DRESS.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 3, Issue 144, 4 September 1895, Page 3

DRESS.

By LADY COOK, nee TENNESSEE CHA.FLIN. Lord Kainies romarkod, in Ms • ' History of Man ' that ' Providence ' hath clothed all animals that are unable to clothe themselvos. Man can clothe himself; and he is endowed beside with an appetite for dress, no loss natural than an appetite for food.' But modern sociologists have shown that this appetite is not a natural, bat an acquired one, because originally dress was neither requisite to health I ' nor an object of desire, but was in- i vented later from motives c f vanity. Mankind learnt to smear their bodios with unguents as a protection against cold and heat, next to stain or paint them with various colours, and then to decorate them with pictorial designs, before they discovered the comfort o: beauty of dress. ' Men led the way • and women followed.' Then, while polygamy and seclusion of wives wen practised together, men dressed ox travagantly and women simply. Th< Median nobles, for instanco, ' wor< ' loose robes, floating in the air; hat long hair covered with a rich bonnet bracelets, chains of gold, and preciouf stones ; they painted their faces anc mixed artificial hair with that oi nature.' Aftorpolygamy was banishoc from Greece, and the sexes wore thus on a more equal footing, the Athoniai -ladies dovoloped a suddon appetito foi sumptuous dross, although they nevci appeared in public. ' They consuniet' the whole morning ut the toilot employing paint and every drug foi cleaning and whitening the skin; tho] laid red even upon their lips, and tool groat care of their teoth; their hair made up in buckles with a hot iron was perfumod and sproad upon tin shoulders; their dross was elegant. and artfully contrived to set off a fine shape.' It would thus seem that r consciousness 'of incre.isod dignitj stimulated the dosiro to improve

I'- natural beauty by art. There can be little doubt that the head was the first part of the body which was dressed *or ornamented. Nature |had provided flowers and feathers ready to hand, and it is still a ohief objeot of female adornment. Josephus says that the Jewish ladies powdered their hair with gold dust . African princes do the same. In St. Gregory's time ' the women ■ dressed tho head extremely high;

I environing it with many tresses of false hair, disposed in knots and buckles, so as to resemble a regular fortification.' L'Etoilo, in his Journal for 1593, was the first to montion white powder for tho hair, and ho tells us that the nuns walked tho streets of Paris curled and powdered. This fashion still lingers throughout _ Europe. I But whatever may havo been tho original motive for dross, whether utility or vanity, we, to-day, should be guided in its use by three causes ; health, modesty and pleasure; whereas most of us are ruled by fashion or pride. "Wo have now no sumptuary lawn excopt those unwritten ones prescribed by custom. All are free to obey or neglect them. But in olden times, rank or position was readily discoverable by the dress which, eijher by the legislature or by royal proclamation, was made imperative under pain of lieavy fines. In Elizabeth's reign, those who could spend £4O a year might wear sarcenet in tho lining of their hose, doublets, hats, or caps. ' Apprentices at the law,' • titter barristers,' merchants, householders in city or town, and ' all who dispended £2O a year,' might wear a wetf of velvet in their gowns, jackets, or coats. AH other classes were also specifically legislated for, oven to their nightcaps. However various tho changes that may_ result from fashion, all modes inimical to health, modesty and com- , fort, should be discountenancDd by tho . sensible of every rank of life. It is simply ridiculous that we should permit ourselves to be so much controlled ■" by the whims of dress designers and , dress promoters, acting from purely ■ eselfish and mercenary motives, and utterly regardless of the common welfare. Thus stays and tightI: lacing produce a multitude of mis- ; chiefs. Among others, they distort • the body, displace the vital organs, | impede respiration and circulation, •.cause, indigestion, shorten life, and ■ produce premature births and stillI born. Thin soles are answerable for a host of pulmonary complaints. Delicate women and children wear l boots and shoes that would kill I navvies. High heels interfere with natural locomotion, and cripple tho best formed feet. Eollingtho hair up with pins in little tufts, leaving patches of .scalp exposed, induces neuralgia. Low dresses produco chost complaints and rheumatism, and violato common modesty. How many tons of thousands of fair women aro voluntary . martyrs to these injurious methods! . But the most offensive of all aro tho. long skirts which sweep the streets and roadways, gathering dirt and filth, microbes and bacilli, at every I s Btep. On a wet day one sees our Women with draggle-tails behind them licking, up the mud and sweeping it around their legs and ankles. This is ono of the foulest Bights that fashion ...can offer us. In summer they aro ; y followed by a cloud of dust which . poisons those who havo tho misfortune .* to walk behind them. A costume .•J Which might bo harmless and * graceful in a drawing-room j s "- Worn on tho highways, and allocs I suitable only for a soft carpet aie ground on the hard pavements in our northern climate, and the wearers consider themselves Bane and sensible i

What can bo done when health modesty, and comfort are thus sacrificed knowingly and wilfully by tho follies of fashion ? When fifty times more precious lives are annually los to us from vanity than from war ? We can only aek those who realize these dangers to our national health and morals and heads in bringing about rational dress reform, and to urge all within the sphere of their influence to see that it be sanitary becoming, and comfortable. In an old play by Ford, in which it was claimed that women were more secretive than men, the retort was—- ' You secret, when your dresses blab your vanities !'