Fashion's Slaves, WHAT SOME WOMEN HAVE TO CARRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2388, 7 December 1899, Page 52

Fashion's Slaves, WHAT SOME WOMEN HAVE TO CARRY.

Ladies certainly are uncomplaining martyrs in th} matter of dress. All this year they have worn trailing muslins, so long that they gathered up all the dust and dirt of the streets, so narrow that they could not hold them up, and, of course, pocketless. What women have suffered in carrying their handkerchiefs in their hands, their belts, even up their sleeves, like soldiers, their purses hanging from their wrists oi their waists, their card-cases in bags or in their fingers, till they were laden like railway porters, cannot be described.

Not content with this, the mere wearing of jewellery is a heavy burden cheerfully borne. The Queen complained, much when young of the weight of the crown, but that was only rarely worn at a public function, and, therefore, partook of the nature of a duty; but what shall we say of the present women of fashion?

A popular young duchess, for* instance, wears at the smartest balls, a large tiara, a heavy diamond belt of hard and unyielding proportions, a high dog-collar of diamonds encompassing her throat and impeding her breathing, and several rows of massive pearls, the weight of which causes red marks on her fair skin. Surely torture can go no further, nor even the truth of the axiom " II faut souffrir pour etre belle " be better exemplified. — Lady Violet Greville, in the Graphic.