Ladies' Gossip.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5154, 25 February 1888, Page 2

Ladies' Gossip.

THE INSTINCT OF DRESs!

When one of « Ouida'a'' miraculous great laiUes, who trail old laces on their bala-youses and quote polyglot scraps about most thinjra under Heaven, siy S that, even if „bo Wire ' poor, and reduced to wearing dimity and serge, she would still have her garments. ■ fashioned so that Gt>rgione or Gainsboromrb' might delight iv her, sho speaks what sounds, and is, good sense ; and yet there aro many reasons which prevent women with slender purses fro_ following her idea. If a woman works fot.her living/she is likely, at the presont rate of pressure and S o ' 1° be ? 00 ? eM T *» Pay niore than a nttul aud careless attention to dress * and the careful consideration of harmony j_a of the suitableness of one garment to "another is often pressed out of mind by matters of moro importance. Perhaps it ought not to be so, but it is. The small refinements and thoughtfulnesses of dress which rive it as it wero its grace and wit, may be cost little money, but much thought and care; and so a woman, who is keenly sensitive to beauty of rainunt, often shows little sign of the instinct, and is dreary, oven if neat, in her attire ; sho has so many other of which to think that dross gets, as Leslie, Goldthwaite said, "crowded out." And yet it is a pity; for to most -women dress is a pleasure, and aright one- and when the feminine instinct is crushed or lacking in a woman, so that sho does not care how she looks, it shows, _ want in her nature. I am not spaaking of slovenlT women; they are rightly an abom_atio___ all eyes, but of tho women who, fromeconomy or carelessness, or want of time or teste, or from religious opinion, may be and most likely aro neat—painfully neat, but whoso gowns aro dreary, dull, unfitted to tho wearer, or possessed of no individuality whatsoever. J The fashion of buying all things readymade has been a blessing in many wars, but it has deprived women of the necessity of thinking out their clothes for themselves, and as investing them with some degree of their own personalities. The "esthetic set were right when they set their faces against this custom, and declared that every woman's dress should bo an expression o"f herself. A woman who has the instinct of dress, shows it when she buys a gown "off a peg " just as much as when sho plans and arranges every detail of a costume after her own fancy. -That a frock is pretty, ■«• quaint, or fashionable, is no reason thata_.frshould purchase it; her tost of it is, «_ 0 _ it look liko me?" and though s_a may sometimes tako a now departure, some ne»fr_k of fashion, which is unlike anytbi__she has worn, but that yet approves itself to her as likely to suit be., she has the wit to know whether it will really mould' itself to her. '

There aro somowomon who pay for dress ; others who look loveliest in riding habit or rotton frock or safior's shirt; but these advancing years make it a more difficult task to dress suitably, and thoy are apt to drift into the short hair, wideawake hat, and pea jacket style of attire ; whereas the women whom dainty and delicate prettiness suited in girlhood take easily to more dignified and richer, if more sobea ttttiro, as their youth turns into inSetmaturity. And there is tho beauty iihiebi demands a simplicity and severity „ sentiment which tiny hint of coquetoy or consciousness in dress seems to degrade or belittle, as a masquerade habit might do, and which is usually framed best in black or white, which enhances the austere purity of look and feature. It is impossible to think of Shakespeare's Isabel, as sho was after tlie play ended, Duchess of Vienna, in rabato and farthingale, brocade and jewels ; the habit of a votaress of St. Clare seems tho only fitting garb for that" thing en - ■£■'■, « lisain ted." As Dorothea, says, an' iUiddlemaroh," " soala Havo eomple_oostoo." ■■ *

_ And tho. recognition oi this fact is a fading part of tho iostuwt of dress with women. The Vicar of Wakefield, when he tella us that a suit of mourning has transformed his coquette.into a prude, and a new set of ribbons has given her younger sister more vivacity, touches this neatly as htf does tho fommine adaptation of character, to attire when attire does prA) chance to suit the character, which .i*Jf ba stiuded at will at any fancy balir How far a dress may aid hi expression of personality every actress knows, and a part that is well dressed seems half-way— at „« entranco-to being well played. But „be well dressed on the stage by no means Signifies being splendid, any moro than it does m real life, and the over-dressing prevalent, anion* actresses at _o present time is a crying S1 „ against wt, and one to which an actress worthy th e name will not jield. barah Bernhardt, indeed, never chooses a part wherein she- cannot ring thechanges on s ,lk and velvet, lace and embroidery, crystal and feather, and fur, but Mme. Modjeska and Miss Terry both know now to enhance the splendor of garb requisite in ono scene by the simplicity in another, of a gown fashioned it may often bo x by their own hands, or under their own directions.

Certain it is that every year sees tho cuttorent classes of dresses moro clearly marked from ono another. Our grandmothers would havo stared to see tlie hard and fast lines we now draw between dinner and ball dresses, \-isiting and morninggowns, town frocks and country ones, and the fashion which makes our tennis or boatinj frocks as distinct from others as is. !\ man's attire for those delights to Idsordinary garb. Yet thero is good sense iv the present rule iv such matters, and the fitness of things being studied is no si«*n of extravagance, as long us no arbitrary 3 and absurd whims are insisted on. A dress that is entirely suitable to the occasion will be much '.anger before it looks old-fashioned than if it wero worn at times and places for which it was not originally designedand though more itowds may be required at the outset, they will last much longer and look much fresher to the end than if they wero worn iv season and out of season. Of course, when very strict economy is necessary, a woman who has tho instinct ot dress will so arrange that almost every gown shall bo "contrived a dwlfce debt to pay " and chosen so as to be surjfol whenever it is worn. If she can only afford one evening dross, she will choose it with reference both to balls, dinners, and at homes, and her visiting gown will neither be too gorgeous nor too plain ; while in bonnets-and hats she will, above all things, show hoi- wit, and, to quote the old po6m once nicire, prove "For every season she has dressings fit; for winter, spring, and. summon."