Do Men Notice What Women Wear?

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue XV, 13 October 1900, Page 684

Do Men Notice What Women Wear?

The average male jierson. even when g-fted with more than the average powers of observation, really notices very little of the details of his lady friends' attire. He takes a very general view of their appearance, and simply knows that they “looked very' nice,” or “very fetching,” or “charming.” His views are usually summed up in an inane phrase of this description. If this strikes you, ladies, as a too sweeping condemnation, ask any mere man. five minutes after he has left a lady, what she wore? He will probably say she had on a light-coloured blouse, with a lot of fluffy stuff about it—all light, airy trimming is “fluffy stuff" to h'm. Her skirt, lie will tell you. was dark: he seldom knows what colour. As for her hat —well, he scarcely knows a hat from a bonnet, and to distinguish a toque from either is to him a matter of impossibility. Sometimes he will even forget that a toque is an adornment for the head, and will confound it with a saeque jacket. Though his knowledge of detail is meagre to a degree. he is still keenly alive to the general effect of her costume, and any incongruous or unbecoming article of attire strikes him unpliasantly. though lie would probably be unable to say what was the offending garment, or in what respect it was wrong. Of the infinite variet : es of colours and materials lie knows little: of the various styles less, nor does he care. It is when lie is asked to describe to the lady folks at home the evening costumes of the ladies at a social function he has attended that our observant man is taken at the greatest disadvantage. His ideas of colour are absolutely restricted to black and white. Any lady who wore light colours was. as far as he is concerned, dressed in white, and anything darker than blue is black to him. He is the despair of his inquiring mother and sisters, who want to know how Miss de Smythe was dressed, and how that new confection from Paris became Mrs. Blank. If he is asked whether Miss So-and-So wore pale-green silk, he declares she did. until someone else suggests that it was slate colour, and then he admits that he cannot remember. As for noticing such details as shoes, gloves and ornaments, that is altogether beyond him. There can be little doubt that the average man requires quite a special training to enable him to note all these things with the easy skill of a woman. That he can be so trained is certain, for a good deal of fashion and society reporting' is done by men: but these are bright and shining exceptions. and the ordinary male person only asks that the fair ereaturesof his acquaintance should be becomingly dressed, and that the whole effect should be pleasing. It may be that these remarks refer to the man who is careless of his own attire: but this is not the case. In the matter of knowledge and criticism of a woman's dress, the careless and untidy man is generally on a level with the dandy. There are men who know a well-cut frock coat at a glance; who never wear a tie out of keeping with the colour or style of their eoats: who would never 'dream of donning a silk hat in company with a short jacket or brown boots, nor an up-and-down collar with evening dress; whose taste in waistcoats, ties and all the small details so much studied by the well-dressed man. is perfect; yet who could not for their lives tell an Empire gown from a Prineesse. or a bolero jacket from an Eton, ami to whom tulle, crepe de Chine, and foulard tire quite meaningless terms. While to distinguish between the various shades of blue and green and heliotrope, fawn and brown, and all the other varieties, is a task entirely beyond them. These men can tell at onee if a man is well dressed, and, if not. exactly what is wrong with his "get up." They could describe in detail the clothes of any man they had recently seen; but ask them to go into the detail of a lady's costume, and they are hopelessly at' sea. Of course there are exceptions —artists and society reporters, for instance; but they are quite outnumbered by the mere ordinary, ignorant man.