NEW FASHIONS FOR MEN.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 288, 9 November 1912, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEW FASHIONS FOR MEN.

A KETLIIN TO {JAY COLOUJRS

-By GEORGE EDGAR. m tho - Daily Alaii )

riIHE appearance <;f side whiskers and I t r m---r .s', raps artr. be of iaslimnnblo attire has Hutt; r<; 1 the limited cireh-.s ns London where nivn move who attach importance to be.:ng well drcsswl. There are signs that wine stronger influence is at work than a mere change in the detail of fashion. Many believe this lawse back to the sartorial ideals of the Victorian period is something more than a mere whimsical .striving after an effect different from prevailing habit. Men’s e!allies vary but little all the war round. The dilfcrenees are only in trivia! matter.-; of detail, an I it the change is progressive the steps taken are so minute that the trend from one extreme to the other is scarcely pcrrt pt.blo except to these whose eyes are tr.uiiwl to the -slow stages in the swing of rhe pendulum. Keen the? adoption of the side whisker is not so startling would at first sight appear. Man fins swung from v. h-i s so droll in app<aranee that they animattd his popular songi, to the facial mode of our :.iy when the hero of stage-play or story hart's a bulldog jowl. There is nothing more natural than that he should swing slowly back from the i h nn-shaven ideal of to-day to the whiskers of 1*33 by growing a wisp or two :;f hair on the side of his face. The neat side whisker is therefore only a straw betraying the way the wind is blowing. TIRED OF DRAB MONOTOXY. And this time man instead of advancing step by step in changing his fashions is making a leap. Tired of the drab monotony and sameness of his dmlv habit, ho rebounds in tho directi >n of the tail end of a period which closed a. blaze of glorious fashions for men whose varieties of form and colour still bewilder the casual student. After retracing his stops, this halting place somewhere about the Early Victorian noriod may prove only the threshold of his advance backwards to an adoption of the costumes worn by Englishmen through still more glowing centuries.

Without any stretch •■f the imagination we may’yet see again the wig., tho bagwig. the nertv.ig. and the perru queback may’coine the cravat, the knee brooch, and wii.to silk stockings <.i the Georgian bucks; or we may have the silk brocaded shirt, the dadn-d drives, and the much be-buttoncd. glowing waistcoats of the period when t>'o second Charles was King. The Strand, lb g- nt-.-trci t and the •‘Mall" soar I 'a-t. t..<> e

orange plush, gold brocade, and claret <-■’.•■>■ll s, nod v.e n:.'.s’ :ua-' s : r with a quizzing-glass to look over the latest belle whose patched fact* greets us artificially as she trips of a morning to the fashionable dressmakers. Indeed, some leisurely buck, in sheer reaction, may challenge the taxicab by making a stately pi :-s in : * i chair.' And why not, pray—why not? A GJ’NUINE IMPULSE.

There is a genuine impulse in the air. Only a few weeks ago 1 went throng)', tile Kensington n iisi-nni- io find out how men appeared in day. My guide was Air. Tom HestlcwJed, a well-known designer of costtimes for theatres, pageants, and tho newer typo of pageant ball so popular last year. I recall we stood in front of a case of specimen costumes of the Stuart period, rich silks made into .slim, elaborately buttoned coats, b-j--iacod breeches with stocking* and slippers, some of these last coloured. One is not a costumier for nothing, and the period evidently filled Mr. Hestlewood's eve. Do you know," my cicerone explained, tapping the floor with a sauntering malacca stick which may have done, duty in the brave days of Bath, I believe all tills will come back.'’

Alt this, according to Mr. Hestle. flood’s sweep of the arm, meant the roomlul of costumes which gave us a bird’s-eye view of the modes of two centuries. Ho instances to-day’s steady growth of interest in male costume effects. First, the startling waistcoat, the? the craze toi di esung up toi sports, afterwards the call of the passionate sock, followed by a craving for highly coloured pyjamas. And running behind each phase was first the pastoral play out of doors, then the development of the pageant, immediately followed bv last season's zest for bravo personal adornment encouraged at a j series of fancy-dri fes balls. Men arc revolting at the meanness of present-day attire. Just as there was a revival of costume effects after the drab years of Puritanism, so shall wc revolt from the era of dull, commercial dressing that came as a reaction i:om the ■ t 1 but quieting sploudours of the Georgian period. BACK TO FLORID EXTBAVAGANCE. There is more in the* present startling departure than nuc<6 the eye. Tlusse things have always run in cycles —first a dull period, then a gay one, then a moderate but interesting curtailment, fading out into a period of j dulness. Fashions for men may react < again and switch from the stern tor- j nudity of the present to a florid extra- • vagatice of attire rivalling anything at- > tempted by the bucks of t-ho Stuart | reigns. People who do not worry over > much about these things say: “ .Never j again ; in our day these bravo trappings | would not do.” To that the costumier [ answers: “ Go look at the coats t-ho dandies wore." They are not -so luxurious as casual students think—apart tram the occasional but not general t- :: n Ir-m-v to si'ks, the garments of the most florid periods are quite practical, I flith perhaps a ro.->Tv.tt:-m against the o-tontatious use of linen in ruffles and Curt-sleeves, elaborately laced, n lion the p<g«e-- : ion of the fabric was the hall-mark of the gentleman. The streets of the day uero not particularly lovely; there was r.o general

for cleanliness :n-l and out-: | travelling was a muddy, dusty | IIM - j ir'--.s. Yet t’’C costumes of the florid i periods served. The siree’s of London 1 :i".> cleaner to-dnv in wet weather than ‘ l’-cr wore in the d-s- ‘ 1 brave dress- ‘ •ng during fine weather. A railway | ■■arriago r.?. sima railways is cleaner ! ‘ran a. s: nort <'r:r. : - in c-wwi) ; a taxiwsr’l no’ soil a oink silk coat, ■ Wi.v shrvdd T not corefiilly tie my i cravat, rob-ct my waistcoat of flowered ■ yellow and my new claret-coloured : -ir.-I :•"> •-'• .’.Jkintt do - ’n Bor. J-st rest wtirit rythering a speck on my black i Afi?r all. T have- had w’dto waistemits since !S.ala wore thorn day by day; 1 Is-v-s so-n a vel.-ow wm<t "oat within ye-.r; ro'-'ntly 1 saw a man with : n i- ■- 5 , r ais Tovccrs ■'•srms.i np to '■'* rnnk s’lk rmi-lly litripctd ■ y.._ ; th•■..■-oh the y.'.vb! ;<> of an out- ; - ’ ■ ’■’:= simrnr-r. Tr- nresnonts of ft -.ss - ■’.-•vol ar-’ not s-> v'-' ; cnary e.a ■ --i, nw lo think. ; “1 --> by motto. ‘lf ' 1 ' o-* « th’.ntr done well, do it , '• ~ 1 ' b’-t wont a !