in the end. In the selection of
colors, the expense is not always a criterion; something must be paid
for fashion and novelty, and perhaps for the cost of the dye. The
newest and most expensive colors are not always those which last the
longest.
It is not economical to have the dresses made in the extremity of the
fashion, because such soon become remarkable; but the fashions should
be followed at such a distance, that the wearer may not attract the
epithet of old-fashioned.
We conclude this part of our subject with a few suggestions relative
to the selection of different styles and materials of dress.
The style of dress should be adapted to the age of the wearer. As a
general rule, we should say that in youth the dress should be simple
and elegant, the ornaments being flowers. In middle age, the dress may
be of rich materials, and more splendid in its character; jewels are
the appropriate ornaments. In the decline of life, the materials of
which the dress is composed may be equally rich, but with less
vivacious colors: the tertiaries and broken colors are particularly
suitable, and the character of the whole costume should be quiet,
simple, and dignified. The French, whose taste in dress is so far in
advance of our own, say, that ladies who are _cinquante ans sonnes_,
should neither wear gay colors, nor dresses of slight materials,
flowers, feathers, or much jewelry; that they should cover their hair,
wear high dresses and long sleeves.
Tall ladies may wear flounces and tucks, but they are less appropriate
for short persons. As a general rule, vertical stripes make persons
appear taller than they really are, but horizontal stripes have a
contrary effect. The latter, Mr. Redgrave says, are not admissible in
garment fabrics, "since, crossing the person, the pattern quarrels
with all the motions of the human figure, as well as with the form of
the long folds in the skirts of the garment. For this reason," he
continues, "large and pronounced checks, however fashionable, are
often in bad taste, and interfere with the graceful arrangement of the
drapery." Is it to show their entire contempt for the principles of
design that our manufacturers introduced last year not only horizontal
stripes of conspicuous colors, but checks and plaids of immense size,
as autumnal fashions for dress fabrics? We had hoped that the ladies
would have shown the correctness of their taste by their disapproval
of these unbecoming designs, but the prevalence of the fashion at the
present time is another evidence of the triumph of fashion over good
taste.
A white and light-colored dress makes the wearers appear larger,
while a black or dark dress causes them to appear smaller than they
actually are. A judicious person will, therefore, avail herself of
these known effects, by adopting the style of dress most suitable to
her stature.
To sum up, in a few words, our impressions on this subject, we should
say that the best style of dress is that which, being exactly adapted
to the climate and the individual, is at once modest, quiet, and
retiring, harmonious in color and decoration, and of good materials.
We conclude with the following admirable extract from Tobin's
"Honeymoon," which we earnestly recommend to the attention of our
fair readers.
I'll have no glittering gewgaws stuck about you
To stretch the gaping eyes of idiot wonder,
And make men stare upon a piece of earth,
As on the star-wrought firmament--no feathers,
To wave as streamers to your vanity;
Nor cumbrous silk, that with its rustling sound
Makes proud the flesh that bears it. She's adorned
Amply, that in her husband's eye looks lovely--
The truest mirror that an honest wife
Can see her beauty in!
_Julia._ I shall observe, sir.
_Duke._ I should like well to see you in the dress I last presented
you.
_Julia._ The blue one, sir?
_Duke._ No, love,--the white. Thus modestly attired,
A half-blown rose stuck in thy braided hair,
With no more diamonds than those eyes are made of,
No deeper rubies than compose thy lips,
Nor pearls more precious than inhabit them,
With the pure red and white, which that same hand
Which blends the rainbow, mingles in thy cheeks;
This well-proportioned form (think not I flatter)
In graceful motion to harmonious sounds,
And thy free tresses dancing in the wind,
Thou'lt fix as much observance, as chaste dames
Can meet without a blush.
We look forward hopefully to a day when art-education will be extended
to all ranks; when a knowledge of the beautiful will be added to that
of the useful; when good taste, based upon real knowledge and common
sense, will dictate our fashions in dress as in other things. We have
schools of art to reform our taste in pottery, hardware, and textile
fabrics, not to speak of the higher walks of art, painting, sculpture,
and architecture. The handle of a jug, the stem of a wine glass,
the design for dress silks or lace veils, will form the subjects
of lectures to the students of the various schools of design;
disquisitions are written on the important question whether the
ornamental designs should represent the real form of objects, or only
give a conventional representation of them; while the study of the
human figure, the masterpiece of creation, is totally neglected,
except by painters and sculptors. We hope that the study of form will
be more extended, that it will be universal, that it will, in fact,
enter into the general scheme of education, and that we shall
hereafter see as much pains bestowed in improving by appropriate
costume the figure which nature has given us, as we do now in
distorting it by tight stays, narrow and high-heeled shoes, and all
the other deformities and eccentricities of that many-faced monster,
fashion. The economy of the frame, and the means of preserving it in
health and beauty, should form an integral part of education. There
can be no true beauty without health; and how can we hope to secure
health if we are ignorant of the means of promoting it, or if we
violate its precepts by adopting absurd and pernicious fashions?
Surely it is not too much to hope that dressmakers will hereafter
attend the schools of design, to study the human form, and thence
learn to appreciate its beauties, and to clothe it with appropriate
dress, calculated to display its beauties to the greatest advantage,
and to conceal its defects--the latter with the reservation we have
already noticed. We hope, also, that the shoemaker will learn to model
the shoe upon the true form of the foot.
Manufacturers are now convinced of the importance and utility of
schools of design; and whether the article hereafter to be produced be
a cup and saucer, a fender, a pattern for a dress, or for furniture,
for a service of plate or a diamond tiara, it is thought proper that
the pupil, as a preliminary course that cannot be dispensed with,
should commence with the study of the human figure. Yet is not dress
an art-manufacture as well as a cup and saucer, or a teaboard? Is
there less skill and talent, less taste required to clothe the form
which we are told is made after God's own image, than to furnish an
apartment? Why should not dressmakers and tailors attend the schools
of design, as well as those artisans who are intended to be employed
in what are called art-manufactures? Why should not shoemakers be
taught the shape and movements of the foot? If this were the case, we
are satisfied that an immediate and permanent improvement would be the
consequence in our style of dress. Would any person acquainted with
the human form, and especially with the little round form of an
infant, have sent to the Great Exhibition an infant's robe shaped like
that in our cut. Fig. 89. An infant with a waist "growing fine by
degrees and beautifully less"!--was there ever such a deformity? We
believe that many portrait painters stipulate that they should be
allowed to dictate the dress, at least as regards the arrangement of
the colors, of their sitters; the reason of this is, that the
painter's selection of dress and color is based upon the study of the
figure and complexion of the individual, or the knowledge of the
effects of contrast and harmony of lines, tissues, and colors, while
the models which are presented for his imitation too frequently offer
to his view a style of dress, both as regards form and color, which
set the rules of harmony at defiance. Now, only suppose that the
dressmaker had the painter's knowledge of form and harmony of lines
and colors, what a revolution would take place in dress? We should no
longer see the tall and the short, the slender and the stout, the
brown and the fair, the old and the young, dressed alike, but the
dress would be adapted to the individual; and we believe that, were
the plan of study we recommend generally adopted, this purpose might
always be effected without the sacrifice of what is now the grand
desideratum in dress--novelty.
The reasons why the art of dressmaking has not hitherto received the
attention which it deserves, are to be sought for in the constitution
of society. The branches of manufacture which require a knowledge of
design, such as calico printing, silk and ribbon weaving, porcelain
and pottery, and hardware manufactures, are conducted on a large
scale by men of wealth and talent, who, if they would compete
successfully with rival manufacturers, find it necessary to study and
apply to their own business all the improvements in science, with
which their intercourse with society gives them an opportunity of
becoming acquainted. It is quite otherwise with dressmaking. A woman
is at the head of every establishment of this kind, a woman generally
of limited education and attainments, from whom cannot be expected
either liberality of sentiment or enlarged views, but who possibly
possesses some tact and discrimination of character, which enables her
to exercise a kind of dictatorial power in matters of dress over her
customers; these customers are scarcely better informed on the subject
than herself.
The early life of the dressmaker is spent in a daily routine of labor
with the needle, and when she becomes a mistress in her turn, she
exacts from her assistants the same amount of daily labor that was
formerly expected from herself. Work, work, work with the needle from
almost childhood, in the same close room from morning to night, and
not unfrequently from night to morning also, is the everlasting
routine of the monotonous life of the dressmakers. They are working
for bread, and have no leisure to attend to the improvement of the
mind, and the want of this mental cultivation is apparent in the
articles they produce by their labor. When one of the young women who
attends these establishments to learn the trade, thinks she has had
sufficient experience, she leaves the large establishment, and sets up
in business on her own account. In this new situation she works
equally hard, and has, therefore, no time for improving her mind or
taste. Of the want of this, however, she is not sensible, because she
can purchase for a trifle all the newest patterns, and the thought
never enters her poor little head, that the same fashion may not suit
all her customers. This defective education of the dressmakers, or
rather their want of knowledge of the human form, is one of the great
causes of the prevalence of the old fashion of tight lacing; it is so
much easier to make a closely-fitting body suit over a tight stay than
it is on the pliant and yielding natural form, in which, if one part
be drawn a little too tight, or the contrary, the body of the dress is
thrown out of shape. Supposing, on the other hand, the fit to be
exact, it is so difficult to keep such a tight-fitting body in its
place on the figure without securing its form by whalebones, that
it is in vain to expect the stays to become obsolete until the
tight-fitting bodice is also given up.
This will never take place until not only the ladies who are to be
clothed, but the dressmakers, shall make the human form their study,
and direct their efforts to set off their natural advantages by
attending to the points which are their characteristic beauties. A
long and delicate throat, falling shoulders, not too wide from point
to point, a flat back, round chest, wide hips--these are the points
which should be developed by the dress. Whence it follows, that every
article of dress which shortens the throat, adds height or width to
the shoulders, roundness to the back, or flatness to the chest, must
be radically wrong in principle, and unpleasant and repulsive in
effect. In the same manner, whatever kind of dress adds to the height
of a figure already too tall and thin, or detracts from the apparent
height of the short and stout, must be avoided. These things should
form the study of the dressmaker.
As society is now constituted, however, the dressmaker has not, as we
have already observed, leisure to devote to studies of the necessity
and importance of which she is still ignorant. The reform must be
begun by the ladies themselves. They must acquire a knowledge of form,
and of the principles of beauty and harmony, and so exercise a
controlling influence over the dressmakers. By this means, a better
taste will be created, and the dressmakers will at length discover
their deficiency in certain guiding principles, and will be driven
at last to resort to similar studies. But in this case a startling
difficulty presents itself--the poor dressmaker is at present
over-worked: how can she find leisure to attend the schools of
design, or even pursue, if she had the ability, the necessary studies
at home? A girl is apprenticed to the trade at the age of thirteen or
fourteen; she works at it all her life, rising early, and late taking
rest; and what is the remuneration of her daily toil of twelve hours?
Eighteen pence, or at most two shillings a day, with her board![3] As
she reckons the value of the latter at a shilling, it follows, that
the earnings of a dressmaker, in the best period of her life, who goes
out to work, could not exceed fifteen shillings, or, at the most,
eighteen shillings a week, if she did not--at the hazard of her
health, which, indeed, is frequently sacrificed--work at home before
she begins, and after she has finished, her day's work abroad. The
carpenter or house painter does not work harder, or bring to bear on
his employment greater knowledge, than the poor dressmaker; yet he has
four shillings sixpence a day, without his board, while she has only
what is equivalent to two shillings sixpence, or three shillings. What
reason can be assigned why a woman's work, if equally well done,
should not be as well paid as that of a man? A satisfactory reason has
yet to be given; the fact, however, is indisputable, that women are
not in general so well paid for their labor as men.
[3] Of course it will be understood that these are the English
prices; but does not the comparison hold good between male and
female labor in this country?
Although these remarks arose naturally out of our subject, we must
not digress too far. To return to the dressmaker. If the hours of
labor of these white slaves who toil in the dressmaking establishments
were limited to ten or twelve hours, as in large factories, two
consequences would follow: the first is, that more hands would be
employed, and the second, that the young women would have time to
attend schools, and improve their minds. If they could also attend
occasional lectures on the figure, and on the harmony of color and
costume with reference to dress, the best effects would follow.
Those dressmakers who are rich enough, and, we may add, many ladies
also, take in some book of fashions with colored illustrations, and
from this they imbibe their notions of beauty of form and elegance of
costume. How is it possible, we would ask, for either the dressmaker
or the ladies who employ them to acquire just ideas of form, or of
suitable costume, when their eyes are accustomed only to behold such
deformed and unnatural representations of the human figure as those in
the accompanying plates? Figs. 90 and 91. Is it any wonder that small
waists should be admired, when the books which aspire to be the
handmaids and mirrors of fashion present to their readers such libels
on beauty of form? Now, suppose that lithographed drawings of costumes
issued occasionally from the schools of design, is it not reasonable
to suppose that, with the knowledge which the students have acquired
of the human figure, the illustrations would be more accurate
imitations of nature? An eye accustomed to the study of nature can
scarcely bear to contemplate, much less to imitate, the monsters of a
depraved taste which disgrace the different publications that aspire
to make known the newest fashions. Many of the illustrations of these
publications, although ill proportioned, are executed in a certain
stylish manner which takes with the uneducated, and the mechanical
execution of the figures is also good. This, however, is so far from
being an advantage, that it only renders them the more dangerous; like
the song of the siren, they lead only to evil.
We are told that many of the first Parisian artists derive a
considerable part of their income from drawing the figures in the
French books of fashion and costume, and that, in the early part of
his career, Horace Vernet, the president of the French Academy, did
not disdain to employ his talents in this way. We cannot, however,
refrain from expressing our surprise and honest indignation that
artists of eminence, especially those who, like the French school,
have a reputation for correct drawing, and who must, therefore, be so
well acquainted with the actual as well as ideal proportions of the
female figure, should so prostitute their talents as to employ them in
delineating the ill-proportioned figures which appear in books of
fashions. It is no small aggravation of their offence, in our eyes,
that the figures should be drawn in such graceful positions, and with
the exception of the defective proportions, with so much skill. These
beauties only make them more dangerous; the goodness of their
execution misleads the unfortunate victims of their fascination. What
young lady, unacquainted with the proportions of the figure, could
look on these prints of costumes and go away without the belief that a
small waist and foot were essential elements of beauty? So she goes
home from her dressmaker's, looks in the glass, and not finding her
own waist and foot as small as those in the books of fashion, gives
her stay-lace an extra tightening pull, and, regardless of corns,
squeezes her feet into tight shoes, which makes the instep appear
swollen. Both the figures in our last plates were originally drawn and
engraved by Jules David, and Reville, in "_Le Moniteur de la Mode_,"
which is published at Paris, London, New York, and St. Petersburg.
Let our readers look at these figures, and say whether the most
determined votary of tight lacing ever succeeded in compressing her
waist into the proportions represented in these figures.
We should like to hear that lectures were given occasionally, by a
lady in the female school of design, on the subjects of form, and of
dress in its adaptation to form and to harmony of color. We have no
doubt that a lady competent to deliver these lectures will readily be
found. After a course of these lectures, we do not hesitate to predict
that illustrations of fashion emanating from this source would be,
in point of taste, every thing that could be desired. We venture to
think that the students of the female school may be as well and as
profitably employed in designing costumes, as in inventing patterns
for cups and saucers or borders for veils. Until some course, of the
nature we have indicated, is adopted, we cannot hope for any permanent
improvement in our costume.