So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not 
 To those fresh morning drops upon the rose, 
 As thy eye-beams Low's Labour Lout.
 
 THE Master said : "Where the solid qualities are in excess of 
 accomplishments, we have rusticity. Where the accomplishments are 
 in excess of the solid qualities, we have the manners of a clerk. Where 
 the accomplishments and solid qualities are equally blended, we then 
 have the man of complete virtue." 
 
 CoNFuoiua (Chinese Classics.) 
 
 " To dwell in the wide house of the world, to stand in the correct 
 seat of the world, and to walk in the great path of the world . . 
 to be above the power of riches and honors, of poverty and mean con 
 
 dition, and of power and force these characteristics constitute the 
 
 great man." 
 
 MBMCIUS. (Chinese Classics.) 
 
 "They who are first Informed should instruct those who are later 
 in being informed, and they who first apprehend principles should in- 
 struct those who are slower in doing so." 
 
 MENCIUS. (Chinese Classics.)
 
 DRESS: 
 
 As IT HAS BEEN, 
 
 Is, 
 AND WILL BE. 
 
 DESCRIBING WITH PARTICULAEITY EECENT INNOVA- 
 TIONS, AND FORECASTING THE TENDENCY OP 
 MALE DRAPERY FROM WHAT WE KNOW, 
 
 TOGETHER WITH ALL THAT is PRACTICAL TO-DAY. 
 
 By ISAAC WALKER. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ISAAC WALKER, 275 FIFTH AVENUE. 
 1885.
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, 
 
 BY ISAAC WALKER, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at "Washington.
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 In preparing this volume for publication, 
 the author has sought to present in serious 
 language the aspect of the varying costumes 
 of mankind throughout history, until the 
 present day, from a purely artistic standpoint. 
 The time, he believe?, is ripe for such a treat- 
 ise, written, as this one has been, in a con- 
 scientious vein, and embodying the experi- 
 ence of a life-time in the designing and 
 making of men's outer- wear, both in England 
 and the United States. And the author has 
 been the more prompted to undertake this 
 semi-professional task because he has noted 
 the rapid changes in taste, both as to fabrics 
 and ideals of style which are to be seen 
 throughout the Union. The great houses 
 that used to flourish on the trade of the 
 elite are swiftly passing away, and giving 
 place to those proficient in the highest forms 
 
 1048641
 
 viii Introductory. 
 
 of art; while immense manufacturing estab 
 lishments turn out cheap material and ill- 
 fitting garments for the multitude. 
 
 In the advanced line of merchant tailoring 
 are now found elegantly appointed shops, 
 filled with imported goods of only the first 
 qualities. In these establishments a man is 
 not dressed in a minute, but his peculiarities 
 of frame are ma-le the subject of careful 
 study, and his adaptability to special styles 
 and colors is seen in the light of experience 
 and cultivated judgment. 
 
 However these pages may impress the 
 reader, it cannot be controverted that in 
 general and detail, truth, and a sincere wish 
 to elevate the art of becoming attire, have 
 
 O / 
 
 been the only aims of the author. 
 
 ISAAC WALKER, 
 No. 275 Fifth avenue. 
 N. Y., Oct. 1, 1885.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DRESSING, AS A FINE ART, IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 IN the mind of the future historian a new 
 movement in the social life of America will 
 always date from the close of the civil war. 
 That bloody conflict roused the continent 
 from an era of supine and peaceful life, from 
 a period of hum-drum and homely lethargy 
 into an eager ambition to start on a fresh 
 march toward a higher civilization implying 
 loftier standards of literature and art in fine, 
 more imposing architecture, better schools of 
 painting and sculpture, a finer taste in male 
 and female costume, and an indulgence in 
 those refined luxuries which always follow on 
 the elevation of the national manhood, and 
 the sudden growth of large fortunes. This is 
 not true of the United States alone, but will 
 be found in the mutations of European States 
 as well, and is perhaps nowhere better ex- 
 emplified than in the triumph of the German 
 arms in 1870-71 ; the founding of an em- 
 pire the greatest since the Caesars ruled in
 
 10 Dressing, as a Fine Art, in the U. S. 
 
 Rome, and the consequent stamp of a prouder 
 and more independent individuality on the 
 Teutonic mind. And with this assertion of 
 indomitable self in the nationalities wher- 
 ever found, comes the determination to ex- 
 hibit its sisrn-manual in an outward form, and, 
 
 O ' 
 
 primarily, that is, in dress. Who will say that 
 the American gentleman of the period since 
 1865, is not one of much more culture in 
 matters of art than he of the ante-bellum 
 days ? Who will say that the American of 
 1885, of whatever social grade, is not a much 
 better dressed man than corresponding gen- 
 erations before the war? And the traveler 
 in Germany will find, too, that in the fifteen 
 years that have elapsed since the sanguinary 
 struggle with France, Teutonic attire has im- 
 proved in style and fabric to an astonishing 
 degree. This all comes from the sudden rise 
 in the national tone, the same transition, for 
 example, that is apparent in the conditions of 
 a man poor at the one extreme and rich at the 
 other. But in no country of the world, of 
 this or any other time, has the advance from 
 a slovenly habit of dress to one of elegance 
 and good taste been as swift to the ulti-
 
 Dressing, as a Fine Art. in the U, S. 11 
 
 matum as in the United States. This prog- 
 ress we see, too, not only on the Atlantic 
 sea- board, but, traveling westward by easy 
 stations, we behold a total change for the 
 better in the last twenty years, showing that 
 the art of dressing well has kept pace with 
 those hand-maids of art, music and the drama, 
 in the leading cities and towns of the interior. 
 Is there any other proof necessary to demon- 
 strate that costuming the man in the prevail- 
 ing garb of the day demands as fine a con- 
 ception and application of the rules of high 
 art as this very circumstance of the invasion 
 of the interior cities of America by a superior 
 kind of culture? Before the war it was rare 
 to find a place of 20,000 inhabitants with a 
 theatre or opera-house, but now there is 
 scarcely a place numbering half this popula- 
 tion which has not its finely appointed house 
 for lyric and dramatic display, whereas for- 
 merly the old-fashioned hall, with wooden 
 benches, perched on the top of the town's 
 loftiest warehouse, was the place of amuse- 
 ment whither the goodly folk repaired for in- 
 tellectual recreation. 
 
 The almost universal use of the piano, the
 
 12 Dressing, as a Fine Art, in the U. S. 
 
 vast volume of inter-State tiavel, the annual 
 pilgrimages to metropolitan centres, and last, 
 but not least, the yearly visits of hundreds of 
 thousands of Americans to Europe, have 
 leavened the masses and cosmopolized this 
 people until it may be said that, taken as a 
 whole, Americans are the best clad people in 
 the world. It is a curious study, too, to note 
 the movement by which this has been accom- 
 plished, if we leave for a moment out of con- 
 sideration the great cities. Take our city of 
 twenty thousand inhabitants, as before. A 
 score of years ago fine dress suits could hardly 
 be found among the whole population. That 
 was when it was not churchmanlike to go to 
 the play, or in pursuit of pleasure to travel 
 beyond the Calvinistic notion of enjoyment. 
 Opera bouffe had no countenance in those 
 days. Patience, Pinafore, and The Mikado 
 would have been driven penniless from the 
 town by the potent breath of the pulpit; 
 whereas now the strains of the latest lyric 
 compositions sung on the local Boards are 
 heard issuing from many households of the 
 town. And not only this, but the youth of 
 "both sexes delight in talking art and prac--
 
 Dressing, as a Fine Art, in the U. S. 13 
 
 ticing it also to a limited extent; private 
 theatricals reign in the local assemblies, and 
 
 costuming in character is cultivated by the 
 young of both sexes. Is there any one so
 
 14 Dressing, as a Fine Art, in the U. 8. 
 
 blind as not to see that this typical town of 
 America is a highly interesting social micro- 
 cosm in itself, presenting an abundant field 
 for philosophical study, as showing healthy 
 advances in culture at last culminating in 
 that art which seems the last to command re- 
 spect, but when once mastered is the last to 
 be lost dress ? And let us note, too, that a 
 man who has once known, and has been thor- 
 oughly in sympathy with, good suitable attire, 
 will never abandon it, save commanded by a 
 resistless fate. Fine eating, good wine, cards, 
 horses, athletic sports, and boon companions 
 will all go before the surrender of the gar- 
 ments which have made him a central figure 
 of his circle. And thus it has come about 
 that in our typical inland city, where for- 
 merly the gentry would appear in their old- 
 fashioned " broad-cloths," with street boots 
 and colored ties, we now see at an evening 
 party seven-eighths of the males attired in 
 dress suits and the conventional wear on the 
 feet and about the neck. This transforma- 
 tion has arisen from the causes named, and 
 has emancipated the communities from in- 
 sular narrowness, and given the local life a
 
 , cs a 1' ine Art, in the U. S. 15 
 
 metropolitan flavor. We might here well 
 pause to inquire what moral effect has this 
 radical change within a generation wrought 
 on the youth of the community in our mind's 
 eye ? It must be patent to all. With the 
 majority of the young men there the dress suit 
 is the most priceless possession, for instead of 
 being compelled to spend his evenings in beer 
 halls or billiard saloons, or in evil associa- 
 tions, he feels that he can seek refuge in 
 ladies' society, and be on a par with the 
 wealthier and more aristocratic of the town. 
 He feels that, so costumed, he is a gentleman 
 who must doff the manners of the shop and 
 the street for those of refinement and the 
 drawing-room. Nor is there any consider- 
 able disproportion between this progress in 
 the one particular mentioned and the eleva- 
 tion of the standard of general dress in such 
 communities. When sufficiently cultivated, 
 the young man feels that his wear must be 
 custom made, instead of a hap-hazard selec- 
 tion from those great stocks of alleged cloth- 
 ing which flood the country from establish- 
 ments patterned, as it were, on the manu- 
 factories of Birmingham and Manchester,
 
 16 Dressing, as a Fine Art, in the V. S. 
 
 making goods for the colonies with every im- 
 plication that the inhabitants were savages. 
 One of these suits of clothing suggests that a 
 bale of sham wool has been thrown into a 
 hopper and that thirty seconds thereafter 
 trousers, coat, and waistcoat pop forth from 
 the delivery all neatly pressed and folded, 
 and quite ready to adorn the rural frame. 
 
 This barbarous prevalence of ready-made 
 clothing will, however, pa c s away as years 
 go on, as shams and shoddies disappear 
 from our social life, and when that universal 
 nuisance in art, the " patentee," is an obsolete 
 factor. This tendency is already marked, for 
 who now is seen wearing a paper collar 
 once the pride of the multitudinous clerk 
 the wood-pulp shirt-front, or the cork hat ? 
 Of course, we are speaking of the hamlet, 
 the village, and the town, for these inven- 
 tions never invaded the better circles of men 
 of the Atlantic sea-board '. The spread of 
 such an invention in the inland territory can 
 be accounted for on several grounds. First: 
 All of those false proverbs and unfortunate 
 sayings, which come from the average self- 
 made man ; and by this we do not wish to
 
 Dressing, as a Fine Art, in the U. S. 17 
 
 be understood as speaking lightly of those 
 who have hewn out, with their unaided 
 hands and brains, their fortunes and their 
 fame, for they are the true aristocrats of 
 mankind. But there is an idea in the 
 mind of the hardy toiler who has risen to 
 wealth and influence, that to be well and 
 artistically attired is to be foppish, shallow, 
 and effeminate. Severity in style, ill fit, 
 coarse cloth, and well-worn raiment, among 
 these men, usually deform a majestic carriage 
 and a strong and intellectual countenance. 
 We consider this to be the result either of 
 neglect or affectation. Should it follow that 
 
 o 
 
 because the empty-pated idler who strolls 
 our streets, on little better than mechanic's 
 wages, concentrates all of his thought on his 
 outward garb, that the external appearance of 
 a commanding figure is not worthy of a pass- 
 ing thought by its possessor? It doubtless 
 made Horace Greeley notorious as he wished 
 to carefully adjust his well-worn stock under 
 his left ear, and distribute a shabby panta- 
 loon in a cow-hide boot. But how much 
 better would he have appeared to the eye and 
 to posterity, if he had dressed in the clothes
 
 18 Dressing, as a Fine Art, in the U. S. 
 
 of a gentleman, and appeared among his fol- 
 lowers with these baneful pretenses left 
 out ! Men like Horace Greeley, exercising 
 as they have, and do, a vast influence on 
 their followers, have contributed much to 
 retard healthful and artistic dressing in 
 America. Jgnorantly laboring against the 
 truism of Pope, that 
 
 " Dress makes the man ; the want of it the fellow," 
 
 they instilled a retrograde movement as to 
 attire in the rural mind, now happily passing 
 away. It would seem, too, that the Ameri- 
 can intellect, generally keen, active, and alert, 
 in its average development, would have 
 learned at least the commercial importance 
 of perfection in the style of dress of this 
 commercial acre. But it has not, notwith- 
 
 O / 
 
 standing the very obvious fact that a shab- 
 bily dressed man has all the odds against 
 him in the race in life. Given two men, the 
 one slow of thought, destitute of personal 
 magnetism, devoid of culture, yet a tastefully 
 dressed manikin, and the other quick to 
 perceive, with strong powers of brain, and at- 
 tractive physical gifts, but with ill-suited and
 
 Dre&tinj, a a a Fine Art, in the U. S. 19 
 
 noticeably bad apparel, and in the business 
 centres of finance or the Exchange, or the 
 busy marts of commerce, and the former has 
 every advantage, .reaping harvest after har- 
 vest, to the dismay of the man of manlier 
 purpose and vigor and superior mental de- 
 velopment. Strange it is, that this palpable 
 truth is ignored so widely in a country whose 
 corner-stone is the almighty dollar. Leaving 
 entirely out of sight the many social and 
 amatory advantages which correct dressing 
 gives to the man, with all of the keen de- 
 light of associations at the club and by the 
 fireside, it is often incomprehensible that 
 clear-headed men will go ou, year after year, 
 in apparent ignorance that there is such a 
 person as a tailor in all the land. And yet 
 we find it in those very walks of life where 
 it least ought to be among professional men, 
 whose culture and good taste most assuredly 
 ought to be beyond question.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE. ANCIENT COSTUMES. 
 
 PHILOSOPHERS have not yet been able to 
 agree upon a proper definition of the word 
 man, all the forms so far proposed being ob- 
 noxious to the reproach of omitting quite as 
 much that is characteristic as they convey. 
 From Plato's two-legged animal without 
 feathers down to the Wall-street definition of 
 man as a being that sells short, there is no 
 entirely satisfactory rendering of the name. 
 This being admitted, it is not, perhaps, too 
 much to say that when we define man as a 
 creature able to wear and to comprehend the 
 significance of dress, we have come near to a 
 correct appreciation of his relative import- 
 ance in the universe. 
 
 When we observe the lower animals, we 
 find that, as they approach the higher type, 
 they are seen to take pleasure in personal ap- 
 parel-. The wild horse of the plains of South 
 America, or the steppes of Tartary, has a free 
 and noble bearing ; but how much more elo-
 
 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 21 
 
 quent of developed intelligence and conscious 
 personal worth is the spirited motion of the 
 war-horse, treading proudly to the martial 
 music and the sound of his warlike trappings, 
 and playing with the ringing chains of his 
 bit ! The distance between the two is as 
 great and as clearly defined as that between 
 an Indian brave and the Prime Minister of a 
 great empire. Carlyle has done well to insist 
 on the immense importance of clothes as an 
 expression of the over soul in man ; and it is 
 to be hoped that the hints he has thrown out 
 for a philosophy of this great subject iriay 
 one day be expanded by some competent 
 thinker, and wrought into a harmonious and 
 synthetic whole. 
 
 All the early records of mankind agree as 
 to the probable origin of clothes. The prim- 
 itive man is always seen to be content with 
 the fell furnished him by nature, even after 
 he has learned to fabricate weapons more or 
 less rude. Not till he feels the first dim 
 movements of taste awakened within him by 
 the contemplation of the colors in the skins 
 of his four-footed fellows dors he begin to 
 think of adorning his person, and strutting,
 
 22 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 
 
 like the jay in the fable, in borrowed plumes. 
 It may be regarded as a settled point, that 
 the first use of clothes was not for warmth or 
 protection, but wholly for ornamentation, or, 
 in a word, for dress, properly so called in 
 contradistinction to the secondary and deriva- 
 
 * 
 
 tive purpose of clothing as a covering against 
 weather. A careful study of the myths and 
 legends of the race leaves no doubt on this 
 point. With the skin the savage naturally 
 took to himself the name of the animal he 
 had stripped ; and here we come upon the 
 germ of a true hierarchy of costume, the rude 
 beginning, indeed, of the gorgeous and com- 
 plex court splendors of Egypt and Assyria, 
 of Rome and of Byzantium. 
 
 The earliest monuments of Egypt show us 
 the first steps tow<ird a systematic attire. 
 The garment is but a linen cloth around the 
 loins, with the skin of a leopard worn on the 
 shoulders. This was in 1600 B. C. Gradual- 
 ly the dress becomes fuller and more elabo- 
 rate; and the distinctions of social position, 
 marked in the earlier times by so simple a 
 device as the doubling of the linen folds 
 
 O 
 
 about the middle, are shown by richer stuffs,
 
 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 
 
 23 
 
 by various colors, by added skirts and collars. 
 The kino: was recognized by his crown, 
 
 called the pdient, often nearly resembling a 
 mitre, and by a triangular projecting skirt of
 
 24 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 
 
 leather, ornamented with gold. The dress 
 of the lower classes was chiefly of wool, a 
 material little used by the higher orders, ex- 
 cept as an outer covering, their robes being 
 mostly of byblus, a mixture of linen and cot- 
 ton, or of linen, which the kings chose ex- 
 clusively. The finest sort was known as 
 royal linen, and was very high-priced. In 
 the story of Satni-Khamois, the couches and 
 beds of Thouboui's palace are spread with 
 royal linen.* 
 
 The Assyrian ordinary dress was a robe 
 with a long skirt and short sleeves. There 
 seems to have been no essential difference in 
 the form of the women's dress. Upper gur- 
 ments were not allowed to any below the 
 priestly rank. The king wore a long robe or 
 skirt, and over this a mantle with heavy 
 fringes. The monuments show that the As- 
 syrians possessed remarkable skill in weaving 
 and embroidering all manner of stuffs; and 
 the Bible is full of allusions to the rich colors 
 and tracery of their garments, "exceeding in 
 dyed attire, all of them princes to look to." 
 The Phoenicians undoubtedly learned from 
 
 * Maspero. Contes Egyptiens.
 
 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 25 
 
 the Assyrians and Babylonians the arts of 
 dyeing and embroidery, which they carried 
 to such great perfection, both in their cities 
 on the Syrian coast and in Carthage, their 
 greatest colony, and their costume, so far as 
 we are enabled to judge by the fragmentary 
 remains of their civilization', seems to have 
 resembled the Assyrian rather than the 
 Egyptian in its general features. The Etrus- 
 cans, whose origin is still a matter of uncer- 
 tainty, have so many points of resemblance 
 with the Eastern nations of antiquity, that, 
 while we cannot exactly describe their cos- 
 tume, we can see that it was in some respects 
 like that of the Egyptians, though it is known 
 that some features of the Roman dress, such 
 as the togapicta, the tunica palmata, theprce- 
 texta, and the rich sandals, were of Etruscan 
 origin. The luxury of this people was very 
 famous in antiquity, and they were especially 
 given to indulgences of the table, with every 
 accompaniment of costly perfumes, crowns, 
 embroidered couches, and rich robes. The 
 obesi Etrusci are frequently met with in the 
 Roman poets. 
 
 The dress of the ancient Jews always 

 
 26 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 
 
 showed the influence of one or the other of 
 the great empires to which, in turn, the 
 chosen people became subject ; and even in 
 the brief intervals during which the nation 
 was politically independent, there was no 
 revolt from the dominant taste in dress. 
 There were close under-garments, with an 
 over-tunic, worn by both sexes, the tunic be- 
 ing much the same as the modern Kaftan 
 of the East, with a large outer mantle, like 
 a cloak, gathered in at the waist by a girdle, 
 as needed ; and these outer robes were often 
 ornamented very richly. The attire of the 
 priesthood, and especially that of the high 
 priest, was costly and magnificent. The mon- 
 uments of Egypt and Assyria, from which 
 we might .have expected illustrations of the 
 Jewish national costume, leave us very much 
 in the dark, the Hebrews figuring in these 
 records as captives, stripped of their outer 
 clothing and their ornaments ; and our real 
 sources of information on this interesting sub- 
 ject are the writings of Isaiah and Ezekiel. 
 
 One general characteristic marks all the 
 Oriental costumes, both of antiquity and 
 of modern times the flowing outer robes,
 
 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 27 
 
 which lend so much dignity to the stature 
 and the bearing of even the meanest man. 
 A garment so inconsistent with haste and 
 active physical exertion could only be found 
 in countries and among social organizations 
 too settled in manners and habits to accept 
 the idea of business as the chief end of life. 
 To the Oriental of three thousand years ago, 
 as to the Turk or the Persian of to-day, the 
 day is evidently sufficient unto itself, and 
 the morrow will be like to-day. His kismet, 
 or destiny, is written on his forehead, no less 
 for this fleeting earthly existence than for 
 the future immortality, and he goes calmly 
 about his affairs with none of the European 
 impatience; for he well knows that, if not 
 this hour, then the next will bring him to 
 his journey's end, or to the attainment of his 
 object, if it is to be attained ; and, if it is not, 
 that must be as God pleases. 
 
 The profound religious sense of the East- 
 ern races, and the dignity and power of their 
 priesthood, have combined to give a family 
 likeness and an unchanging form to their 
 national costumes. Two Eastern races con- 
 tradict this general law the Japanese and
 
 28 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 
 
 the Chinese. The Japanese are now under- 
 going a rapid process of transformation in 
 habits of thought and in manners, from the 
 contact, too suddenly and violently brought 
 about, with European ideas and modes of 
 life. What they were in the past, the Chi- 
 nese their teachers and exemplars still are, 
 and are likely long to be ; and, strangely 
 enough, we find in this extraordinary people 
 a prevailing style of costume older, indeed, 
 in its origin than the civilization of Greece 
 and Rome, and yet wholly in. sympathy with 
 the business ideas and habits that have so 
 greatly simplified the dress of modern Eu- 
 rope. A peaceful, active, ingenious, and in- 
 dustrious people, the Chinese have found it 
 necessary to move freely about their com- 
 mercial and agricultural affairs, to be ready 
 always to thread their way from one end of 
 their vast cities to the other through narrow 
 streets and jostling multitudes ; and their in- 
 clination to trade and the affairs of life, a 
 natural outcome of their practical genius, has 
 been sharpened and stimulated by the com- 
 petition forced upon every individual in the 
 struggle for a livelihood in the midst of a
 
 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 29 
 
 population so vast. To be unincumbered in 
 his movements was, therefore, the first neces- 
 sity for the Chinese, and no costume known 
 among men so entirely leaves the wearer 
 free in all his motions as the easy, firmly-fast- 
 ened shoes, the loose yet close trousers, and 
 the short outer shirt, with open neck, almost 
 universal among the people of China. Yet 
 the Chinese are well aware of the advan- 
 tage to be derived from a rich and stately 
 official costume; and their great dignitaries 
 and wealthy men could hold their own for 
 splendid and appropriate dress in any Court 
 of Europe or the East. 
 
 The classical costume of Greece and Home 
 is familiar to every one, in the reproductions 
 of the statues and works of art that have 
 come down to us, and in the numberless 
 paintings, the works of great artists, like Ge- 
 rome and Alma Tadema, that have brought 
 before us the scenes of Roman and Greek 
 daily life. One feature is common to the 
 classical costume and the Oriental the gene- 
 ral, flowing outline, which shows that the 
 wearer is master of his own time, and im. 
 pelled by no stern necessities to personal ac-
 
 30 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 
 
 tivity. For the Greek and the .Roman the 
 business of life was to meet in the public 
 places, to discuss the political and military 
 events of the day, to hear Pericles or Cicero 
 explaining or attacking a line of policy, or 
 pleading his own cause, to be borne in his 
 litter or his chariot to a great feast, or to 
 order the purchase of a villa or a family of 
 slaves. The work of the classical world was 
 done by the slaves ; and the citizens were, 
 practically, nobles, " administering, through 
 agents, estates more or less important. To 
 such men personal ease was inseparable from 
 the idea of freedom, as opposed to the condi- 
 tion of those on whom lay the burden of 
 daily toil; and the flowing costume was, 
 therefore, the privilege and the badge of 
 nobility. The indignation and disgust of 
 Augustus Caesar when, seeing the Forum 
 crowded with workingmen and slaves in 
 their short garments, to the exclusion of the 
 typical Roman toga, he broke out with the 
 line from Virgil, 
 
 En 
 
 Bomanos rerum dominos, gentem que togatam ? 
 "Are these your Romans, lords of the world and the men 
 of the toga ?
 
 Retrospective. Ancient Costumes. 31 
 
 show, as in a photograph, the gulf between 
 the Roman citizens, whose care was empire, 
 and the toiling multitude below them. 
 
 The toga was to hold its place for a good 
 while after this ; but the distinctive garment 
 of the Europeans of to-day, the trousers, had 
 already come into view as a part of respect- 
 able attire in the third century. This part 
 of the costume was familiar to the Romans 
 as peculiar to the Gauls and Germans ; but 
 its adoption by the conquering race dates 
 from the wars with the Persians, to whom 
 also this form of dress was national. 
 
 After the fall of the Empire, it is not easy 
 to trace the general styles of costume in 
 Western Europe. The Eastern Empire main- 
 tained and developed almost a new system 
 of civil costume, by adopting ideas from the 
 Oriental world, and combining the Persian 
 costume with the Roman ; but in the West, 
 after the temporary revival under Charle- 
 magne, the distinctive Roman costume dis- 
 appeared from the general view, remaining 
 local in some parts of Italy.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MEDIAEVAL COSTUMES. 
 
 THE rise of feudalism brought in entirely 
 new ideas on costume in civil life. In the 
 Church, however, the traditions of antiquity 
 survived and underwent comparatively slight 
 changes under the influence of the new social 
 organization. 
 
 The monastic orders used much the same 
 form of dress, with sufficient differences of 
 color and head-dress to make the order of 
 the wearer recognizable. The Universities 
 had also their special costumes, generally 
 long, flowing gowns, with capes and hoods, 
 the same, at first, for the doctors and the 
 bachelors, though later on a distinction was 
 established between the dresses of the two. 
 
 Under the feudal system, the dependence 
 of the vassals was marked by the form of 
 dress, or by some badge worn either em- 
 broidered or painted on the stuff of the outer 
 dress, or in the shape of a collar. Further 
 devices came in with the growth of indus-
 
 MedicBval Costumes. 33 
 
 tries, and the rise of the great trading towns. 
 The guilds of merchants and manufacturers 
 took as much delight in the science of her- 
 aldry as the feudal lords, and with the sense 
 of their power and importance, as they in- 
 creased in wealth, asserted their dignity by 
 the wearing of appropriate devices and em- 
 blems. The variety in style and design of 
 dress was a characteristic of the communities 
 in which feudalism had most firmly taken 
 root. Thus, the cities of Northern and Central 
 Italy, where feudalism had almost no represen- 
 tation in the presence of the municipal tradi- 
 tions of antiquity, never at any time really 
 extinct, made a less splendid display, in 
 this respect, than the cities of Germany, Flan- 
 ders and France ; and it is in the monuments 
 of these countries that what is properly called 
 mediaeval costume is to be studied. In Eng- 
 land there are interesting memorials of dress 
 from the Anglo Saxon period down to the 
 present time. The dress of the Anglo-Saxons 
 was composed of a tunic, generally short, 
 partly open at the sides, and confined about 
 the waist by a girdle. Over this was worn 
 a mantle or cloak. The legs were covered
 
 34: Mediaeval Costumes. 
 
 with drawers fitting close to the lower leg, 
 like hose, which were ornamented by bands 
 crossed like those of Malvolio in the play. 
 Extra mantles were added against the sever- 
 ity of the weather, and a hood covered the 
 head 
 
 The Normans introduced a richer style of 
 costume, but they adopted also the tunic and 
 amplified it. They extended also the use of 
 rich and costly furs on their outer garments. 
 
 A type of the richest form of the modified 
 Norman dress is seen in the monument of 
 King John, in Worcester Cathedral. He is 
 represented here as clad in a loose tunic, 
 reaching to his ankles. The sleeves are tight 
 on the arms. Over this tunic is a full-sleeved 
 crimson dalmatic, richly embroidered with 
 gold, and held about the waist by a girdle, with 
 a long pendant end. The mantle worn over 
 these hangs down the back, and is gathered 
 about the right arm. The hose are red, and 
 the boots black, with knightly spurs of 
 gold. This costume was essentially the one 
 worn by the knights and nobles of the period. 
 It is to be remembered that the military 
 spirit which made war the only fitting em-
 
 Mediaeval Costumes. 35 
 
 ployment of a well-born man, showed itself 
 as much in the wearing of armor, even in 
 time of peace, as in the love of heraldic devices 
 and badges for the retainers of the baron, 
 and most of the effigies on the tombs of the 
 Middle Ages are represented dressed as if for 
 war, The growth of luxury, and the taste for 
 refinements in life, which came in with the 
 later Crusades, after the Western warriors had 
 become acquainted with the higher Saracen 
 civilization, display their influence as markedly 
 in the comparative disuse of the warlike cos- 
 tume as in the introduction of more costly 
 stuffs and forms of attire directly traceable 
 to Eastern ideas. These changes lead the in- 
 quirer out of the Middle Age, into the most 
 picturesque period of European costume, the 
 Sixteenth Century.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 AT the opening of the sixteenth century 
 there is apparent in Europe a movement of 
 change in the variety and in the character of 
 the costumes. In great part this is due to 
 the changed conditions of warfare consequent 
 on the invention of gunpowder, and its ap- 
 plication to fire-arms. The shields and coats 
 of plate and of mail were more and more seen 
 to be an incumbrance and an additional 
 danger to the wearer, and, though they were 
 still worn at times by individuals, and even 
 by bodies of troops, there was a growing be- 
 lief in their uselessness, and a conviction that 
 their day was over. With the defensive 
 armor went the modifications of costume 
 that had grown out of its use as the recog- 
 nized mark of knighthood and gentle birth, 
 and there was a tendency toward the assimi- 
 lation of the civil and the military dress, in 
 their main features. With the defensive 
 armor there went also the comparative im-
 
 The Sixteenth Century. 37 
 
 portance of the knights in battle. The Swiss 
 and the Spanish infantry became the main 
 strength of the army, and the last apparent 
 reason for the maintenance of the feudal 
 organization of society was called finally in 
 question. Many of the infinite subdivisions 
 of caste in civil life, each one marked by its 
 peculiar and invariable style of dress, disap- 
 peared, one after another, as the burghers be- 
 came more important and gathered into their 
 body men who sought the security of the 
 towns and the protection of the growing 
 guilds. The handicrafts tended to coalesce 
 as they were more or less intimately con- 
 nected, and the members of a guild, pursuing 
 related industries, became known by a similar 
 style of costume. The increase of wealth, and 
 its wide diffusion, had even a more important 
 influence upon dress, for nothing is more 
 democratic or leveling than wealth. What 
 the upper classes wear, the men of an inferior 
 class will aim at wearing, as they obtain com- 
 mand of means. The only serious obstacle' 
 in the way of a more rapid unification of the 
 social elements at the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century was the still defiant atti-
 
 38 The Sixteenth Century. 
 
 tilde of feudalism, which made every effort to 
 maintain the existing institutions ; but the 
 active forces, the spirit of adventure, the 
 thirst for discovery, the restless commercial 
 enterprise, were all against it. The tendency 
 was toward the breaking up of the arbitrary 
 divisions in society, and, consequently, against 
 the divergences in costume which made of 
 each class a kind of community by itself. 
 The dress of modern times, the dress which 
 to-day marks the civilized man in every 
 quarter of the globe, may be said to have 
 come in with the sixteenth century. M. Paul 
 Lacroix (le bibliophile Jacob) in his valu- 
 able history of this period, writes as follows : 
 " We find that a distinct separation between 
 ancient and modern dress took place as early 
 as the sixteenth century. In fact, our present 
 fashions may be said to have taken their 
 origin from about that time. It was during 
 this century that men adopted clothes closely 
 fitting to the body overcoats with tight 
 sleeves, felt hats with more or less wide 
 brims, and close boots and shoes. The 
 women also wore their dresses closely fitting 
 to the figure, with tight sleeves, low-crowned
 
 The Sixteenth Century. 39 
 
 hats, and richly trimmed petticoats. These 
 garments, which differ altogether from those 
 of antiquity, constitute, as it were, the com- 
 mon type from which have arisen the endless 
 varieties of modern male and female dress ; 
 and there is no doubt then that fashion will 
 be continually moving backward and for- 
 ward from period to period, sometimes re- 
 turning to its original model, and sometimes 
 departing from it." The styles of dress in 
 this century were the same throughout Eu- 
 rope. We have but to look over a collection 
 of portraits, whether of Englishmen, French- 
 men, Spaniards, or Flemings, to recognize the 
 same features of dress, and even the same 
 style of beard and hair in the one country 
 that we find in the other. The portraits of 
 the Elizabethan period, the heads of Shake- 
 speare, Spenser, Raleigh, and Bacon, give us 
 the costume in all its stateliness and dignity. 
 Wherever seen, it is of Italian origin, but is 
 most rightly characterized as Spanish, since 
 its general adoption was a consequence of the 
 Spanish preponderance in the world during 
 the century. The costume, briefly described 
 in its main points, was as follows : The lower
 
 The Sixteenth Century. 
 
 limbs were encased in tight hose ; the trunk 
 hose, which met the other at the middle of 
 
 the upper leg, were puffed ; the jacket, open 
 in front, met the trunk hose at the hips ;
 
 The Sixteenth Century. 41 
 
 over this was worn a doublet, short, in the 
 early part of the century, but in the Eliza- 
 bethan time made long and close to the body, 
 and carried down to a peak ; and over all the 
 short cloak, which Raleigh laid down in the 
 mire that the Virgin Queen might pass over 
 dry-shod. About the neck was the large cir- 
 cular ruff, that lends so much distinction to 
 the famous heads of the time. There was 
 almost no difference between the ruffs worn 
 by the men and those of the women. The 
 limited use of the word hose, as applied to- 
 day, dates from the fashions of the sixteenth 
 century. As then used, the word signified 
 the upper slashed and puffed covering of the 
 leg, while the name stocking meant the tight 
 covering of the lower part of the leg. In 
 time a second name, breeches, was applied to 
 what had been called hose, and this word 
 came to be regarded as synonymous with 
 stockings. The head-coverings varied in 
 form and style, from the low, flat cap worn 
 by Henry VIII to the large-brimmed, high- 
 crowned hat seen in most of the well-known 
 pictures of Elizabeth's time. 
 
 The modifications of this costume, intro-
 
 42 The Sixteenth Century. 
 
 duced by national taste and cast of mind, 
 are entertainingly described by M. Lacroix, in 
 the work already quoted : " In Italy, for ex- 
 ample, dress always maintained a certain 
 character of grandeur, ever recalling the fact 
 that the influence of antiquity had not been 
 altogether lost. In Germany and Switzerland 
 garments generally had a heavy and massive 
 appearance, and in Holland more so. Eng- 
 land uniformly studied a kind of instinctive 
 elegance and propriety. It is a curious 
 fact that Spain invariably partook of the 
 heaviness peculiar to Germany, either because 
 the Gothic element still prevailed there, or 
 that the Walloon fashions had an especial 
 attraction for her, owing to associations and 
 general usage. France was then, as she is 
 now, fickle and capricious, fantastical and 
 wavering, not indeed from indifference, but 
 because she always was ready to borrow from 
 any quarter whatever pleased her. She 
 never failed, at the same time, to put her own 
 stamp on what she adopted, so as to make it 
 essentially French, even when borrowed from 
 Spain or Germany, Italy or England." 
 
 This lively passage is truthful, in the main,
 
 The Sixteenth Century. 43 
 
 though, perhaps, M. Lacroix would have come 
 nearer to the fact if, instead of describing the 
 German and the Spanish styles as heavy, he 
 had recognized them as grave. It seems to 
 be evident that it is rather the Spanish 
 gravity he is aiming at, as a complement to 
 the French fickleness. 
 
 Of the luxury in dress at this period there 
 are abundant illustrations. The Field of the 
 Cloth of Gold was, indeed, an occasion when 
 splendor and a lavish expense were in a 
 measure called for. The nobles in attendance 
 upon two young sovereigns so remarkable 
 for personal accomplishments as Henry the 
 Eighth and Francis the First must have felt 
 it to be a duty to display their finery, at 
 whatever cost ; but there are many proofs 
 that, in more than one country, there was a 
 wasteful style of dress and personal expendi- 
 ture which excited the anxiety of thought- 
 ful statesmen. Sumptuary laws, so repeat- 
 edly proved to be powerless against the im- 
 pulses of vanity and ostentation, were enacted 
 in every country to restrain the taste for 
 luxury; As in most cases of legislation on 
 matters properly belonging to the domain of
 
 44 The Sixteenth Century. 
 
 private authority, the laws covered too much 
 ground, and treated as excessive what was not 
 really more than unostentatious adornment. 
 A decree of Philip the Second, in answer to 
 a petition from the Cortes of Madrid, in 1568, 
 is worth quoting as an instance of the style 
 of legislation in these matters, the rather that 
 this king, who bears such an evil name in 
 history, was, in the matter of public and 
 private expenditure, liberal and wise to a 
 very uncommon degree. The edict reads: 
 " We ordain likewise that no one, of any 
 condition or quality whatever, shall wear on 
 his clothing, his doublet, or trunk-hose, or vest, 
 nor suffer to be put upon the housings or 
 trappings of any mule or horse, any species 
 of embroidery or stitched work, or ruffling, 
 or metal plates, or spangles, or bugling, or 
 plaited or twisted silk, or edgework, or 
 back- stitching, or threading of gold or silver, 
 or silk, or other material, even though the 
 gold and silver be false, etc." 
 
 In matters of this kind men will judge and 
 act for themselves, and it is but an exception 
 when the political authority is able to enforce 
 compliance with arbitrary prohibitions, like
 
 The Sixteenth Century. 45 
 
 those of Calvin in Geneva, or the Puritans in 
 the early days of New England. The increase 
 of wealth in a nation must show itself in the 
 amount of thought bestowed upon costume, 
 and the consequent elevation of the standard 
 of refinement, for these two things act and re- 
 act upon each other; nor is there any in- 
 stance in history of a highly-refined, intel- 
 lectual and cultivated people, indifferent to 
 dress, or inclined to look upon elegance of 
 costume as a matter to be neglected. On 
 the contrary, it is in this form that taste be- 
 gins to show itself as a people makes advances 
 in material prosperity. It could not well be 
 otherwise, unless the nature of man under- 
 went a fundamental change. The social in- 
 stincts assert themselves with a power pro- 
 portioned to the opportunities offered for 
 their gratification, by the ease and comfort of 
 which men find themselves possessed. En- 
 tertainments, public and private, dinners, 
 balls, parties of pleasure, and the like, bring 
 people together for mutual enjoyment, and 
 eveiy one must seek to do honor to the oc- 
 casion and to the friends he is to meet, by 
 donning an attire that shall make him appear
 
 46 The Sixteenth Century. 
 
 at his best. If civilization be anything but a 
 name, it is certainly as natural and as in- 
 stinctive in man as any of the confessedly 
 natural appetites, since it is but the develop- 
 ment of the instinct of selection. 
 
 Men choose what seems to them the best ; 
 and the first use of a command of means is 
 to apply it to improving and beautifying the 
 daily life by adding to the forms of beauty 
 which surround it. Everything which makes 
 objects of daily use more pleasing to the eye 
 shows an advance toward a higher ideal of 
 comfort and of taste ; and whatever may be 
 thought of their comparative value on the field 
 of battle, there can be no doubt that, so far 
 as civilization is concerned, the Sybarites were 
 altogether higher than the Spartans. The 
 history of England during the century under 
 consideration bears testimony to the very 
 great progress of the national taste in dress, 
 so far as the employment of more costly 
 materials is concerned. The energy and 
 vigor with which the English entered upon 
 their enterprises beyond the sea, and their 
 attempts at planting colonies, their wars with 
 Spain, which stimulated and heightened the
 
 The Sixteenth Century, 47 
 
 pride and self-confidence of the nation, and 
 the activity of their commerce, were not more 
 remarkable than the sudden intellectual and 
 artistic flowering of their genius. They dis- 
 played their power in every field of activity ; 
 and their domestic economy, which had so re- 
 cently disgusted the cultivated taste of Eras- 
 mus, began to wear that attractive look of 
 cleanliness and repose which it has never since 
 resigned. 
 
 The floors were no longer covered with the 
 foul rushes that concealed the bones and 
 scraps, but were spread with rich and beauti- 
 ful carpets; the windows were carefully 
 glazed, and the rooms were furnished with 
 the finest tables and chairs, made of the rare 
 woods brought from beyond the sea. The 
 presence of books and works of art, in 
 many a home of the middle class, showed an 
 appreciation of the best results of civilization 
 not common in similar dwellings on the Con- 
 tinent ; and the inmates of these houses were 
 clad in garments every way suited, for rich- 
 ness of material and artistic fitness, to their 
 surroundings. It would be an error to sup- 
 pose that the upward movement in these im-
 
 48 The Sixteenth Century. 
 
 portant matters was confined to the highest 
 classes. The whole nation was advancing 
 with an equal front, and there has probably 
 been no period in English history at which 
 the general condition of the people was, on 
 the whole, so fairly prosperous. We may 
 look back upon the Sixteenth Century as the 
 time when the decisively progressive move- 
 ment toward a simplified ideal of manly 
 costume began in England, which has ever 
 since that period held the foremost place as 
 the arbiter of taste in this matter.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ENGLISH INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN DRESS. 
 
 THE most marked feature in the perfec- 
 tion in the highest forms of American dress- 
 ing, as applied to the man, is the emphatic 
 influence of English styles and conceits run- 
 ning through every branch of the wardrobe, 
 whether for lounging costume, street attire, 
 or the more carefully designed garments for 
 dress occasions. Yet, strongly pronounced 
 as this influence is, the fashions that reign in 
 America are undoubtedly conglomerate ; that 
 is, while partaking in all of the individual 
 characteristics of the methods and traditions 
 of Albion, they unite many subordinate feat- 
 ures from the varying nationalities peopling 
 our shores thus giving a distinctively new 
 cut and trimming to the garment, which 
 marks its wearer, wherever found over the 
 world. This American tendency, while fol- 
 lowing no immutable law, is very largely 
 governed by climate, and by the rapid, ex-
 
 50 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 citing, bustling life led on the Western Con- 
 tinent. 
 
 In all matters of dress, as between the 
 United States and Great Britain, one promi- 
 nent fact stands out English heaviness and 
 American lightness, and the appearance of 
 both when the reality does not exist. Take 
 the average Englishman his stauncli frame, 
 ample feet, healthy contour, and high color 
 and you will perceive a solidity in the make- 
 up of his clothes, a sense of the durable, the 
 non-tearable, a feeling of utility throughout, in 
 which artistic lines and decorative work are 
 entirely secondary. Yo;i are sure a rain- 
 storm or a good ducking would not send 
 him post-haste to his tailor with a new 
 order. He is dressed upon lines that defy 
 the elements, and he is not afraid, however he 
 walks, sits, or reposes, or whatever his phys- 
 ical action, that he will fall to pieces like the 
 harlequin in the play. His boots have broad 
 and substantial heels and are of heavy calf- 
 skin, or otherwise, as the case may be, and 
 are designed for longevity, not beauty, while 
 the hat follows the same general law. Now 
 note the American moving in a parallel cir-
 
 English Influence on American Dress. 51 
 
 cle at home, and who is not afflicted with 
 that form of Anglomania which causes him 
 to follow English styles, purely in the vein 
 of abject and ignorant imitation, and you will 
 find him physically a lighter man, smaller 
 boned, wirier, with a certain swiftness of 
 walk, a hurried, nervous manner a being, in 
 fine, suited to this bracing atmosphere, and 
 conscious that dress is a powerful social 
 factor in America, an almost free passport to 
 a general acquaintanceship at sight, if he can 
 bear out his title to respectability and good 
 address. With him we find a boot made for 
 the foot's shape, a considerable heel, and a 
 laborious quality of instep-architecture which 
 tells the story that he is a rider in chaises 
 and not a walker. Then his silk hat is al- 
 most one-half as light as that of his English 
 cousin, while every suggestion of his garments 
 is that the ornamental dominates the use- 
 ful. The snug fit, the lighter quality of fab- 
 ric, the absence of lounging ease, and the 
 ever-buttoned coat to the regulation form, 
 just suits the national temperament, as we 
 watch our well-dressed Amtrican on his 
 saunter no, walk up Fifth avenue; for
 
 52 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 Englishmen saunter, and Americans, arrow- 
 straight, are conscious of eye-fascinations cre- 
 ated by the outer man. 
 
 The distinctions we here make cannot be 
 offensive to either nationality, for they are 
 true from whatever point of view, and are 
 demonstrated in whatever we find in the 
 fine or mechanic arts of the two countries. 
 For example: England, in her monuments, 
 statuary, paintings, and architecture, formu- 
 lates the idea of the bold and massive ; some- 
 thing for time and wear ; something that 
 
 cr* ' o 
 
 will keep long alive this period of her history, 
 as creations of former epochs delight and in- 
 struct this age to-day. Her buildings are 
 sunk in deep foundations, and the permanent 
 granite blocks, which rise in simple forms, tell 
 the story that remote ages will find them as 
 perfect as when first they rose against the 
 sky. All of the outward and visible life of 
 that people partake of the same characteristics 
 in their carriages, locomotives, household 
 
 O ' ' 
 
 furniture, and even with journals and reviews 
 and periodicals we note the same idea of per- 
 manency. It is thus that a man who finds 
 his daily walk in Fleet street, and not in
 
 English Influence on American Dress. 53 
 
 Broadway, is filled with the ever-pervading 
 feeling of the enduring, of moving in a world 
 that is not of yesterday, to-day, and to-mor- 
 row alone, and amid surroundings where a 
 foothold has been made that will remain 
 until all things perishable shall merge into 
 the common ruin ! Were London a city of 
 internal revolutions, subject to the devasta- 
 tions of armed mobs, like Paris, and given 
 over under fitful dynasties to great build- 
 ing fevers, to the tearing down and re- 
 constructing on modern lines, as Baron 
 Haussmann did to Paris, the French capital, 
 under the Third Empire, it is possible that 
 outward London, taking on a new stony 
 garb, might change the habitual thought of 
 the English people, as we have observed in 
 some of the larger Continental capitals within 
 the present generation. It is true that there 
 has been some vandalism of recent date in 
 the sweeping away of ancient historic land- 
 marks like Temple Bar, but they are hardly 
 worthy of notice in this great city of the 
 world now housing nearly 5,000,000 of 
 people. 
 
 How different all this to the changes in
 
 54 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 New York, even in a decade ! Rushing from 
 one school of architecture to another, build- 
 ing thirteen stories in the air, having a cha- 
 teau from the Loire, a palace from Unter den 
 Linden, a castle from Warwickshire, a cha- 
 let from Lake Como, Moorish facades from 
 Andalusia, and Kiosque forms from the 
 Orient what modern whim from the arts will 
 not the American embrace \ And, following 
 out this inquiry to its legitimate conclusion, 
 do we not find a disposition to draw from 
 parallel fountains of perfection in other arts, 
 and notably in the art of dressing ? Do we 
 not find the American making a composite 
 fashion, coming from all peoples, which, as 
 generations roll by, must become the dominant 
 one among men ? Can it be supposed, more- 
 over, that, in the great dress reform move- 
 ment that must ultimately sweep over the 
 world, America, stripped of its provincialism, 
 and susceptible to influence from whatever 
 clime and people, will not be the most fitting 
 and impressionable nation to lead the van ? 
 Let us, in the light of these facts and queries, 
 mark the general influence, in fact an abso- 
 lute and easily measurable one, which Eiig-
 
 English Influence on American Dress. 55 
 
 land lias had on these United States during 
 those years since the civil war. Primarily, 
 all that there is in this art of dressing in the 
 United Kingdom proceeds from London. It 
 is in the Metropolis that the tailor starts 
 his propaganda which reaches from John 
 O'Groat's to Land's End, and ultimately 
 through the clubs, travelers, diplomatic corps, 
 and pioneer cutters, as far as the Asiatic 
 possessions of the Czar ; for it is incontro- 
 vertible that, in the present age of cylindrical 
 wear, so to speak, the fashions are made by 
 the London artist. There is a popular de- 
 lusion that the Court, and particularly the 
 Prince of Wales, has only to appear in a gar- 
 ment, however grotesque in pattern, and all 
 clubland will speedily follow. This, how- 
 ever, is not so, although the crown circles have 
 a reasonable and a legitimate influence over 
 the male wardrobe ; but, when the Prince 
 and his coteries, some years ago, essayed to 
 proclaim anew the era of blue coats and brass 
 buttons, the up-start craze died in its own 
 incubation. Mighty as may be the fiat of this 
 lofty personage, and mysterious the charms 
 of the recognized social autocrat of the dy-
 
 56 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 nasty, English gentlemen would not retro- 
 grade in dress, even in the face of such a 
 mandate, and the brazen suit lay fallow and 
 died. It had a brief life in New York and 
 other American cities, and the genial Sam 
 Ward, even up to his latest moments, never 
 appeared in any other garb than the doomed 
 evening wear of less than a score of years 
 ago.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ENGLISH INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN DRESS. 
 (CONTINUED) 
 
 WHO, it may be asked, are arbiters of 
 style, going away down to the very founda- 
 tions ? With the fair sex, it is easy enough 
 to answer. It may be an Empress, with every 
 resource of historic inventive art to aid a 
 naturally gifted mind and eye, a refined 
 sense of the beautiful, and a splendid con- 
 ception of and feeling for color, and with an 
 abundant purse to carry out the day-dreams 
 of a poetic temperament those visions of 
 gown, bonnet, and slipper, at the Tuileries, 
 Cornpiegne, Fontainebleau, and Longchamps. 
 So it may be a hapless Camille, the story of 
 whose wondrous life fills one of the most 
 pathetic and thrilling places on the modern 
 stage ; a Bernhardt with her gloves, a Langtry 
 with her hose, and a Judic with her corsage 
 low. Herein are the celebrities tyrants as 
 absolute as Shahs, and the dress-makers and 
 milliners slaves in a bondage as abject as
 
 58 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 the former-time serf of the Czar. The dis- 
 tribution of fashion's prerogatives, since the 
 ex Empress Eugenie ceased to reign, how- 
 ever, has been among competent leaders, 
 although that imperial lady was the greatest 
 of her time. Casting our eyes backward, we 
 find no such potent figure in the feminine 
 kingdom since light-hearted Marie- Antoinette 
 reigned over the coiffures, the drapery, and 
 the foot-wear of fashionable Europe ; and 
 when those two great lights went out for- 
 ever one on the guillotine in the Palace de 
 la Revolution, and the other in the agony of 
 widowhood at Chiselhurst, to be closely fol- 
 lowed by the death of her own boy-prince 
 there came that dispersion of styles ren- 
 dered emphatic by the leadership of women 
 made conspicuous in other ways. But men, 
 at least in civil life, are not thus led. It is 
 in London that we probe this query to the 
 ultimate source ; for no instructed mind in 
 this age will deny that in male attire the 
 idea and general outline, however modified 
 subsequently, proceed from the brains and 
 experience of the artist-tailor of that metrop- 
 olis. Let us say, too, that some superfine
 
 English Influence on American Dress. 59 
 
 people may be disposed to sneer at the word 
 artist-tailor. Why should they? Here we 
 
 have our sculptor, setting about to make a 
 shapely human figure What does he do ?
 
 60 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 He masses the requisite quantity of clay, and 
 with his hands fashions it into rough pro- 
 portions, and then, with calipers, dividers, 
 and other measuring instruments, he works 
 to the exactness of outline required by the 
 sketch-form which he copies. It is the eye 
 and the yard-stick, after all ; and it is no 
 more, no less, with the tailor. Likewise 
 should it be known that no eminent sculptor 
 ever considers a draped figure perfect, or 
 ready for critical inspection, before he calls 
 in a quick-eyed and experienced craftsman 
 from the cutter's board. A further fact is, 
 that a cutter of exceptional gifts and stand- 
 ing can earn more money, at wage, than the 
 average sculptor, all over the world. He 
 must needs know the imperfections of one's 
 physique almost at a glance, without letting 
 their unhappy possessor be aware of his in- 
 telligent scrutiny ; he must plot out in his 
 mind the best method to cover them up. 
 While preserving the conventional lines and 
 seams of the prevailing fashion, he must, to 
 be explicit, make out of an awkwardly put 
 together man, who has a slatternly gait and 
 a jointless carriage, a fair imitation of the
 
 English Influence on American Dress. 61 
 
 true Adonis, without hurting his patron's 
 feelings. Look at that man yonder! the 
 scion of an ancient Manhattan house with an 
 income beyond the dream of want, an uncon- 
 querable ambition to be thought handsome 
 in form, careful in dress, and, withal, irre- 
 sistible at the shrine of Venus. He is not 
 ill-looking, you proclaim, with your mascu- 
 line dictum ; and the ladies along the ave- 
 nue, they say : " Isn't he too lovely for any- 
 thing ?" Yet, simple mortals ! that is not a 
 God-made man you see ; it is a tailor-made 
 man. Invade the sanctity of his chamber 
 when the curfew tolls the knell of parting 
 day, and the mysteries of this alert divinity 
 stand revealed before you. Shall the picture 
 be etched the limbs, the chest, the should- 
 ers and their knifey blades? Nay! There 
 lie the secrets of the shop ! 
 
 The absolute fixedness of the tradition that 
 an English gentleman must have his own 
 private tailor prohibits him from patroniz- 
 ing the great establishments that sell ready- 
 made wear. No untoward financial outlook 
 will cause a well-dressed Briton to sway from 
 this habit of a life-time. The curious feature
 
 62 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 of it is, too, that lie always adheres to the 
 same shop which has, perhaps, been patron- 
 ized for generations by his family. Reasons 
 in abundance exist for this loyalty to the 
 same house ; but, as will be obvious, it is 
 often a mistaken course, for the craftsman- 
 ship changes, as do the directors and manner 
 of doing business. Still, there is a social 
 flavor given to the man, who cannot obtain 
 it otherwise, by mentioning, in a careless 
 manner, that he had left an order at Poole's. 
 It is well known to all worldly men that this 
 deceased autocrat exercised a dominion in 
 England of no mean dimensions. Furnishing 
 the funds to Louis Napoleon to maintain his 
 quasi-dignity as an Imperial prince in exile, 
 he had more to do in bringing about the 
 early days of the French Empire than many 
 dream. This, and the patronage of the 
 Crown, the herding of the nobility to his shop 
 in Sackville street, gave him at least an as- 
 sumed importance which made the exotic 
 man marvel. This was, all queer on any rea- 
 sonable grounds, illustrated thus : An Amer- 
 ican gentleman of commanding physique en- 
 tered his shop one morning and said :
 
 English Influence on American Dress. 63 
 
 " I wish to get measured for some clothes. 
 I am in a hurry." 
 
 " Your introduction, if you please !" said 
 the trim manager, with a bow quite at right- 
 angles with the perpendicular. 
 
 The American eyed him contemptuously, 
 and with a gesture of impatience, drawing 
 forth his morocco envelope, he exhibited a 
 roll of 50 Bank of England notes, saying: 
 
 " Here are my letters of introduction." 
 
 "They will not go here, sir!" replied he 
 decisively, when the would-be customer ex- 
 hibited his card as the accredited United 
 States Consul- General to an Oriental capital. 
 He demurred again, and the disgusted diplo- 
 mat, with a choice volley of accentuated al- 
 lusions to sheol and its viceroy, departed. 
 
 This custom of the house alluded to, wide- 
 spread as it is, and now employed among the 
 best merchant tailors of New York, is not 
 snobbery, as it would naturally appear on the 
 surface and to the unthinking. To be plain, 
 it is simply wise mercantile precaution, as the 
 author has tested many times in New York, 
 London, and Paris. A high class of business 
 could not be done without a safeguard like
 
 64 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 this. To illustrate, an unknown gentleman 
 enters a shop and gives a cash order for a 
 suit of clothes, without revealing his identity 
 or pecuniary responsibility. They are made 
 and paid for. Subsequently he goes again, 
 and obtains a second suit under the same cir- 
 cumstances. After a time he orders several 
 hundred dollars worth of clothes, with orders 
 to send them to his address. They are made, 
 and despatched " Collect on delivery," but 
 the customer pleads for time, or is indignant. 
 In this case it is, perhaps, policy to mollify 
 him and extend the credit, running the risk 
 of eventual payment rather than have the 
 garments thrown back on the maker's hands, 
 because then he could not dispose of them at 
 one-quarter their charged value. Thus it 
 will be readily seen that a merchant selling 
 only the higher class of articles, and dealing 
 with gentlemen, and those of responsibility, 
 wishes to know for whom he is making 
 clothes. It is more important to him than 
 ready cash sales to those who consider steady 
 patronage as an implied favor to the tailor, 
 who must in return extend, from pure grati- 
 tude, hazardous credit for large amounts.
 
 English Influence on American Dress. 65 
 
 When English reign in dress began to be 
 felt in America, shortly before the close of the 
 civil war, the male costume on this side of 
 the water presented some curious incon- 
 gruities. The author found himself one 
 among several Englishmen only who had 
 come to New York for permanence. The 
 field seemed large, the growth of a better 
 taste rapid, and a wish, where there was a 
 way, to use only the best fabrics to adorn the 
 body. The outlook was, moreover, very en- 
 ticing from another standpoint : The Ameri- 
 cans were willing to pay high prices, and 
 consequently every device known to the 
 tailor's skill and invention was brought into 
 requisition to make elegant and attractive 
 clothes, some of which exist to-day, while 
 the others have gone out, let us hope, for- 
 ever. Then came the period of the built-out 
 shoulders and padded chest, which gave to a 
 consumptive sapling the appearance of a 
 diminished Hercules, whose spring-bottom 
 trousers were borrowed from the aquatic 
 fevers which were then the expensive tastes 
 of the wealthier. White duck suits and 
 cream-colored wear, both of which have a
 
 66 English Influence on American Dress. 
 
 history, were spasms of the era, and traces of 
 them may yet be seen among those who have 
 been reduced to the last stitch of a once 
 opulent wardrobe. But however these facts, 
 those of the English method in New York 
 soon found that it was on the cards to make 
 the gentlemen of this city the best dressed in 
 the world ; and so they are, beyond all ques- 
 tion, to-day. They pay for, demand, and get, 
 the finest skill in cutting, the best workman- 
 ship, trimmings of the rarest quality, and 
 only such clothes as are used at the highest 
 courts of Europe. And this has been one re- 
 sult of English influence on American dress.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 CYLINDRICAL CLOTHES. 
 
 IT is a matter of great difficulty to assign a 
 certain date to the origin of the cylindrical 
 garment which we call trousers, for the 
 farther back we push our researches into the 
 history of wearing apparel, the more are we 
 made to see that some dawning of the shape 
 has flitted before the eyes of men, at times, in 
 every land under the sun. Again and again 
 it appears as if the Egyptians, the Assyrians, 
 the Babylonians, were on the point of seizing 
 finally the great idea, and giving to it a per- 
 manent form as a constituent part of their 
 national costume. But the history of this great 
 discovery was not to be added to the long 
 roll of the conquests of Kameses or Assur- 
 banipal. The captives that stand stripped 
 and huddled together before the great king, 
 on the walls of the temples and on the ala- 
 baster slabs, seem, indeed, at times to wear, 
 for their only covering, what suggests the
 
 68 Cylindrical Clothes. 
 
 future distinctive and typical portion of the 
 costume of civilized man; but it is only a 
 suggestion, and passes as it came. 
 
 It is not in the Nile, nor in Mesopotamia, 
 that we find the genesis of this article. An- 
 cient Persia possessed the form, and succeeded, 
 when under Sapor she divided with Rome 
 the supremacy of the world, in imposing it 
 upon the haughty empire. How far the 
 invention of the cylinder belonged to Persia 
 is, however, matter of doubt, and it seems 
 probable that the garment was rather an 
 inheritance from the prehistoric Aryans, than 
 a discovery wrought out by a later thinker 
 in an organized Oriental society, where the 
 accepted ideal of manly attire was the long 
 tunic or robe with its flowing lines. This 
 extreme antiquity seems the more likely, that 
 we find the far western kinsmen of the an- 
 cient Persians, the Germans and the Gauls, 
 equally in possession of this significant 
 shape, at a period when history barely knows 
 their names, and records them as those of 
 barbarous and untamable tribes. The cap- 
 tives represented on the column of Trajan 
 wear trousers ; and the true Anglo-Saxon
 
 Cylindrical Clothes. 69 
 
 word breeches is but an English form of the 
 Irish and Gaelic name for the Gaulish gar- 
 ment. 
 
 The Chinese undoubtedly invented their 
 own breeches; but it would be a mistake to 
 attribute to them the communication of the 
 idea to the West, for China has never entered 
 into the general movement of the world's 
 history until in recent days, and forms almost 
 literally a world by itself, as much isolated 
 from the rest of the globe as if it were part 
 of another planet. 
 
 We are forced back upon the conclusion 
 that the inventor of this part of dress is, like 
 the inventor of the alphabet, or the dis- 
 coverer of the plough, absolutely beyond the 
 reach of the inquirer. His work speaks for 
 him, or, at least, it lives and moves for him, 
 wearing always, under whatever imperfect 
 shape a bungling artist may have given it, 
 some portion of a likeness to the finished 
 beauty of outline which floated only before 
 the imagination of the mind that conceived it, 
 to become a palpable reality only when the 
 fulness of time had brought, with advancing 
 science and more fully developed resources,
 
 70 Cylindrical Clothes. 
 
 the artistic intelligence and culture needed to 
 fix the idea forever. 
 
 It is only the first step that is dimcult, 
 says the proverb. This applies to all inven- 
 tions as to every form of labor; but it is 
 equally true, that no discovery is perfect in 
 the shape first given to it. To see the fitness 
 of means to ends, is in itself an intellectual 
 step that implies activity and nimbleness of 
 mind ; but there is hardly less activity called 
 for in the amplification of a simple idea to 
 make it stand by its own strength. It was 
 a great thing to have seen that man, himself 
 a collection of pipes and cylinders enclosed 
 in an outer cylinder, might best be attired 
 in cylindrical garments, and one cannot but 
 be struck by the wonderful instinct of genius 
 in the unknown inventor of the trousers, who 
 sprang forward mentally, so to speak, across 
 the gap of centuries, to create, when society 
 could hardly be said to have an organization, 
 a form at once typical of and indispensable to 
 the most complex and elaborate civilization. 
 "Measure a great period," says Emerson, 
 " by the comparative lack of elevation of any 
 one man above the rest."
 
 Cylindrical Clothes. 71 
 
 How towering, measured by this rule, is 
 the height of the unknown genius we are 
 considering ! He put forth his idea, and not 
 to wholly inattentive rninds, for it was 
 adopted and made familiar; but the ages 
 slowly rolled away, and there came no 
 second intellect to develop and modify the 
 first rude form. Men were contented with 
 the cylinder of cloth, or linen, or cotton, or 
 skins, provided only it covered the leg and 
 was fastened about the ankle. Grace, fitness, 
 delicate adaptation to the peculiarities of the 
 wearer, no one of these things could come to 
 the thought of the earlier followers of the great 
 discoverer. What was done seemed to them 
 sufficient, and they went on fabricating and 
 wearing their breeks, or breeches, or trousers, 
 through the long ages of monotonous style, 
 until the artist, the thinker in cloth, was 
 found. It is noticeable how little the artists, 
 of a day even so late as that of Holbein, 
 seem to care for the possibilities of nobleness 
 that lie in the undeveloped breeches. A 
 study of the illustrations made by this great 
 master on the margin of his copy of the 
 Encomium Morice of Erasmus shows how
 
 72 Cylindrical Clothes. 
 
 entirely he missed the wonderfully suggest- 
 ive future in the shape of this garment. 
 All through the Middle Ages we find the 
 same inadequate treatment of the nether 
 covering. 
 
 That most popular story of the time, the 
 "Adventures and Jests of Tyll Owlglass" 
 (Eulenspiegel), certainly not-- less popular 
 than the HeineJce Fuchs, presents the trousers 
 always in the burlesque and ridiculous man- 
 ner which betrays in a folk-book the popular 
 conception of the subject. It might be 
 thought that this point of view was natural 
 in the less enlightened times of the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries, and in the back- 
 ward North; but what is to be said of 
 Rabelais, great genius and profound scholar 
 as he was? Surely, even his royal license, 
 as lord of the springs of wise and thoughtful 
 mirth, had taken too little note of the serious 
 element in the history and unfolding of the 
 great subject. For, after all, what is more 
 suggestive of manly dignity and power, what 
 more indispensable to an impressive and 
 kingly bearing before the world, than legs 
 sufficiently attired and equal to the support
 
 Cylindrical Clothes. 
 
 73 
 
 of the chest the house of courage, and the 
 head the dome of intelligence and re- 
 flection? 
 
 BUILT OUT SHOULDERS AXD SPRING BOTTOMS.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE TRUE ARTIST-TAILOR. 
 
 SEVENTY passages across the Atlantic Ocean, 
 and always connected with the subject 
 matter of this book, have taught the author 
 that on either side of the great pond there 
 are those who fashion the clothes of men 
 in a conscientious and honorable spirit, not 
 less earnest and painstaking than the labor 
 of the painter or sculptor in his effort to 
 please the eye. But the designer of wear 
 has an additional task, not imposed on him 
 who deals in clay or pigments. With beauty 
 he is bound to combine comfort and durabil- 
 ity, with the vexatious knowledge that his 
 skill must soon disappear by the attrition 
 of constant action and the inevitable decay 
 of the fabric. Is it not fair, then, to place 
 the accomplished tailor, deeply instructed in 
 the mysteries of his craft, in close proximity 
 to the sculptor, who follows conventional 
 forms and fashions inelastic figures? We 
 think all will concede that it requires no
 
 The True Artist-Tailor 75 
 
 mean perceptive powers to follow all of the 
 sinuous curves of the human body, fill out 
 their defects, give an easy setting to the ap- 
 parel, and supply a wanted chic to the pose 
 of the man himself. Yet such is the office of 
 the cutter in any first-class house of this day ; 
 and right royally is he paid, too, often as high 
 as $5,000 a year, considerably in excess of the 
 salary of the President of Yale College and 
 the highest professors in other celebrated 
 institutions of learning here and abroad. 
 
 Tailors, therefore, who prove their attain- 
 ments, command an exclusive and wealthy 
 patronage, particularly in New York, where 
 the liberality of patrons permits the maker to 
 secure only the finest workmanship. Time 
 was when waistcoats were provided with 
 cotton backs, but now these will not do, and 
 silk has taken the place. This and other in- 
 novations constantly appear, in order to main- 
 tain the high standard compelled by high 
 prices. But there is a limit to the embel- 
 lishment of a true gentleman's wear ; for, 
 while elegance is sought, the limit must be 
 drawn at the' tasteful outline of fashion with- 
 out extremes, never descending to the odd or
 
 76 The True Artist-Tailor. 
 
 bizarre, or suggesting that most odious of all 
 spectacles in cloth vulgar ostentation. Here 
 it might be well to ask, " Who is a well- 
 dressed man ?" Is he that flamboyant biped 
 with blazing scarf, patent-leather shoes, and 
 glittering jewelry, swaggering up Fifth 
 Avenue beside a comely dame, his nostrils 
 dilating with surcharged pride, attacking the 
 harmless atmosphere with his gold-headed 
 stick while meandering through the gaping 
 pedestrians on a Sunday afternoon ? Witness 
 his make-up, for his fair companion is close 
 at his elbow, with a smile of sweet content- 
 ment and a facial notification to her sister 
 promenaders, as much as to say, in plain 
 English, " Match him for a gentleman if you 
 can !" Scrutinize him closely. You observe 
 that his hat is exaggerated in form, the po- 
 made glistens on his hair and whiskers like 
 the sheen on polished porphyry ; his shoulders, 
 built out, give him a breadth of beam re- 
 quiring a swath through the crowd ample 
 for two of his natural kind ; his waist is drawn 
 in by corsets, his legs to the ankles are shaped 
 like inverted cones, while the shoes, with 
 their heels close to the ball of the foot, cause
 
 The True Artist-Tailor. 77 
 
 this work of art to amble along with visible 
 pain and difficulty. Now, is this man dressed 
 like a gentleman, for one of birth he will show 
 you he is, by the mention of his family, and 
 by the exhibition of his parchments ? Un- 
 happily, such a figure, not over-drawn either, 
 has often been seen on our thoroughfares, at 
 the opera, and in fashionable assemblies, and 
 the ladies think him an artist in his attire, one 
 bold enough to consult the arts, and alto- 
 gether too beautiful to behold. It is a fact, 
 also, that many ladies of the highest circles, 
 and despising the effeminate man, would 
 court this outre creature rather than one of 
 quiet apparel. Herein, for effect on the other 
 sex, men who adhere to the characteristic 
 modesty of the true gentleman in attire are at 
 a considerable disadvantage; for, as women 
 dress for women, men aress for men and 
 women. Only the affected and the eccentric 
 go to the length of the curiosity just de- 
 scribed. 
 
 Therefore, the assumption must be plain to 
 the reader, that the well-dressed man is one 
 whose garments, ornaments, and head and 
 foot wear, are such that he would not attract
 
 78 The True Artist-Tailor. 
 
 general attention by any staggering peculiar- 
 ity of his garb. Herein is the true secret of 
 the art of dressing, and he who has not yet 
 learned this lesson is several grades down in 
 social culture. 
 
 By attracting attention to one's clothes, it 
 is not meant to be understood that a well- 
 dressed man is not noticeable, for most as- 
 suredly he is, to the cultivated and artistic eye, 
 and to every tailor who knows his business. 
 Even when the cloth be not fine in quality, 
 the cut and set of his apparel will be the 
 striking feature at once. Hence let it be said 
 that simplicity, without display, in all the 
 varied costumes, those for morning, walking, 
 evening, full dress, riding, hunting, and 
 yachting, should be the feeling throughout. 
 You must say, " he is perfectly dressed," with- 
 out exactly knowing the reason why, what- 
 ever his physical deformities or attenuations. 
 How often do we see, in mixed assemblies, 
 for instance, a gifted and brilliant fellow, 
 through whose wretchedly cut suit the ex- 
 perienced eye of the tailor can detect an 
 almost perfect form, true to the lines of the 
 Apollo Belvidere, and yet there he is, mis-
 
 The True Artist-Tailor. 79 
 
 sliapen, ugly in outline, shrunken here and 
 bulging there, all due to machine-made 
 clothes. Yonder in the porch is another. 
 How the ladies admire his svelte figure, his 
 graceful carriage and showy build. And yet, 
 Dlace these two men side by side, nude, and 
 what the contrast in the flesh ! the God- 
 made man and the tailor-made man. But 
 when the former can be appropriately dressed, 
 we then indeed have perfection. Such an in- 
 stance is the pride of every true artist in 
 cloth, for, if he be true to his art, he will not 
 countenance its degradation ; he will not, to 
 please a patron, make sloppy or grotesque 
 garments; nor will he permit to go forth 
 from his shop any article of wear which 
 will injure his professional standing.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ELEVATED STANDAED OF TASTE AND WOEK- 
 MANSHIP. 
 
 The author could name hundreds of cases 
 within his own experience where he has been 
 forced to decline to execute orders for ridicu- 
 lous patterns of wear from patrons of celebrity, 
 on two continents, simply because he would 
 not consent to debase an art only perfected 
 after years of careful workmanship and zeal- 
 ous study and observation ; and it should here 
 be laid down as an inflexible law, by every 
 honest tailor, that no patron should be al- 
 lowed to depart with a suit of ill-fitting 
 clothes, under any circumstances. This is a 
 duty which is owing, not only to the cus- 
 tomer, but to the craft itself; and it matters 
 not what may be the conceit of the patron, 
 the outside world is certain to credit the 
 garment as worn by an ass and fabricated by 
 a fool. Nor should pecuniary gain for a 
 moment hamper, or in any way influence the
 
 Elevated Standard of Taste. 81 
 
 mind of, the maker and designer, for such 
 mistaken acquisitiveness, in the long run, is 
 a losing game. 
 
 In laying down this principle to those 
 young in the business, and who are ambi- 
 tious, not only of gain, but of repute for high 
 artistic excellence, it is well to observe 
 that the production of finished clothing to 
 man's measure involves a keen eye, a large 
 constructive and inventive faculty, and a gen- 
 eral following of prevailing styles. There is 
 a satisfaction greater than the compensating 
 dollars, to the cutter and fitter who can point 
 out a well-dressed man on the avenue, and 
 say, " That is my work !" 
 
 When Americans first began to perceive 
 that the fashions came from London, it was 
 odd to observe a man order and pay for a 
 hundred dollar suit of clothes, and have the 
 rest of his wear, for example, about the neck, 
 of the crudest kind. It was the habit of one 
 of the first of the old-time fashionable tailors 
 of New York to keep on hand a supply of col- 
 lars and neckties and scarfs to place on cus- 
 tomers who came to be measured for a new 
 suit of clothes. He was inflexible about this,
 
 82 Elevated Standard of Taste. 
 
 and lost many orders by his despotic man- 
 date. But now this has nearly all passed 
 away, and the American begins to have a 
 wardrobe something on the same scale as the 
 Englishman of quality. It may be taken as 
 a fact, however, that where the American 
 buys six suits a year the Englishman buys 
 twelve. Take the average London club-man. 
 
 O / 
 
 with or without title, and he delights in ac- 
 cumulating vast quantities of clothes adapted 
 to special uses and vaiying occasions. His 
 array of boots, hats, bags, canes, and um- 
 brellas^ would fit out a respectable shop. This 
 comes from the ability and habit to have a 
 valet a personage who is not very popular 
 as yet with the young and able-bodied Amer- 
 ican. Perhaps this may be because our leis- 
 ure class is very limited as yet, and further- 
 more, when one finds himself the fortunate 
 possessor of inherited wealth, instead of giv- 
 ing himself entirely over to the varieties of 
 dress, he proceeds to expend the major por- 
 tion of his time in multiplying his already 
 ample dollars. Still, the rich youth of New 
 York and other American cities are the class 
 depended on by the first-class tailors to sup-
 
 Elevated Standard of Taste. 83 
 
 port high style and to give liberal orders, keep- 
 ing closely up with the more advanced move- 
 ments in the old world. Were tailors left 
 dependent on those past middle life or in de- 
 clining age, the Americans would be a poorly 
 attired people. There seems to be a gravita- 
 tion toward carelessness in this respect as the 
 average American grows older, and even as he 
 grows richer. That there is a somewhat fine 
 philosophy drawn here is doubtless true, for 
 the opulent citizen may be prone to mentally 
 asseverate " I can afford to dress as I please ; 
 I will despise the pomps of the day." Such, 
 perchance, was the argument of the late A. T. 
 Stewart, who used to sit in his office, at 
 Broadway and Chambers streets, in a well- 
 worn suit of rusty broadcloth, without the 
 sign of jewel or ornament of any kind, while 
 his humblest clerk would be radiant and 
 spruce in such wear that it was evident he 
 had to stint his stomach to adorn his back. 
 The true-artist tailor cannot but look upon 
 examples of the kind of the celebrated mer- 
 chant prince as exceedingly pernicious, and 
 as nothing more nor less than an exceedingly 
 narrow sham. Here was Mr. Stewart, who
 
 84 Elevated Standard of Taste. 
 
 was a magnificent patron of art, who pro- 
 claimed his nice and discriminating taste by 
 purchasing all the richest stuffs from all of 
 the markets of the world a dealer whose 
 stock was thousands of times richer and more 
 varied than the magnificent goods which went 
 to the Venetian market in the palmy days of 
 the mediaeval carnivals ; and yet he played 
 the part of austerity in personal dress a 
 part quite as wearisome as great care and 
 thought over the daily costume.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THOSE WHO SHOULD LEAD THE FASHIONS. 
 
 Leaving a type of men of whom Mr. Stew- 
 art was a forcible example, it is well to let 
 professions and public officials of the country 
 pass in review. 
 
 On all sides it must be admitted that to a 
 professional man, be he lawyer, editor, au- 
 thor, doctor, minister, artist, sculptor, or li- 
 brarian, fine address, and consequently fine 
 dress, is of the supremest importance. Not 
 that foppery is to be tolerated, but apparel of 
 the first quality would not only augment his 
 income, add to his personal dignity, but 
 would tell wonderfully with the ladies, who 
 have so much to do with shaping his ca- 
 reer. There is a certain class of professional 
 men who think all that is necessary is clean- 
 liness, and that too much attention to the 
 outer man betrays a mental weakness which 
 might influence those concerned in making 
 his reputation to believe that such might be 
 the main purpose of his existence. Yet the
 
 86 Those who should Lead the Fashions. 
 
 successful practitioners of the law and medi- 
 cine have seen that no small measure of their 
 triumphs has come by being presentable 
 that is, by so following the styles that there 
 could be no suggestion of shabbiness on the 
 one hand, or loudness on the other. While 
 all of the professions sin mightily against the 
 laws of dress at this moment, still within a 
 very few years there has been a very rapid 
 advance for the better. Take the literary 
 guild as an example. Years ago a writer of 
 power and attainments was a slouchy indi- 
 vidual with unkempt hair, soiled garments, 
 and rusty externals generally. Now and 
 then we found an exception, as in the late 
 N. P. Willis, but the exceptions were not 
 many. Since that period the multiplication 
 of clubs, the movement to and fro across the 
 sea, and the increased income to be derived 
 by literary toil, and the actual founding of 
 an American school of literature, have all 
 contributed to make the author, pamphleteer, 
 and journalist, a sight Her figure, to be fur- 
 ther improved in outward aspect, let us hope, 
 as- time rolls on. Nor should we deny to the 
 far-reaching and powerful stage its iust meed
 
 Those who should Lead the Fashions. 87 
 
 of recognition, in the perpetual and intelli- 
 gent stimulus it has lent to the spread of the 
 fine art of dressing among men and women. 
 The hero, the walking gentleman, and the 
 refined villain cast in the noisome surround- 
 ings of squalor, poverty, and crime, have an 
 excellent chance to exhibit all of the fine 
 points of dressing ; and, executed as these 
 costumes are, with infinite pains, and reaching 
 every branch of the wardrobe of a gentle- 
 man, the impression made on the beholder is 
 strengthened by the dramatic action, the 
 memorable situations and plot, and the power 
 of the piece itself. It is not contended that 
 the walking gentleman of the stage is an ap- 
 propriate copy for the street or drawing- 
 room, owing to the inevitable heightening of 
 effects before the foot-lights ; still, the artistic 
 feeling and display are before the eye, and 
 have had no inconsiderable directing force in 
 teaching mankind to dress better. 
 
 From what has been said, we think it not 
 too much to add that it is the duty of every 
 true artist-tailor, as circumstances permit, to 
 instill into the minds of the gentlemen of the 
 professions the absolute necessity of superi-
 
 88 Those who should Lead the Fashions. 
 
 ority over others in the daily raiment. In 
 the first place, their contact with others is 
 frequent, and they reach all classes of life, 
 from the lowest to the highest ; and, being 
 born of intellectual aspect, they are more 
 suitable for artistic dressing than those whose 
 faces have become stolid in pursuit of gain. 
 If it were appreciated by them that a man 
 suitably attired is really a delightful spectacle 
 to the eye, we fancy there would be a greater 
 readiness to look out for the person. But it 
 may be pleaded that professional men cannot 
 afford these luxuries ; their incomes are 
 limited and their general expenses high. 
 This is a. fallacious kind of reasoning. The 
 man who pays sixty or seventy dollars for a 
 suit of perfectly-fitting clothes is practicing a 
 more intelligent economy than he who pur- 
 chases at one-third the sum, to say nothing of 
 the pleasure of wearing he enjoys in the in- 
 terval. The durability, also, is in the better 
 articles, as well as the pattern and attractive 
 outline. 
 
 In the official life of America, and by that 
 is meant, of course, those who occupy the 
 offices, and their immediate beneficiaries, there
 
 Those who should Lead the Fashions. 89 
 
 is given an opportunity to influence the na- 
 tional dress not to be ignored, and particularly 
 since the dawn of civil service reform. But 
 if we pass by the subordinates and come to 
 those of dignified station, we do not find a 
 very pleasing prospect. Beginning at the 
 top round, the United States has had but one 
 well-dressed President since the administra- 
 tion of James Buchanan ; and he President 
 Arthur. There can certainly be no earthly 
 excuse for the Chief Magistrate, with his 
 body attendant close at hand, not to set an 
 example of gentlemanly and becoming garb 
 to the whole nation. Likewise with both 
 houses of Congress. They represent in their 
 number the many communities by whom 
 they are delegated to make laws, and their 
 example in Washington, wont to claim its 
 architecture as the most imposing and splen- 
 did of modern times, would go far to leaven 
 the masses. Again, there is a habit among 
 the American people, with their fresh civiliza- 
 tion, that should be rooted out from the na- 
 tional customs. In all communities, and 
 among all classes, the people think it incum- 
 bent to wear only their best clothes on Sun-
 
 90 Those who should Lead the Fashions. 
 
 days and festival occasions. We take it 
 there could be nothing more vulgar than this 
 basing this statement on every-day common 
 sense principles. Why, let us ask, should a 
 man be better dressed on Sundays than on 
 any other day ? Be he a business man, he has 
 his suit for the counting-room; for evening 
 calls, his frock-coat or dress-suit; and the 
 various other forms of garments suitable for 
 specific occasions. We can readily under- 
 stand why mechanics, and those doing severe 
 manual labor, should preserve a portion of 
 their wardrobe for the set-apart days ; but, for 
 one able to afford the outlay, the man should 
 be no better dressed one day than another, 
 and at all times well. 
 
 Those who follow the rule of uniform good 
 dressing form a very large class at present in 
 America, and they are more independent than 
 the gentry of England and the Continent in 
 their choice of tailors. If the cut and fit of 
 their orders are not approved they seek a 
 new shop, and are thus handed around among 
 the upper houses, whereas in England the 
 patron seldom changes, but is satisfied with 
 what is meted out to him.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 EEFLECTIONS ON MODEKN" WEAK. 
 
 i 
 
 IT is interesting to note the derivation 
 of the name by which this portion of dress 
 is known at the present day. The word 
 trousers is not an old form. Mr. Skeat re- 
 marks that, in older books, this word is 
 found without the latter r, as troozes, trouzes, 
 and even trooze, like the Lowland Scotch 
 trews ; and in Henry V, iii, 7, 57, Shake- 
 speare has the corrupt form strossers. The 
 word is said to have been particularly used 
 of the nether garments of the Irish, and Mr. 
 Skeat gives, with others, a quotation from 
 Sir T. Herbert's Travels, as follows: "Their 
 breeches, like the Irish trooze, have hose 
 and stockings sewed together." 
 
 In Ford's Perkin Warbeck, iii, 2, the stage 
 direction reads : " Four wild Irish in trowses." 
 
 The original of the word is, undoubtedly, 
 the French trousses, trunk-hose or breeches, 
 but at first, and in the singular, a bundle or 
 case, such as a quiver for arrows, as given in
 
 92 Reflections on Modern Wear. 
 
 Cotgrave's dictionary, quoted by Mr. Skeat. 
 The limited meaning of trunk-hose, or of 
 that portion of the body more directly con- 
 cerned with that form of garment, is the 
 one preserved in the French familiar idiom 
 quoted by Carlyle in his Frederick the Great, 
 in his account of the unfortunate Russian 
 lady whose physical infirmities compelled 
 her to travel " Toujours un lavement a ses 
 trousses" The mutations and chances which 
 have overtaken this word are, perhaps, not 
 more surprising than those which most 
 words are made to undergo ; but it gives us 
 a moment's pause to find the accepted Eng- 
 lish name to have been, but two hundred 
 years ago, applied only to the dress of the 
 wild Irish. No Englishman of to-day would 
 use the general American name of pantaloons 
 for this indispensable and inexpressible ar- 
 ticle. One must say trousers ; but when he 
 says it he makes use of a word French by 
 origin, Irish by naturalization, and English 
 by adoption only from the Irish. It must 
 be expected that this word will continually 
 gain ground in the United States, since it 
 has in its favor the influence of English ex-
 
 Reflections on Modern Wear. 93 
 
 ample and social prestige ; and if it were 
 only that the form of it precludes its being 
 abbreviated, like its competitor, in a shape 
 
 Hateful, horrible, monstrous, not to be told, 
 
 this were enough to make every one pray for 
 its speedy and permanent triumph. 
 
 The preferred American name of panta- 
 loons is important enough to claim a few 
 words taken from Mr. Skeat's dictionary. 
 The word is there explained as of Greek 
 origin, through the Italian, and is said to be 
 a personal name, meaning all-lion, from panta, 
 wholly, and leon, lion. Littr6, the great 
 French lexicographer, gives a different der- 
 ivation and meaning all-pitiful; also from 
 the Greek. The former explanation seems 
 the better, though one does not like to ques- 
 tion a positive statement by Littre. In 
 Italy the name is peculiarly Venetian, and 
 the people of that city are known to the 
 other Italians as Pantaloons, just as Lon- 
 doners are called Cockneys. In the Italian 
 comedy the pantalone is a covetous and 
 amorous old dotard, who is made the butt 
 of the piece. Mahn says that St. Pantaleone
 
 94 Reflections on Modern Wear. 
 
 is the patron saint of Venice, and that his 
 name is a very common baptismal name in 
 that city. There is a St. Pantaleone, whose 
 day is July 27 ; but it is a little odd that 
 neither Herr Mahn nor Mr. Skeat seems to 
 have remembered that, if Venice has a patron 
 saint, it is St. Mark. Lord Byron's etymol- 
 ogy of the name Pantaloon is justly de- 
 scribed by Mr. Skeat as extraordinary and 
 even ridiculous ; and it is well to call atten- 
 tion to this point, because for one person 
 who looks into an etymological dictionary 
 there are, happily, five hundred who read 
 Byron ; and, of these, many never think of 
 questioning his authority. It is the preroga- 
 tive of a genius so splendid to subdue and 
 to dazzle the reader ; but all ought to know 
 that in questions of learning Byron is ruled 
 out of court. Whatever the etymology of 
 the word, it came from Venice, and was in 
 time transferred from the men who were 
 known as Pantaloons to the kind of breeches 
 which they wore. It is instructive to ob- 
 serve that, while the English have adopted 
 a name of French origin, the French rec- 
 ognize only the Italian name of the inex-
 
 Reflections on Modern Wear. 95 
 
 pressibles ; though it does not appear by 
 what secret sympathies men are guided in 
 their selection of such terms. The fact is 
 such, and beyond this no one appears to be 
 able to penetrate ; for each nation has pos- 
 sessed, in ordinary usage, the word it now 
 seems to have finally discarded. The pan- 
 taloons were worn under that name in the 
 time of the Restoration. In an inventory of 
 apparel provided for Charles II, in 1679, we 
 find a complete suit of one material under 
 the familiar designation of coat, waistcoat, 
 and breeches. Pantaloons are mentioned in 
 the same inventory, and a yard and a half 
 of lutestring allowed for them.* These pan- 
 taloons were loose in the upper part, and 
 puffed, fitting closer on the lower leg, and 
 terminating in stockings. There is evidence 
 in Hudibras that the garment had been 
 adopted, not directly from Italy, but from 
 France. In Part I, Canto 3, occur these lines : 
 
 And as the French we conquered once, 
 Now give us laws for pantaloons. 
 
 The evidence is not conclusive, since the 
 
 * Planche, History of British Costume, p. 327.
 
 96 Reflections on Modern Wear. 
 
 French fashion might have come in to mod- 
 ify the style of garments already in use; 
 but the lines admit of the other interpreta- 
 tion. It is probable that the struggle be- 
 tween the two names in the American world 
 will end, not, as some might wish, in the 
 definite triumph of one form to the exclu- 
 sion of the other, but in a kind of compro- 
 mise which will give to the form trousers 
 "les grandes et les petites entrees" in good 
 society, and leave to the other the ever wide 
 domain of the great multitude which, for 
 fear of some more vigilant guardians of the 
 democratic idea, we hesitate to designate as 
 the masse-s. Not that the term has in it any- 
 thing necessarily offensive, since it is a self- 
 evident proposition that, when the popula- 
 tion of the world amounts, according to 
 Behm and Wagner, the best of all authorities, 
 to something over 1,400,000,000, it is a mere 
 statement of scientific fact to speak of the 
 masses of mankind. We may call them what 
 we will, masses they will remain, because 
 they will always largely outnumber those 
 who aim at a high and refined ideal of cul- 
 ture and civilization in thought, and in the
 
 Reflections on Modern Wear. 97 
 
 outward expression of thought as manifested 
 in language, manners, and attire. Man has 
 always, until he has caught the divine fire, 
 what Swift has called an alacrity in sink- 
 ing. 
 
 One has but to give a glance at what 
 we call our monuments, in the shape of col- 
 umns and of statues, to recognize the down- 
 ward gravitation of the average man ; and the 
 one saying which preserves King Bomba's 
 memory from entire detestation is his witty 
 remark on the proposed remodeling of the 
 uniform of his soldiers, mere mercenaries of 
 a tyrant who thought as basely of his people 
 as of himself, and dreaded nothing so much 
 as the wakening of individual manhood and 
 the feeling of national pride in the Neapol- 
 itans : " Yes, yes ! Have it as you will ; 
 dress them in red, dress them in blue, they 
 will run away all the same." For the sup- 
 port of numbers gives weak men the courage 
 to say and to do that which they feel to be 
 
 wrong. 
 
 Of the part played in literature by the 
 trousers it is difficult to speak, within the 
 limits of the present work, so many and so
 
 98 Reflections on Modern Wear. 
 
 important are the instances besides those but 
 just alluded to. Yet it is impossible to pass 
 in silence the one most endeared to the recol- 
 lection by the exquisite genius and sweet 
 humanity of Cervantes. In his inimitable 
 description of his hero, how lightly he passes 
 over the other less characteristic portions of 
 Don Quixote's dress to set before us, with 
 one touch, the perfect picture of the knight 
 in his antique dignity and lofty self-posses- 
 sion, by the mention of his " velvet breeches 
 of a holiday, and his slippers of the same !" 
 No one but a master, a literary artist of the 
 most delicate insight into character, could 
 have seized so unerringly upon a trait so dis- 
 tinctive and so full of revelation. How vast 
 the distance between art so subtle and the 
 labored catalogue of small details which do 
 but fatigue the reader without aiding his 
 perceptions, or enabling him to conceive the 
 personages in so many of what are called the 
 novels of real life ! To find anything like 
 this delicacy we must go to the kindred 
 genius of Moliere, who sets before 113 at a 
 stroke the narrow-mindedness and ignorant 
 prejudice of the dullard who looks upon
 
 Reflections on Modern Wear. 99 
 
 women as mere cooks and house-servants, in 
 the immortal lines : 
 
 "Une femme en salt tou jours assez, 
 Quand la capacitg de son esprit se hausse 
 A connaitre un pourpoint d'avec un haut-de-chausse." 
 
 Of later allusions to this most interesting 
 and important subject, the most sufficient is, 
 perhaps, that in Lord Lytton's story of Eng- 
 lish life, My Novel. When Dr. Eiccabocca 
 is disrobing himself, with the help of his 
 faithful Giacomo, and confides to him the 
 contemplated marriage with Miss Jemima, 
 the subject is introduced, and the confidence 
 made, in a way that brings into admirable 
 relief the characters of both master and man. 
 "These people," says the doctor, " want me 
 to accept 6000." " Six thousand pounds !" 
 answers Giacomo, pausing in the act of draw- 
 ing off his master's trousers ; " six thousand 
 pounds sterling ! A hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand pounds Milanese !" " Yes ; but they 
 want me to do something for it !" says the 
 doctor. " Ah !" cries Giacomo ; " these mer- 
 cenary English ! They want you to become 
 a Protestant !" <; No," replies Riccabocca,
 
 100 Reflections on Modern Wear. 
 
 while Giacomo stands with the trousers, 
 fairly drawn off at last, hanging on his arm. 
 "No; they want me never to wear these 
 again." " Never to wear !" gasps out Gia- 
 como, looking, mouth and eyes wide open, at 
 his master's long, lean legs. This is an admi- 
 rable scene, with a touch of genuine humor 
 rare in Lytton's voluminous writings, and 
 shows what he might have done if he had 
 not chased so long and so far the will-o'-the- 
 wisp of an intangible philosophy. 
 
 The extension of the cylindrical idea, from 
 the trousers to the waistcoat and coat, was 
 a long and slow process. The waistcoat, in- 
 deed, must have existed in some form from a 
 very early date, for men must have found, 
 soon after the invention of separate garments 
 in place of the one all-sufficient skin or robe, 
 that a smaller, more closely-fitting piece about 
 the chest and upper portion of the body was 
 imperatively called for. It was, at first, a 
 band wrapped around the body, but this was 
 soon found to be inconvenient, and it was 
 modified, by degrees, from the shape of a 
 loosely-fitting, sleeveless shirt, into what has 
 remained substantially the same form in all
 
 Reflections on Modern Wear. 101 
 
 places, made now longer, now shorter, cut 
 higher up to the neck or open farther down 
 the front, but always literally a waistcoat, 
 according to the proper English term, a more 
 significant one every way than the French- 
 American word vest, since the former clearly 
 identifies, and at the same time defines, the 
 real purpose of this part of the costume, 
 while vest, which means only a covering or 
 garment in general, requires a supplementary 
 definition. Nevertheless, between two words, 
 indicating the same article in common use, it 
 will usually be found that the shorter one is 
 almost sure to supplant the longer. The 
 exceptions to this rule are few, and some of 
 them more apparent than real. Vest is per- 
 ceptibly winning in the struggle with its 
 rival. 
 
 As the doublet of the earlier time passed 
 into the waistcoat of more modern days, 
 the former name was applied to the coat al- 
 most as often as to the close waistcoat. It 
 was at the beginning of the reign of Charles 
 II that the dress of a gentleman is described 
 by Randal Holmes, the Cheshire herald, as 
 quoted by Mr. Planche, in terms which leave
 
 102 Reflections on Modern Wear. 
 
 no doubt as to the final disappearance of 
 the remains of the picturesque Elizabethan 
 styles : " A short-waisted doublet and petti- 
 coat-breeches, the lining being lower than 
 the breeches, is tied above the knees ; the 
 breeches are ornamented with ribbons up to 
 the pocket, and half their breadth upon the 
 thigh ; the waistband is set about with rib- 
 bons, and the shirt hanging out over them." 
 This doublet with the short waist was, in 
 fact, the coat, and by the end of the reign of 
 Charles II it had been lengthened to the 
 
 o 
 
 middle of the thigh, while its sleeves, reach- 
 ing only to the elbow, were there joined by 
 the bulging sleeves of the shirt, ruffed, and 
 adorned with ribbons. 
 
 Through the reigns of the second Charles, 
 James II, and William III, there was but 
 trifling alteration in costume. The Great King 
 dominated the social as well as the political 
 and the literary world during this long period, 
 the most imposing portion of the costume 
 which he wore being the tremendous periwig 
 created to preserve the tradition of his youth- 
 ful beauty. The story runs that Louis, when 
 a little boy (he became king at the age of
 
 Reflections on Modern Wear. 103 
 
 five years), had remarkably beautiful hair, 
 which fell in long waving curls upon his 
 shoulders, and the courtiers, out of compli- 
 ment to the young majesty, had perukes 
 fashioned to imitate his curls-. Mr. Planche 
 considers the story more than doubtful, and 
 it may safely be set down in the category 
 with the famous legend about the change in 
 the gender of the word carrosse, made per- 
 manently masculine, from feminine that it 
 had been, because the boy-king had com- 
 manded son carrosse, and the courtiers recog- 
 nized his authority over the dictionary, as 
 over every other sublunary thing.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE HYGIENE OF DRESS. 
 
 THE discussion of the subject of healthful 
 dress, both for men and women, has been 
 a fruitful as well as a fruitless theme since 
 the earliest ages ; and while it is, perhaps, 
 strictly speaking, beyond the domain of the 
 ornamental so fully treated in other parts 
 of this volume, it is of such vital import to 
 man in general that some reflections of 
 the author's experience may be noted here. 
 Without, therefore, venturing on that sani- 
 tary ground which is the sole sphere of the 
 physiological expert, it is well to speak of 
 those ordinary conditions of attire insepara- 
 ble from healthy apparel. These conditions 
 should be apparent to every skilled tailor 
 who understands the physique of his subject, 
 and who is made aware of his bodily in- 
 firmities. Still, there are some general ob- 
 servations particularly applicable to Amer- 
 ica, and illustrating afresh that ignorant 
 spirit of imitation of the useful in England,
 
 The Hygiene of Dress. 105 
 
 in which the pioneers make it the fashion 
 for fashion's sake, when there is no sensible 
 reason whatever for importing English styles. 
 Take, for instance, the ulster. What was its 
 origin in Great Britain ? It was invented, 
 as other extraordinary garments of those 
 isles have been, to suit a practical purpose 
 one eminently practical, too. Their rail- 
 way carriages are narrow compartments, 
 warmed in winter by portable zinc heaters 
 filled with hot water, and which take a fresh 
 supply, from time to time, along the route 
 of travel. As these compartments hold but 
 six travelers, and there is no space for other 
 than mere hand-luggage, the ulster was de- 
 signed to replace the rug, and to permit the 
 traveler, thus protected against draught and 
 imperfect heating, to seek repose and sleep 
 without sprawling out under the cover of 
 the old devices. For this purpose the ulster 
 was found to be a most opportune expedient. 
 Straightway, however, the American intro- 
 duces it at home. He wears it going to the 
 opera, in the steam and street cars, and 
 thinks it particularly appropriate at cafes 
 and walking up and down the avenue, little
 
 106 The Hygiene of Dress. 
 
 knowing that, by this unwieldy and un- 
 natural heat-producing mass of heavy clothes, 
 he is undergoing cutaneous exhalations, all 
 of which are speeding him to the tomb. 
 Here it is an abuse of the use of a desirable 
 garment for a specific purpose, but not in 
 American travel, and most assuredly not in 
 our every-day life in the cities. This is a 
 case of the over- wrought. It passes away be- 
 yond the bounds of moderation, and reaches 
 excess ; for we can have excess in dress, 
 in drinking, and in eating. Given a shunt 
 in any direction, and the American is apt to 
 be apish, to go to the ultimate extreme. 
 Who can estimate the useful lessons which 
 might be derived from Dr. Tanner, who un- 
 doubtedly fasted for forty days simply to 
 show that we, as a people, eat too much? 
 And, were the subject thoroughly fathomed, 
 can it be doubted that one of the national 
 sins against health is baking the body in 
 an oven fabricated of silk, cotton, chamois, 
 and wool, thus excluding the air from the 
 millions of respiratory pores ? Is it a won- 
 der that, since these very ulsters have come 
 into fashion, old New Yorkers those who
 
 The Hygiene of Dress. 107 
 
 have stood the wintry blasts of Manhattan 
 till whitened with years, and who have faced 
 the biting winds blowing eastward from the 
 sea, in every-day attire, only to grow ruddier 
 have shot out of existence in a few hours, 
 with their obituaries marked " Pneumonia ?" 
 Let the New Yorker call the mortuary roll 
 of his friends for a single winter and spring 
 those who have been cut down without a 
 warning and the brief struggle with the 
 grim spectre may be assigned to the load of 
 wraps which he wears and discards at brief 
 intervals, when the moment of discomfort is 
 too much for his ease of body. Better, in- 
 finitely, would it be for a man to wear a 
 uniform weight of fabrics during all tem- 
 peratures of the year, rather than swaddle 
 himself in the manner described. This may 
 sound as if it were directly against the 
 tailor's self-interest ; if so, so be it, for this, 
 like Montaigne's book, " is a book of good 
 faith." But the ills of pneumonia are all 
 of recent origin whether they come from 
 external heat produced from superabundance 
 of garb, or internally from an excessive use 
 of spirits. This is the simple truth that can
 
 108 The Hygiene of Dress. 
 
 be seen recorded in the registers of the 
 public hospitals or the diaries of private 
 physicians. How different was the story of 
 necrology of our fathers, who led lives of 
 simplicity, activity, and physical as well as 
 mental toil, and were only glad if they could 
 wear clothes free from rent and soil. There 
 is the historical anecdote, spread on the pub- 
 lic records, of Silas Wright, once governor 
 of New York State, IL S. senator, and 
 statesman, whose fame rang through the 
 world. In his dress and occupation he 
 looked, in every particular, like a common 
 laboring farmer. He had the utmost abhor- 
 
 O 
 
 rence for anything like fiction in equipage, 
 politics, manners, or style of dress ; and, 
 when he returned from his senatorial duties, 
 he followed the example of Chief Justice 
 Marshall, and took his wheelbarrow and went 
 to the village mill to purchase flour and meal. 
 It so happened that, while governor of the 
 State, he found himself called to Lockport, 
 in Western New York, to inspect the im- 
 provement on the colossal hydraulic works of 
 the Erie Canal. While climbing up the steep 
 hill leading from the lower to the upper city,
 
 The Hygiene of Dress, 109 
 
 lie came in contact with jagged edges of the 
 craggy rock, and a large rent was the result 
 on his seat of dignity of the bifurcated gar- 
 ment. His Excellency, however democratic, 
 could not proceed without visiting a tailor, 
 who then and there, without process of dis- 
 robing, applied a huge patch to the unsightly 
 area. Years later, this incident became po- 
 litical property of a grotesque kind, when it 
 was discovered that he had filed a voucher 
 with the financial officer of the State, upon 
 which he had drawn sixpence from the pub- 
 lic treasury to reimburse himself for neces- 
 sary expenses incurred during an official 
 journey. Statesmen and publicists often have 
 queer notions about dress, and these are gen- 
 erally founded on very erroneous opinions of 
 sanitary laws. The writer recalls a scene 
 which he witnessed in Bordeaux, in France, 
 when the Assembly was called together, at 
 the close of the Franco-German War, to decide 
 whether the nation would submit to the 
 terras of Bismarck. A party of American 
 journalists were taking breakfast together at 
 a private table in the Hotel de France, when 
 a little, beardless and timid man approached
 
 110 The Hygiene of Dress. 
 
 a well-known Boston journalist, who rose to 
 receive him in a quiet way. 
 
 " Here," said the bashful new-comer, appar- 
 ently a little frightened on approaching such 
 a fashionably dressed circle, " are two of the 
 best seats for the sitting of the Assembly to- 
 day. It will be a great event in French his- 
 tory. We will decide for continued war 
 against the invaders, or for peace." 
 
 A New York journalist of the party was 
 on the alert in an instant, for seats in that 
 tumultuous legislature could not be obtained 
 by dukes, marshals, or even princes, for that 
 historic day. He closely scrutinized the lit- 
 tle man, who was clad in baggy trousers, 
 well-worn and ill-fitting sack-coat, and frayed 
 tie, and concluded that he was some fa- 
 vored commissionaire of the Assembly with- 
 out his insignia of service. The enterpris- 
 ing scribe jumped up in eager haste, and, 
 producing a handful of napoleons, said : 
 
 " Here we are ! Get me two seats, or even 
 one, and this money is yours." 
 
 A sudden color mounted to the cheek of 
 the Frenchman, and the Boston journalist 
 bounded back as if he had been struck by a
 
 The Hygiene of Dress. 
 
 Ill 
 
 projectile from a Krupp gun, and the moment 
 was one of supreme awkwardness. In a short
 
 112 . The Hygiene of Dress. 
 
 time, however, the lucky recipient of the 
 tickets stammered forth to his comrades : 
 
 " Permit me to make known Mr. Louis 
 Blanc, the distinguished historian of France, 
 and member of the National Assembly." 
 
 The effect may be imagined; but, after 
 mutual explanations, no one enjoyed the 
 contretemps more thoroughly than the most 
 renowned orator who then swayed that mer- 
 curial body in which sat Thiers, Jules Favre, 
 Gambetta, Kochefort, Grevy, and Jules Si- 
 mon, not to speak of the commanding form of 
 Garibaldi costumed in his red shirt. But, sad 
 to relate, his very neglect of the simple sani- 
 tary rules of dress subsequently cut short the 
 distinguished career of Louis Blanc and car- 
 
 O 
 
 ried him over to the majority the great de- 
 parted of his race, among whom he stands 
 unequaled in handling the fascinating diction 
 of the French tongue, and one of the finished 
 classical writers and philosophers of his time. 
 The central idea of healthful dress lies in 
 knowing how to dress to varying temperatures, 
 in a manner to permit equable exhalations 
 from the body, so that the circulation may be 
 ever normal, and particularly so as to protect
 
 The Hygiene of Dress. 113 
 
 the exercise of the vital functions. This is 
 not a difficult problem to solve if one obey 
 the Greek injunction " Know thyself." Every 
 man, in studying his own physical suscepti- 
 bilities, should, in a measure at least, be able 
 to determine the requirements of a protective 
 and agreeable covering. Thus no fixed laws 
 can be laid down ; yet in general it may be 
 maintained that there is no excuse for careless 
 exposure, if close attention be given to this 
 subject, and particularly among those of ade- 
 quate means. The author's experience teaches 
 him that no wardrobe, having a pretence to 
 completeness, is perfect without its owner 
 has at least five different overcoats to meet 
 the fluctuations of the thermometer. First, 
 there should be a very light overcoat for mid- 
 summer, for those who make sudden changes 
 from in-doors into the night air, as from the 
 heated theatre to the cool draughts without, 
 or when, as often occurs, there is a sudden 
 change of thirty degrees, from a collar-melt- 
 ing torridity to refrigerating blasts. This 
 may be but little heavier than the ordinary 
 duster, but it serves to shed the north-laden 
 breezes which carry on their wings many a grim
 
 114 The Hygiene of Dress. 
 
 spectre, and myriads of racking coughs which 
 chase the unfortunate victim oftentimes into a 
 lingering affection of the lungs, having, more 
 often than is ever dreamed, the dread termin- 
 ation. Then there should be the usual light 
 spring overcoat, when winter has taken its 
 final leave ; and in the autumn one of heavier 
 make, so graded as to weight that the transi- 
 tion may be gradual to a garment of medium 
 make which can be worn in late November 
 and early December, and at times during the 
 sunny and thawing days of winter. And last, 
 of course, comes the regular winter overcoat, 
 which can give freedom to the legs and be 
 not so heavy as to embarrass locomotion, or 
 liable, in this climate, to any of the objections 
 urged against the absurd use of ulsters. Of 
 course a precautionary wardrobe like this, 
 even when wealth permits, cannot always be 
 had, particularly among naval and army offi- 
 cers on duty, and among those strict ecclesias- 
 tics who will not on any occasion depart from 
 the conventional cloth. A propos of this, it 
 is narrated of President Cleveland's grand- 
 father who, besides being a noted preacher, 
 always in his pulpit uniform, no matter what
 
 The Hygiene of Dress. 115 
 
 the season, was also a hot federalist of the 
 school of Jay and Hamilton that, while rid- 
 ing horseback in the good old days of 1793, he 
 met a young man coming from the opposite 
 direction along the highway. The divine 
 wished to water his horse in the stream, which 
 they reached at the same moment, but the 
 youth drew his rein so suddenly that the 
 water was roiled and made unfit to drink. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Minister !" said the 
 bold countryman. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Democrat !" replied 
 the reverend gentleman. 
 
 "And, pray, why did you take me for a 
 democrat ?" said the young man. 
 
 " Pray, why did you take me for a minister ?" 
 rejoined the parson. 
 
 "Oh!" said the fellow, "that is plain 
 enough by your dress" 
 
 "And that you are a democrat is plain 
 enough by your address" was the retort of 
 the reverend Cleveland. 
 
 On the hygiene of dress a great deal has 
 been written, and many impractical reforms 
 have been suggested to both sexes. Recently 
 there has appeared Dr. G. Jaeger, in a volume
 
 116 The Hygiene of Dress. 
 
 called Health Culture and the Sanitary Woolen 
 System, in which the learned M.D. would con- 
 vert us into veritable sheep. The vaulting 
 enthusiast proclaims that we must, or die, 
 unto ourselves a woolen night-shirt take, 
 then woolen socks, and woolen drawers, 
 and woolen wrappers, and woolen coats 
 and caps, and trousers all, and lie down 
 to sleep in woolen beds. Such a being, 
 observing his own laws, will have the 
 wind duly tempered to him, like the shorn 
 lamb, and in the fullness of time he will per- 
 form most astonishing vocal exploits ; and the 
 doctor gravely hints that tenors, baritones, 
 contraltos, and sopranos, will spring up in a 
 jiffy, and the world will be submerged by a 
 deluge of song marvelous youth and lon- 
 gevity, never vouchsafed before his discovery ! 
 His earnest attention to, and encomiastic 
 essays on, the virtues of the mutton family, 
 constitute an intellectual effort quite as extra- 
 ordinary as that of the man who has invented 
 an eating apparatus to relieve the digestive 
 organs of their periodical labor, or the scheme 
 of the man who proposes to reinforce the 
 empty gray cells of the brain with Byronic
 
 The Hygiene of Dress. 117 
 
 or Shakespearean phosphorus by an off-hand 
 bit of surgery. And, Doctor : 
 
 "'Tis the world's debt to deeds of high degree; 
 And, if you pay yourself, the world is free." 
 
 From what has been advanced, it will be 
 perceived that the hygiene of dress is found- 
 ed on strict common sense and easily as- 
 certained conditions of the individual. Dark 
 and light clothes govern the methods of the 
 seasons so generally found on this side of the 
 water, and there is little to say within the 
 scope of a volume like this that is not under- 
 stood by all intelligent men. The one vital 
 principle is do not overdress ; do not weigh 
 yourself down with heavy and useless gar- 
 ments ; and be assured that the straight road 
 to longevity lies along the pathway where 
 you find elegant styles and material made 
 only by the best of manufacturers.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE IDEAL SUIT OF CLOTHES. 
 
 IT is treading on dangerous ground to pro- 
 claim fixed standards, or promulgate inflexible 
 laws of fashion. What pleases one gentleman 
 will not another, and, while some are extrem- 
 ists in all that adorns the person, there is a 
 distinct class who prefer the very subdued 
 attire, either as a protest against all manner 
 of ostentation, or because it is the habit of 
 their set. Yet, however this, the guiding 
 principle of the ideal suit lies in one over- 
 shadowing word outline. From whatever 
 point of view we observe the figure of man, 
 as clad in the clothes of the period, the 
 bounding curves and profiles must encase a 
 symmetrical being with the laws of propor- 
 tion strictly followed. Beyond this it is un- 
 necessary to go into the technical art of the 
 cutter and fitter. Let us now inquire how 
 many styles prevailing in 1885 are in to 
 stay that have taken a firm root among all 
 the peoples of Europe and America. These
 
 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 119 
 
 comprise four garments the sack coat, the 
 frock coat, the four-button cutaway, and the 
 dress coat. Waistcoats and trousers will con- 
 stantly change, but the coats are fixed, and 
 will so remain, with trivial changes, until there 
 is a total revolution in our apparel. All of 
 these garments should, therefore, belong to 
 the wardrobe of every gentleman, even if. 
 he does not go beyond the middle-class social 
 circles in his contact with fashionable life, 
 so called. Of these, perhaps, the sack or 
 lounging coat is the most indispensable, as 
 it is the easiest, the most desirable in active 
 bodily movements, and serviceable in nearly 
 all kinds of business, except where extreme 
 dignity is required. Of course, men regard 
 the working suit as one that can be well ex- 
 ecuted, or badly, according to the service 
 required, and extremes are shown in the 
 following : 
 
 " Why don't you wash and dress yourself 
 when you come into a court of justice ?" asked 
 a pompous begowned and bewigged London 
 judge of a chimney-sweep, who was being 
 examined as a witness. 
 
 " Dress myself, my Lord !" said the sweep.
 
 120 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 
 
 "I am dressed as much as your Lordship. 
 I'm in my working clothes, and you are in 
 yours." 
 
 The frock coat, so commonly known in the 
 United States as the Prince Albert, is a mis- 
 nomer when spoken of as the supposed crea- 
 tion of the Queen's Consort. It existed long 
 before he did, and will continue to prevail 
 long after we are all gathered to our fathers. 
 It is exactly suited to its purpose that of 
 afternoon or early evening wear ; and not till 
 the era so earnestly predicted by Oscar Wilde 
 and his disciples will it give way to another. 
 But the neatest, and really the nattiest, gar- 
 ment that has come into vogue in recent 
 years, is the four-button cutaway. Has a 
 man a good figure, it exhibits in a perfect 
 manner, and with flowing and graceful lines, 
 the fullness of the chest, the firm lines of the 
 shoulders, the inward curves of the back, as 
 well as the tapering body to the hips. Re- 
 garded in profile, in front or behind, it is 
 always shapely, sitting easily on the figure 
 with scarcely an angle to be found. Contrast 
 this even with the double-breasted frock, and 
 the latter suffers because of its rectangular
 
 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 121 
 
 aspect and superabundance of cloth. And 
 here let it be remarked that men should not 
 go about carrying superfluous fabrics. The 
 aim of men's wear should be protection, sim- 
 plicity, style in the cut, and so designed as to 
 make the best of all of the advantages and 
 defects of the figure. As to the dress-suit, 
 there have been recent attempts to improve 
 it, particularly by the fashion journals of 
 England ; and, while progress would doubt- 
 less be of great advantage to tailors, it can- 
 not be honestly said that any advance has 
 been made beyond publishing plates and de- 
 scriptions of the newly designed garment. 
 In brief, the upper portion of the coat, down 
 to the flaps, closely resembles the present 
 evening dress coat, with the curved line ex- 
 tending from the lower termination of the 
 lapels to the extreme trails reaching above 
 the knees behind. The designers insist that 
 this can be made up in blue, black or wine 
 color, to supersede the existing style, or, in 
 default of that, it should be worn for prome- 
 nade wear. This is mentioned, not because it 
 is likely to come into immediate use, but to 
 exhibit the restlessness which gentlemen all
 
 122 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 
 
 over the world feel in their eager desire to 
 bury forever that costume of all dress occa- 
 sions which makes gentlemen and servants 
 outwardly the same. Hundreds of ludicrous 
 situations have occurred in the experience of 
 every man of the world, and some of them 
 decidedly dramatic and tragic, where our 
 conventional "claw-hammer" has produced 
 life-long enmities. 
 
 The author has often been asked how 
 much should a gentleman spend on his ward- 
 robe annually ? Allowing that he has the 
 general tastes of a man about town one of 
 leisure, interested in lawn sports and athletic 
 games, a gentleman rider, following yachting 
 and hunting, and fishing, with all of the 
 winter amusements included, and that he is 
 possessed of a wardrobe covering all the 
 differing fields of pleasure it will require the 
 sum of $500 a year to replenish the articles 
 that go into disuse, and keep the various 
 suits in repair. This is an economical esti- 
 mate for a man of fashion, and one who is not 
 wasteful or extravagant. But there are men 
 of large means in this city, who own their 
 stud, their yacht and kennel, who order as
 
 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 
 
 123 
 
 many as fifty suits of clothes at a time ; and 
 there is one gentleman in New York, not yet 
 thirty-five years of age, and of a slenderer 
 bank account than an ordinary cutter, who 
 boasts of having two hundred and fifty suits 
 
 STYlfiS THAT WILL STAY. 
 
 of clothes, all made by the same London 
 tailor. As the aim of this volume through- 
 out has been to be honest with the reader, 
 regardless of consequences (for, after all, that 
 is -the easiest way), it may be said that to
 
 124: The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 
 
 expend over $1000 annually in enlarging 
 and replenishing the wardrobe is nothing 
 more nor less than sheer folly. There are 
 many obvious exceptions to this, as with 
 actors or amateur theatrical performers, or 
 those who belong to lodges, regiments or 
 societies. Notwithstanding the truth of this 
 estimate, there are hundreds of New Yorkers 
 who far exceed this outlay, and perhaps, 
 in the majority of cases, no word should be 
 written to discourage them. We refer to 
 those who never wear a suit once soiled or 
 out of shape, but who send it to their butlers, 
 valets, and other serving men. This is widely 
 prevalent in the better circles, and accounts 
 for the fact that "swell" cooks, doormen, 
 coachmen and waiters, are so often as well 
 dressed as their masters. There is a waiters' 
 and cooks' club in Lexington avenue, as there 
 is a resort where they convene in Sixth ave- 
 nue, and the visitor there for the first time is 
 startled to find such a well-dressed body of 
 men. Indeed, there cannot be found, at any 
 club in the city, a body so uniformly well 
 attired as when these servitors don their 
 fine feathers.
 
 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 125 
 
 It is aside from the object of a treatise like 
 this, which does not pretend to disclose the 
 technique of clothes-making, to go to any 
 extent into the business operations of the 
 merchant-tailor. But there are several feat- 
 ures in relation to the class of manufacture 
 which it is proposed to notice briefly. First, 
 every superior tailor should be his own cut- 
 ter. He should not permit his business to 
 grow to such an extent that, in this respect, 
 he should not be able to undertake the fash- 
 ioning of each separate garment before it is 
 handed out for manufacture. The author 
 has never deviated from this rule, here or 
 elsewhere, nor should any one in the van- 
 guard of the guild. Again, he not only 
 should make the patterns that is, design 
 and cut them himself, but, moreover, he 
 should cut the cloth. There is a knack in 
 this that does not come to every one, and few 
 journeymen can be trusted to do it to per-' 
 fection. This involves the knowledge of 
 fabrics, of their fibres and stretching quali- 
 ties, and whether to cut inside or outside 
 the line of demarcation. If the reader will 
 consider how difficult all of this is when
 
 126 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 
 
 varying physiques perplex the judgment, he 
 will understand how necessary it is to have 
 accurate patterns of each man's frame, exactly 
 as the shoe-maker makes and keeps a last for 
 a standing customer. It thus happens that 
 tailors are often consulted by sculptors as to 
 the dimensions of a distinguished man who 
 has passed away, and who is to he put in 
 bronze in some public place. Again, no first- 
 class manufacturer will employ women to 
 make the garments, and by this we do not 
 intend to disparage feminine agility or ex- 
 pertness. The gentler sex are better adapted 
 to dress-making, and this being their peculiar 
 sphere, they should not take it as a reflection 
 when we say that men's clothes can be better 
 made by men. 
 
 Fabrics, of themselves, would make an in- 
 teresting book. But we do not intend to 
 lengthen our observations by going into the 
 manufacture of woolens, any more than we 
 would consider it necessary to explain the 
 technique of picture-painting in order to pre- 
 sent the startling beauties of the composition 
 or the intelligent industry of the artist. All 
 that is pertinent to say is, that those leaders
 
 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 127 
 
 of style among the tailors of New York who 
 make only first-class clothes are forced to 
 buy only English goods, because, unpatriotic 
 as it may be to say so, American manu- 
 facturers cannot yet produce cloths of equal 
 beauty, fibre, and texture, with all other 
 durable qualities, when competing with the 
 English. And with this inferiority of the 
 domestic article in view, the expense of Eng- 
 lish goods, with the ad valorem duty of forty 
 percent, added, besides the thirty-five cents 
 per pound specific duty, renders the English 
 fabric quite as expensive as that sold here. 
 People often ask, when keeping this subject 
 in mind, why it is that Fifth avenue tailors 
 demand and get the large prices they do. 
 Let us answer, because they buy only the 
 best of material in England, while inferior 
 craftsmen import the cheaper stuffs. You 
 can buy woolens in England for 2s. 6d. to 
 24s. a yard, but the latter is the figure paid 
 by the best tailors on the avenue. And it is a 
 fact that a $100 suit of clothes sold at retail 
 in New York actually costs the tailor $75 
 outlay. The three garments cost, for the 
 stitches alone, $21 ; for the cloth, $28; for the
 
 128 The Ideal Suit of Clothes. 
 
 cutting and trimming, upward of $25. Often 
 the alterations will cost from $3 to $5. 
 
 One may well ask, then, where does the 
 tailor's profit come from ? In part, from the 
 cutting; for in England there is a saying, 
 that the cutter who cannot save his wages, 
 in the handling of the shears with a view to 
 economy, had better quit the business. 
 These shoppy details and reflections have 
 been made to show that the highway to the 
 ideal suit of clothes is not a royal road ; but, 
 with the best of cloth, artistic designing, 
 accurate cutting, close fitting, and a thorough 
 knowledge of the physique of the dresser, no 
 man who is a tailor can fail to attain highly 
 creditable results.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BOYAL AND NOTED BEAUX. 
 
 There have always been, and there always 
 will be, beaux ; and it ought to be noted that 
 the received idea as to the emptiness and use- 
 lessness of the character is like a great many 
 other received ideas that will not bear ex- 
 amination. If the young Roman dandies in 
 Pompey's army at Pharsalia turned their 
 backs for fear their beauty should be 
 spoiled, and we have no evidence but that 
 of their enemies for the statement, the gay 
 young nobles of France flung themselves on 
 the cold steel of the English infantry, and 
 the Iron Duke acknowledged that, with all 
 their shortcomings, "the London puppies 
 fought well." It may be stated, as an axiom, 
 that no man can be a genuine beau without 
 possessing some intellectual or moral force to 
 carry him to the front. If it is objected that 
 there have been famous leaders of fashion de- 
 ficient in force of will and mind, the answer 
 suggests itself; the record is a defective one,
 
 130 Royal and Noted Beaux. 
 
 and the world does not really know its beaux. 
 Take, for instance, the type that conies first 
 to the recollection, Beau Brummel. In the 
 infinite number of anecdotes related of him, 
 very few are in any way creditable to his 
 heart, but there is the stamp on nearly every 
 one of a strong will and a keen and ready 
 wit, He was asked if he had been intimate 
 with William IV, while yet Duke of Clarence, 
 and in the navy. " I cannot say I was, 1 ' he 
 answered. " The man did very well to wear a 
 cocked hat, and walk about the quarter-deck 
 crying 'Luff!' But he was so rough and un- 
 civilized that I was obliged to cut him." Like 
 this, in insolence and readiness, was his reply, 
 when in exile at Caen, to the question whether 
 he had attended the ball given by the city in 
 honor of Louis Philippe's visit. Brummel 
 was an ultra conservative in politics, and de- 
 tested the monarchy of July. "The King's 
 ball?" he asked. "What king?" "What 
 king ? The French king, to be sure ; Louis 
 Philippe." " Oh !" said Brummel, " you mean 
 the Duke of Orleans. No ; I did not go, but 
 I sent my servant." We may find various 
 unamiable qualities in the man who made
 
 Royal and Noted Beaux. 131 
 
 these remarks, but they imply real force. Not 
 every leader of fashion was equal to Brummel, 
 but some were superior to him in mind and 
 character, and almost all had real gifts to 
 make them not unworthy of their place. 
 Where, in modern times, are we to find a 
 greater dandy than the famous minister of 
 Augustus III of Saxony and Poland, Count 
 Briihl, with his four hundred dresses, his 
 luxurious table, his milk poultices to pre- 
 serve the delicacy of his complexion? But 
 his taste was equal to his love of dress, and 
 the Dresden Gallery was almost the work of 
 his master and himself. 
 
 Talleyrand was not less a dandy than a 
 diplomatist. When Lord Sefton went to see 
 him he found the Prince in the hands of two 
 valets de chambre, while a third, who was 
 training for his duties in this line, looked on 
 
 O ' 
 
 at what was done. The Prince was in a loose 
 flannel gown; his long locks, which were 
 rather scanty, were twisted and crepus with a 
 curling-iron, saturated with powder and po- 
 matum, and then arranged with great care 
 into snowy ringlets. When the news of 
 Napoleon's landing at Cannes reached Vienna,
 
 132 Royal and Noted Beaux. 
 
 where the Congress was in session, the des- 
 patch was brought to Talleyrand by his 
 niece, who was to attend a ball that night. 
 The Prince was, at the moment, havinsr him- 
 
 ' O 
 
 self perfumed with essences by his valet, and 
 bade his niece open the dispatch. She read 
 it out : " Napoleon has escaped from Elba," 
 and let the paper drop, with the exclama- 
 tion : " Good heavens ! And my ball !" " Say 
 nothing, my child," calmly replied Talleyrand, 
 holding out his hands to the valet ; "you shall 
 have your ball." Not the just man in Horace's 
 ode was more unmoved in the crash of the 
 universe than this crafty schemer and exqui- 
 site. His Austrian counterpart, Metternich, 
 was equally high-bred and refined, and care- 
 ful of the proprieties and elegances of costume. 
 It is enough to name two or three of these 
 celebrated leaders, to refute the crude and 
 hasty generalizations which associate atten- 
 tion to dress with incapacity for matters 
 conventionally called serious. 
 
 Of beaux among modern princes the house 
 of Orleans has had at least two very remark- 
 able ones, the Regent, and his great-grandson 
 Egalite". The profligate career of the Regent
 
 Royal and Noted Beaux. 133 
 
 should not blind us to the fact that he was a 
 master in the art of dress, and knew how to 
 bring to bear upon style in costume his 
 accomplishments as a painter and engraver. 
 Egalite deserves especial remembrance as a 
 startling innovator rather than as a model of 
 elegant dressing, and yet his taste stamped 
 him, no less than his courage, in leading the 
 inevitable movement toward the more sim- 
 plified costume. He was the first noble to 
 set the fashion of wearing pantaloons instead 
 of breeches, and boots instead of low shoes 
 with buckles, and to discard hair-powder. It 
 is true that when he was borne to his execu- 
 tion he powdered his hair in the old high- 
 bred style, and went to meet death with a 
 serene courage that would have redeemed 
 even a worse career than his. 
 
 The reign of Anne brought in a style of 
 costume in England that made fine dressing 
 more difficult than it had ever been, so un- 
 graceful were the outlines and the shapes. 
 It was not easy for any one to look his best 
 in a square-cut coat and long-flapped waist- 
 coat, the skirts of the coat stiffened out with 
 wire or buckram, with a sword looking out
 
 134 Royal and Noted Beaux. 
 
 between the skirts, square-toed shoes, and 
 long curled perukes crowned by small three- 
 cornered hats. There was little of the 
 aesthetic in the line of the Georges, and the 
 services rendered by them to English taste 
 in attire have been of very little account. 
 George the Fourth is, of course, the only one 
 of the line who seems to claim especial recog- 
 nition as a man of fashion and genuine appre- 
 ciation of good dressing, but one is inclined 
 to think, on examination of the matter, that 
 his reputation has been in a great measure 
 made for him, and that his personal contri- 
 butions to the progress of this art have by 
 no means equaled those of many a less 
 famous man. Brummel made much of the 
 Prince's renown as an arbiter of fashion. 
 "The Prince," said a famous tailor, " wears 
 superfine, and Mr. Brummel the Bath coat- 
 ing; it is immaterial which you choose, Sir 
 John ; suppose we say the Bath coating I 
 think Mr. Brummel has a trifle the pref- 
 erence." This was stating the case mildly, as 
 became a lo;yal Briton, for society gave the 
 Beau a decided preference. The Prince has 
 been so often the subject of biographers and
 
 Royal and Noted Beaux. 135 
 
 essayists that it is probable we see very little 
 of the real man. He has been praised and 
 abused without let or stint, and most persons 
 think of him as the " fat friend," pinched in 
 his tight clothes, and considerably disguised 
 with drink. Fortune was unkind to him in 
 one respect, at least. If he had not been a 
 Prince, and a King, he would have left a less 
 contemptible name ; but he has secured an 
 immortality of a kind, since no one can cast 
 a glance over the history of European cos- 
 tume without taking in George IV. He had 
 the merit, also, of wishing to have done 
 something in active life, and a vanity that 
 would have the facts give way to its per- 
 sistent whim, as in his famous delusion, the 
 result of assiduous lying on the subject, that 
 he had been present at Waterloo. His ap- 
 peal to Wellington is well known : " You 
 remember, Arthur, how I led that charge ?" 
 " I remember having heard your Majesty say 
 so," was all that could be got from the Duke. 
 Vanity of this sort is admirable in its way, 
 and, if the King had not been so fat, and 
 could have kept sober, he might have done 
 real service to the cause of scientific dress-
 
 136 Royal and Noted Beaux. 
 
 ing. His career stretches over the gulf be- 
 tween the last days of the French monarchy 
 and the new order of things after the over- 
 throw of Napoleon. In that time the 
 changes in France were bewildering, in cos- 
 tume as in politics. At the court of Louis 
 XVI dressing was the serious business of the 
 day. The Comte de Provence, afterward 
 Louis XVIII, was too fond of his Horace and 
 his table to be a leader of fashion, but 
 d'Artois, who became Charles X, was an ex- 
 quisite, entirely devoted to dress, flirting, and 
 hunting. When his breeches were to be put 
 on he wore them very tight this was the 
 process : Four valets took their places in 
 due order; two held the breeches open at a 
 proper height; the other two, always tall 
 and powerful men, raised the Prince from the 
 floor and lowered him gradually into the gar- 
 ment, until it fitted like a second skin. It is 
 not recorded that the Comte d'Artois used 
 this style of breeches for sitting in ; but the 
 gallants of the day dressed as he did. The 
 visit of Franklin to this brilliant court pro- 
 duced an extraordinary effect. Ribbons and 
 laces, curls and embroidery, disappeared as
 
 Royal and Noted Beaux. 137 
 
 if by magic, and nothing was to be seen but 
 straight-cut hair and straight brown coats. 
 Just before the Revolution broke out, the 
 hat began to show itself in the round up- 
 right shape which has sat upon the heads of 
 mankind ever since, like an extinguisher of 
 all grace. The changes under the Revolu- 
 tion were like the shapes in a kaleidoscope. 
 The Athenians, the Romans, the incroyables y 
 the merveilleux, the hair worn a la Titus, the 
 dresses a la Cybele, and a thousand other ex- 
 travagant costumes and .parts of costumes 
 culminating in the dress a la sauvage, that 
 is, in no dress at all, made an assemblage of 
 French people look like a party of escaped 
 lunatics. The Empire reduced all this to 
 order of a formal and administrative kind, 
 but Napoleon had his mind too much occu- 
 pied with other grave concerns to give to 
 dress the attention it demanded. 
 
 The democratic constitution of society at 
 this period, immediately succeeding the wild 
 fervor of the Revolution, was, moreover, un- 
 favorable to a cultivated taste in dress, and 
 in place of elegance there was the plainness 
 affected by Napoleon, and the theatrical dis-
 
 138 Royal and Noted Beaux. 
 
 play of Murat, King Franconi. The English 
 taste has prevailed more and more in France 
 since the Restoration, with the interruption 
 of the second Empire, with its extravagant 
 parade and ostentation. It is not a little re- 
 markable to find that courts so splendid as 
 those of Austria, Russia, and Germany, have 
 counted for nothing in their influence on cos- 
 tume. With all their resources they have 
 been content to take the law from France 
 and England, which are the two arbiters of 
 modern fashion, the predominating influence 
 to-day being the English. This is personified 
 in the Prince of Wales, who can hardly be 
 said to create, so much as he stands for, the 
 English taste, since this was as clearly the 
 prevailing taste before he came upon the 
 scene as it has been since. In truth, one 
 great purpose served in English civilization 
 by the Piince of Wales is that he presents a 
 type, visible to all, and recognizable, of the 
 tendencies in costumes. To know what is 
 the right thing to wear, men have but to look 
 at the embodiment of the artistic ideas in the 
 person of the heir-apparent ; and the dignity 
 of his station and position gives to his ex-
 
 Itoyal and Noted Beaux. 139 
 
 ample an irresistible force which but few 
 written edicts possess. Leaders of fashion 
 there will be under him ; but it may be ac- 
 cepted as a sound conclusion that there will 
 be no Beau Brummel to dispute pre-eminence 
 with a future Prince of Wales. The move- 
 ment toward simplicity in dress has gone so 
 far, that we may anticipate the future un- 
 disturbed rule in fashion of the heir to the 
 monarchy.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 GOING TO THE TAILOE. 
 
 De Vusage de se vetir. MONTAIGNE. 
 
 WHEN you make up your mind to go to 
 your tailor, be sure and take some friend 
 whose critical faculty has reached the most 
 extreme development. Mind you, he must 
 be an arch-pessimist, who accepts nothing on 
 the say-so. If your companion be one of the 
 other sex, take pains that she has passed the 
 enthusiastic days of youth ; that her jaws are 
 square and firmly set, her eyes steel-gray and 
 gifted with an arctic scrutiny, and her man- 
 date never to be disputed. All artist-tailors 
 warm to, and, indeed, hanker after such as- 
 sistant patrons. Their lives would be miser- 
 able without they crossed the door-sill daily. 
 Notice the cheerful smile and urbane manners 
 with which your tailor mentally sums up 
 your companion's capacity for detail. He 
 perceives he is in for a prolonged pro- 
 fessional stance, and although well-nigh prof- 
 itless in the end, he is aware that he will be
 
 Going to the Tailor. 141 
 
 taught, in several editions of caustic volu- 
 bility, how to become a real maker and fitter. 
 Your demeanor throughout should be quiet, 
 with an outspoken and definite purpose to 
 have a good suit of clothes of the most 
 fashionable cut and fabric. The goods are 
 inspected in detail, and finally you select a 
 pleasing pattern, with "I think that will 
 do!" 
 
 " Why, my dear," exclaims your companion, 
 "you can get a much handsomer check at 
 Blank, Blank & Co.'s, and think of a nice 
 watch thrown in." 
 
 " True, Janet," is the response ; " but you 
 know I never wear ready-made clothing." 
 
 "If you will permit me, madame," inter- 
 poses the merchant, meekly," there is a vast 
 difference between the durability, and other 
 indispensable qualities, of cloths used in the 
 different grades of our business. A lady of 
 your excellent judgment would certainly not 
 wish to have your husband attired in ap- 
 parel that would have one color to-day, 
 a blending of shades to-morrow, and none 
 at all on the third. Nor would you care 
 to have his shapely figure deformed by
 
 142 Going to the Tailor. 
 
 a costume of a kind in every way unsuited 
 to a gentleman." 
 
 A look of calm satisfaction lights up the 
 countenance of his patron, but Janet is not 
 to be mollified or cajoled by any such spe- 
 cious talk as this not she. 
 
 " Such statements," she maintains, " are all 
 very well, when coming from tailors who are 
 simple money-makers, any way ; but I do not 
 see why you cannot get just as good clothes 
 at any house, on Sixth avenue, or on Eighth 
 avenue, for less than one-half the money, as 
 you can here in Fifth avenue." 
 
 " Madame," the tailor responds, with defer- 
 ence, " you can, of course, buy garments at the 
 places and prices you name. So you can get 
 your dinner in Sixth avenue for fifteen cents, 
 and one with the same name at Delmonico's 
 for a dollar and a half." 
 
 " These goods, then, are so much superior 
 to the others?" 
 
 " They are. No first-class tailor will carry 
 in his stock an imitation or fraudulent article, 
 any more than would Tiffany undertake to 
 manufacture for you a set of bogus jewelry, 
 or to set a ton of Parisian diamonds."
 
 Going to the Tailor. 143 
 
 You now announce your intention to stand 
 by your first choice, when Janet says : 
 
 " But remember, Grus, I am to have a new 
 circular, and where will the money come 
 from?" 
 
 And thus, after Janet has ventilated her- 
 self thoroughly as to price and pattern, and 
 in quite diplomatic language set the merchant 
 down as a heartless sharp, it is settled that 
 the measure shall be taken and the suit shall 
 be fitted before being made up. The day is 
 appointed, and you sail forth to the tailor's, 
 and stand encumbered with a sleeveless coat, 
 a single trouser, and a quantity of thread, 
 chalk, canvas, and all of the mysteries that 
 go to make form and outline. Your watchful 
 Janet is with you. She is not pleased with 
 the cutter's work at all ; the ensemble is too 
 much that of a gambler; the trousers are 
 too suggestive of the dude, they should be 
 twice as large ; when it is perceived that the 
 cloth will not admit of such a radical change. 
 The coat has the waist too low ; the collar is 
 not stylish, it must be enlarged; and the 
 shoulders are too absurd for anything. 
 
 "What a pity it is," observes Janet, "that
 
 144 Going to the Tailor. 
 
 tailors have no eyes for proportion. It is true 
 there are exceptions sometimes, as in the case 
 of my lamented father, whose tailor in East 
 Broadway made him look spick-and-span !" 
 
 The tailor may get a little nervous at this; 
 but what matters that, he has no sensibilities. 
 Janet insisting upon literal obedience to her 
 alterations, you take your departure, await- 
 ing the day of readiness. It soon arrives, 
 and again you invade the shop. You stand 
 up before mirrors, which reflect every angle 
 and curve of your body, and now you are to 
 be the satisfied one. To your horror, you 
 stand in about as cranky a suit of clothes as 
 could be devised by the joint and perverse 
 ingenuity of man and woman. You behold 
 your ghastly smile in the pier-glass, a cold 
 sweat overspreads your body, and, with 
 awakening mind, you draw the true moral 
 of the advantage of having outside advice 
 when you go to your tailor for an oiitfit of 
 fashionable garments. 
 
 Let the law, then, be laid down, for tailors 
 and purchasers alike, that there are no ar- 
 ticles figuring in merchandise which should 
 be the subject of sole agreement between
 
 Going to the Tailor. 
 
 145 
 
 maker and patron to a greater extent than 
 the garments constituting men's wear. No 
 outside views should be invited or received. 
 
 THE CRITICAL FRIEND. 
 
 Your adviser has not got to wear the clothes ; 
 they do not concern his comfort or presenta- 
 bility ; and, furthermore, the philosopher has
 
 146 Going to the Tailor. 
 
 told us, truly, " There is something in the 
 mal-aise of our best friends which does not 
 displease us." In the experience of every 
 one, who has been many years in the craft, 
 there are hundreds of anecdotes that could 
 be told of the purely malicious suggestions 
 of apparent friends to those purchasing cloth- 
 ing ; but this curious phase of human nature, 
 let it be said, belongs oftener to women 
 than to men. The true way, therefore, is to 
 go to that maker who has your confidence, 
 ascertain for what purpose you want your 
 suit of clothes, and leave the designing to 
 him ; otherwise, you will share the fate of 
 many others who have called in the layman's 
 aid in this important matter of dressing in 
 fashionable garments. 
 
 " A few are good; some well enough: 
 But most, I own, are wretched stuff." 
 
 Allusion has been made elsewhere to the 
 selection of a good tailor, and this task is 
 regarded by many gentlemen as very diffi- 
 cult ; yet it is not so. It is a very simple 
 matter to understand that those who have 
 won distinction for the finest work are gov-
 
 Going to the Tailor. 147 
 
 erned in their prosperity by the same laws 
 of supply and demand which relate to the 
 other arts, or to similar kinds of merchan- 
 dise. You will therefore find those who 
 belong to the topmost round grouped about 
 the fashionable part of the city in close prox- 
 imity to the hotel centre, and, in New York, 
 tenanting modern mansions which have been 
 refitted for their special uses on Fifth avenue ; 
 and the greater the prosperity, and the more 
 refined the taste, of the tailor, the more at- 
 tractive will be found his shop. Noblesse 
 oblige ; and the higher the walk in life, and 
 the higher attainments in that walk, the 
 greater the responsibilities. Let us visit one 
 of these shops, or, if the American citizen 
 prefers it, one of the " swell stores." Those 
 of the superlative, of the best form, are 
 nearly all on Fifth avenue, and, in some 
 cases, are owned by their tenants, and the 
 space occupied for the goods and cutters 
 would rent at from $5000 to $7000 a year. 
 The entrance in almost all cases is up a 
 flight of steps to what was formerly the par- 
 lors. This front room, facing on the avenue, 
 is devoted to a share of the best imported
 
 148 Going to ih# Tailor. 
 
 fabrics, while further back may be found 
 the dressing-room, the cutter's table, and all 
 the paraphernalia of the guild. You may 
 enter at almost any hour of the day, and 
 you will rarely meet more than several cus- 
 tomers, because one of this class of pro- 
 prietors considers himself as doing a thriving 
 business if he takes a half dozen orders a 
 day. Such a patronage he is better pleased 
 with than a perfect avalanche of customers ; 
 for he can give his personal attention to 
 every garment that leaves the shop, and see 
 that each one is thoroughly satisfied. Wan- 
 dering, for instance, through the author's 
 spacious parlors, we found the walls hung 
 with costly pictures from the studios of 
 celebrated foreign and American artists. 
 There we find a superb Corot, showing all 
 the delicate tree and shrub forms, and mys- 
 terious and poetical sky effects, which made 
 the great French painter one of the masters 
 of the salon ; and beyond is a superb Diaz, 
 one of those minutely drawn and clearly 
 expressed land-and-water-scape compositions, 
 meadowlike in prevailing color, with an at- 
 mosphere that carries the feeling that, for its
 
 Going to the Tailor. 149 
 
 absolute noiselessness, you can hear the 
 hum of distant bees and clear notes of remote 
 chimes ringing out on the sun-lit air. Then 
 there is the masterpiece of the American 
 painter, Edgar M. Ward, a large out-doors 
 representing a grouping at Pontaven in Brit- 
 tany, in which those strong peasant types 
 stand out with miraculous boldness and 
 spirit. There is a winter, too, by Macy, 
 with the leafless branches and snow-covered 
 trunks, the true spirit of Christmas-tide, 
 when 
 
 " The Yule-log burns, 
 Loud sounds the horn 
 That echoes in 
 Christ's natal morn." 
 
 J. Gr. Brown, with his tatterdemalion char- 
 acters, an example of which is Used Up, 
 and others of equal celebrity, adorn the 
 apartments. We behold English park scen- 
 ery, lone situations, cavaliers, and a great 
 variety in figure and landscape art. 
 
 How different all of this, where you can 
 linger among gems like these, and sit pa- 
 tiently down to have yourself taken in hand 
 by a true artist who can appreciate your
 
 150 Going to the Tailor. 
 
 needs, from a visit to one of the crowded ma- 
 chine clothes establishments, to receive scant 
 attention, to be told that the first garment 
 snatched up is a perfect fit, and then to quit 
 the store with your purchase without remedy 
 against the sudden collapse of your suit, the 
 falling off of the buttons, the fading of the 
 colors, the ripping of the seams and that 
 feeling of profound disgust that you have 
 exchanged your good money for worthless 
 trash.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DRESS, AS WE SEE IT IN THE ARTS. 
 
 A SUBJECT so wide and vast as the pres- 
 ent must be barely more than touched upon 
 in some of its aspects, and to do even this 
 requires a severe limitation of the field. 
 Antiquity must be left out, the middle ages 
 must be passed over, and modern times must 
 be treated as beginning with the Declaration 
 of Independence. How far this manner of 
 looking at the subject may be the right one, 
 must be left to the reader's judgment to de- 
 cide but it can be justified. The remains 
 of antiquity, relating to a society and a civil- 
 ization so unlike our own, have special claims 
 upon our attention for their intrinsic worth 
 and beauty ; but, so far as they are held up 
 as types for artists to imitate, they have had 
 a depressing effect upon modern art, and have 
 made the conventional take the place, in the 
 minds of students, that should have been oc- 
 cupied by the truthful and the natural. 
 This is particularly true of modern sculp-
 
 152 Dress, as we see it in the Arts. 
 
 tors, most of whom work with the fear of 
 Greece before their eyes, as indeed they 
 should, so far as the fear of Greece means 
 the admiration of what is best, and the dread 
 of doing a work unworthy to be studied. 
 But when this fear means only a servile imi- 
 tation of costumes and of details for modern 
 figures, which are appropriate only in the 
 statues of antiquity, it is a fear fatal to any 
 real excellence. We have but to glance at 
 the statues in what is called antique costume, 
 set up all over the land, to feel that, what- 
 ever the shortcomings and the imperfections 
 of the Greek and Roman world, whatever 
 the sins and the expiation that came upon 
 the heathen, much at least was spared to 
 them ; they could not foresee the deplorable 
 things that were to be called " Statues after 
 the Antique." The painters have been more 
 fortunate than the sculptors. The Greek 
 paintings have perished ; and even though 
 there are all the masterpieces of the great 
 schools to keep the artists of to-day under 
 their shadow, the element of color asserts 
 itself in behalf of every one who paints, and 
 the works, warm with the light of to-day, at-
 
 Drew, as we see it in the Arts. 153 
 
 tract and gain the ready sympathies of the 
 spectator, who does not feel himself called 
 upon for an effort of the imagination in order 
 to grasp what is set before him. This seems 
 to be an undeniable truth, that holds good 
 even in what should bring out an independ- 
 ent play of mind in the artist, because its 
 very limitations make his task more easy; 
 that is, in portrait sculpture. Why is it 
 that, even when the statue of a modern man 
 is dressed in modern costume, such as the 
 original wore, the figure is made to testify 
 that, if it were alive, it could not walk ? and 
 dressed in modern costume he should be, in 
 his statue, if that was the costume he wore 
 in life. The opinion of an artist- tail or is the 
 right one in this matter. Men do not, nowa- 
 days, believe in demi-gods, or sons of Venus 
 and Anchises, but in men like themselves, 
 living and working in the white light of the 
 real day; and when it is proposed to set up 
 the memorial figure of a man, how heroic 
 soever, the first condition to be met is that 
 the figure shall be the counterfeit "present- 
 ment of the real man. Washington, as he 
 sits on his long box, in the ground behind
 
 154 Dress, as we see it in the Arts. 
 
 the capitol, glowering at Persico's Columbus 
 playing bowls, is an astonishment and a con- 
 fusion to the beholder. What tailor, proficient 
 in his art, would have accepted such a figure 
 for his private collection of art- works ? Yet 
 Greenough holds himself high as a sculptor 
 and was at one time the best we could 
 show in his line, and would have felt himself 
 insulted, if he had been advised to take coun- 
 sel with a tailor. The old proverb about 
 the cobbler confining himself to his last is 
 sure to be quoted on such occasions, and 
 nearly always, as if it could have but one 
 meaning. 
 
 It has, on the contrary, two meanings. 
 The sculptor, as his unlucky figures declare, 
 undertakes continually to cobble where he 
 has no skill, and to know better than the 
 real artist. When he has succeeded in putting 
 down the tailor who criticises the head of 
 the statue, he turns complacently round and 
 puts a coat on the figure of a cut that would 
 make a living man who wore it the laughing- 
 stock of the street. It is true that sculptors 
 can be made to learn in these matters, for 
 some things can be done as well as others ;
 
 Dress, as we see it in the Arts. 155 
 
 but then some men will not do them. Look, 
 for instance, at .the monuments set up in 
 
 THE TRUE ARTIST-TAILOR. 
 
 Union Square, and compare, if you have the 
 heart to do it, any other with Bartholdi's
 
 156 Dress, as we see it in the Arts. 
 
 Lafayette, the only one among them that 
 could, if suddenly endowed with life, get 
 down and walk off unassisted. 
 
 The art of the costumer is simplifying the 
 labor of painters and sculptors, by making 
 the fashionable dress less of a disguise than 
 it has been. The padded shoulders have 
 ceased to be characteristic of American dress, 
 the napping skirts have gone to the limbo of 
 forgotten things, the trousers no longer re- 
 semble the windsail of an ocean steamer. 
 The American, properly attired, looks now, 
 from whichever side seen, like a being con- 
 structed on the right anatomical principles, 
 which must be known by every artist that 
 attempts to design the human form or to 
 clothe it ; and it should be easy to make 
 each of these aid, instead of embarrassing, 
 the other. 
 
 It will be said that the tailor has to make 
 the best of an ill-shaped man, and give him a 
 good appearance, while the sculptor or the 
 painter must present a historical character 
 with all his warts, as Cromwell expressed it. 
 There is but a little truth in this. The 
 sculptor may give all the ugly points of his
 
 Dress, as we see it in the Arts. 157 
 
 subject, but, as a matter of fact, he generally 
 does nothing of the kind. Take a well- 
 known historical occasion in the life of Lin- 
 coln. Most New Yorkers will recall his 
 famous debate with Stephen A. Douglas at 
 Cooper Institute, before he had been thought 
 of as a candidate for the Presidency. When 
 the evening came, Lincoln appeared on the 
 platform in an old, creased broadcloth suit, 
 dusty with travel, for he had but just reached 
 the city ; long and awkward looking, he pre- 
 sented a very unfavorable contrast to the 
 Little Giant, as people then delighted to call 
 Douglas, and the Young Men's Christian 
 Association began to think the evening was 
 to be a failure ; but, when his moment came, 
 Lincoln amazed everybody by the force and 
 vigor of his speech, and the effort of that 
 night secured his nomination. If a sculptor 
 were charged to reproduce this scene, would 
 he make the shabby clothes in marble? 
 Clearly not, for the shabbiness was not part 
 of the force that carried Lincoln through that 
 night. The sculptor would represent the 
 man as nearly as he could, and bring out in 
 the statue whatever good point lie found in
 
 158 Dress, as we see it in the Arts. 
 
 his model, that is to say, he would idealize, 
 so as to make his subject the more real ; and 
 this is what the tailor-artist does with the 
 forms that come into his hands. In each 
 case the man is made to appear at his best, 
 but the best, as the artist sees it, really exists 
 in the model. It is the old story, of the eye 
 seeing what it. brings with it the power to 
 see. " Mr. Turner," said a lady to the great 
 painter, " I don't see the effects in nature that 
 you put into your pictures." " Don't you 
 wish you could ?" replied Turner. 
 
 The conclusion forced upon us by the 
 study of the treatment of dress in art is that 
 the artist should represent only what is true 
 to the time and the subject. He should 
 keep to the facts of costume as much as to 
 the facts of anatomy and of physiognomy, 
 and no more ; and then, with conscientious 
 study of his task, and the due admixture of 
 brains with his materials, he must produce 
 work that will deserve and achieve renown. 
 It is easy to say, as men often do say, that 
 the age is unpoetical, and that the costume of 
 to-day does not lend itself to heroic treat- 
 ment. This is the excuse of mere mediocrity,
 
 Dress, as we see it in the Arts, 159 
 
 unequal to a struggle with the actual, because 
 it has no insight into the ideal. The heroic 
 and the poetical are permanent elements in 
 every society, and a great character will 
 dignify every and any costume, if only this 
 be the work of an artist.
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 THE REIGN OF THE BRASS BUTTON. 
 
 PARADOXICAL as it may seem, America 
 presents at once the best and the worst 
 field for him of the brass button. Boast as 
 we may of our love of peace, our attachment 
 to liberty and all its homely insignia, our 
 fidelity to the industrial arts, and consequent 
 abhorrence of life in the barracks, yet the 
 American is fond of military pageantry, and 
 men, women, and children, will swarm the 
 streets to view a passing regiment, while an 
 'army corps of thirty thousand veteran troops, 
 marching to stirring national music, in a 
 European capital, will hardly attract the at- 
 tention of passing pedestrians along the 
 thoroughfare. Yet, true it is, our martial 
 spectacles are sorry parades compared with 
 those of the Old World, and every unbiased 
 traveler must admit this unpalatable truth. 
 While much of our deficiency is due to 
 meagre numbers, the apparent shabbinQss of 
 armed commands comes solely from the pie-
 
 The Reign of the Brass Button. 161 
 
 beian cut and fabric of the citizen or regular 
 soldiery. Our spirit of imitation of Euro- 
 pean uniforms and accoutrements, vaguely 
 carried out, leaves us no distinct and national 
 costume for the army and navy ; but, follow- 
 ing the stupid innovations and absurd inven- 
 tions of the bureaucracy at Washington, we 
 have scarcely, in the present agCj been able 
 to produce a martial figure in becoming 
 toggery that has not looked awkward and 
 unsightly to the European eye. On the 
 principle that what is worth doing at all is 
 worth doing well, the American soldier, when 
 in juxtaposition with his European confrere, 
 is a signal failure as to his uniform. Why 
 this is true is easily explained. Every change 
 of administration brings a new Secretary of 
 War, and generally a civilian. The same is 
 true of the navy. Then the contractors hive 
 at the capital. Boards of officers of the 
 sere-and-yellow-leaf grades are detailed to 
 report progressive wear for officers and men, 
 and the changes made must needs be a fresh 
 invasion of their pay-accounts. The official 
 tinkering done, the dressier officers of both 
 branches of the service accept the unhappy
 
 162 The Reign of the Brass Button. 
 
 situation. With many subdued growls we 
 try to tide over the financial inroads by in- 
 genious patch-work of weather-beaten uni- 
 forms. There is thus no symmetry as to 
 any single costume, either in cut, color, or 
 decoration, nor does the command present 
 a homogeneous aspect. Singular is all this, 
 when it is conceded that Americans are the 
 most practical and inventive people of the 
 earth, and notably in nearly all that pertains 
 to naval and military creation, to our splen- 
 did field hospital service, adopted by nearly 
 all the armies of the world ; our life-destroy- 
 ing mitrailleuses, our Remingtons, Hotchkiss 
 and other rifles, and breech-loading cannon, 
 our torpedoes, and floating rams, and river 
 gunboats. One would think that, the smaller 
 the military and naval establishments of an 
 opulent power, the greater the care in this 
 matter of presenting an admirably dressed 
 army of soldiers and sailors. But it has not 
 been, and seemingly will not be, until the 
 authorities come down to a correct apprecia- 
 tion of the necessities of good taste and ar- 
 tistic design. Even as it stands, the militia 
 regiments are far better uniformed than the
 
 The Reign of the Brass Button. 163 
 
 regulars, as the observer can notice at any 
 public occasion, when they appear together 
 in New York. Perhaps it may be argued 
 that this disinclination to follow a careful 
 standard in military dress is to be encour- 
 aged, because so many distinguished Amer- 
 ican generals have set the example. This 
 cannot be regarded as otherwise than per- 
 nicious reasoning. It may be an extremely 
 poetic situation to hand down to history, the 
 scene at Appomattox, when Grant, swordless, 
 with a rusty cavalry hatband a fatigue blouse, 
 advanced to receive the surrender of Lee, who 
 was carefully attired in an elegant uniform; 
 but even the victorious commander himself 
 has confessed that his appearance in crude 
 garb was accidental, wanting in circumspec- 
 tion, and very unsoldierlike. The dignity 
 of the occasion, certainly in its results one of 
 the momentous of modern times, is stripped 
 of its military significance by an absence of 
 ceremonial which is taught to every grad- 
 uate of West Point and the Naval Academy 
 as one of the very chief essentials of the pro- 
 fession of arms. 
 
 "If nature has not given you self-con-
 
 164 The Reign of the Brass Button. 
 
 fidence and a decisive bearing," says the 
 text-book of these institutions, "you must 
 affect them ; you must pretend to a com- 
 manding exterior, and give the semblance 
 of superiority by all outward arts." Recall 
 some of the recent noteworthy episodes in 
 European wars, and it will be seen that, by 
 the etiquette on such occasions as that of 
 which Grant was the central figure, the 
 scene was made memorable by a splendor of 
 military trappings suitable to a great and 
 decisive event. There was Napoleon III at 
 Sedan, handing his sword to the King of 
 Prussia, to mark the extinction of his empire, 
 yet still the onward march to democracy ; 
 while its reception by the Hohenzollern po- 
 tentate was to note the beginning of an era 
 when a liberal monarchy was to assume the 
 shackles of a far-reaching military State, 
 with its Emperor crowned in the palace of 
 Louis XIV at Versailles. 
 
 The question then is, what remedy must 
 be devised to better uniform our officers and 
 men ? This certainly lies with the depart- 
 ments at Washington; with an intelligent 
 and liberal action of Congress ; but, more than
 
 The Reign of the Brass Button. 165 
 
 all, with a united sentiment in the army and 
 navy themselves. In the higher grades the 
 example should be set to junior officers, 
 and no slovenliness in make-up or quality 
 
 Time was when the inusic of the drum, and now will he lie ten 
 
 nights awake, carving the fashion of a new doublet 
 
 Much Ado About Nothing. 
 
 should be permitted. It is not to be won- 
 dered at in a squadron, where the admiral 
 goes about utterly regardless of neat and
 
 166 The Reign of the Brass Button. 
 
 regulation dress, that he cannot enforce a 
 style which can command the respect of for- 
 eign officers. This general laxity and neglect 
 has grown up to a large extent since the civil 
 war, for in the olden days our senior officers 
 were as superbly attired as any in the world. 
 Retrogression should, therefore, cease, and 
 practical steps be taken to make our naval 
 officers appear as they did in the days of 
 Goldsborough, Dupont, and Buchanan. More- 
 over, many years have not passed since army 
 and navy officers were proud to appear 
 among, civilians dressed in their appropriate 
 uniforms, precisely as they do in Europe; 
 but now all of this is changed, and it is rare 
 to see either branch of the service in its 
 proper insignia among those in citizen life. 
 When it is so, an American admiral looks 
 like a sergeant of the metropolitan police, 
 and an army colonel like a military instructor 
 at a boarding-school. In the former days, 
 when the wooing was done in blue coats and 
 brass buttons, and all of the other suitable 
 and becoming paraphernalia, the conquest 
 was rapid, and many a portionless mid- 
 shipman or second lieutenant of the engi-
 
 The Reign of the Brass Button. 167 
 
 neers chose his partner for life from among 
 the belle-heiresses of the land to the dis- 
 comfiture of those whose accomplishments 
 lay in Wall street lore or among the bales of 
 dry-goods. Now, this has nearly all passed 
 away, as a prominent feature of our social life 
 in America. What ambitious American girl 
 now wants to wed a poor lieutenant in an 
 alleged navy, or go forth to live in shabby 
 barracks on the plains, with nothing to sug- 
 gest romance in the life of her liege save 
 paltry Indian wars, or the idle gossip of a 
 frontier camp ? No ! The man of affairs 
 has come to the front. His very style, even 
 in the fashionable wear of the period, far 
 outshines that of the gilt- braided and brass- 
 bespangled defender of Uncle Sam. When 
 it is considered, too, that no officer can enter 
 either branch of the line without undergoing 
 a stringent physical examination, it will be 
 perceived that he has the average civilian at 
 a very considerable disadvantage. Knock- 
 knees, bow-legs, bantam bodies, and deformed 
 neck and shoulders, are not admitted into the 
 regular military and naval service of the 
 United States. Hence, it requires none of
 
 168 The Reign of the Brass Button. 
 
 the refinements of the tailor's art to build out, 
 by ingenious artifices, striking and majestic 
 shapes. The decadence, therefore, of the 
 American officer as a social potentate, and 
 his decline as a fascinating being in the eyes 
 of womankind, is partially his own fault. 
 Leaving home we find pride of the mili- 
 tary person a matter of supreme interest 
 abroad. Let the traveler recall the splendid 
 elan, the active and finely drawn phys- 
 ique which marks the Imperial Guard of 
 the Prussian army, where nearly every officer 
 is a prince, and our own poverty of costume 
 will become apparent. Is it to be marveled 
 at that foreign critics of our habits, who for 
 the first time behold an American military 
 spectacle, make all manner of fun of the mil- 
 itary tailoring displayed ? Hence, further- 
 more, it is that we cut such a ridiculous 
 figure in the painting, statuary, and great 
 memorials, executed to commemorate the 
 deeds of our great soldiers and sailors. It 
 took Launt Thompson, one of the foremost 
 artists of the world, over a year to pose and 
 properly dress the figure of Admiral .Dupont, 
 which now stands in Washington as a bronze
 
 The Reign of the Brass Button. 169 
 
 monument. No naval uniform of this day 
 could be adapted to this quite recently 
 deceased admiral, and great pains were neces- 
 sary to prevent the bronze monument from 
 becoming an unsightly heap of metal. 
 
 Nearly all of the battle pictures of the war 
 as now painted offend the artistic eye, how- 
 ever they may be true to nature. Contrast 
 the spirited and splendid color delineations 
 of De Neuville and Detaille in their can- 
 vasses exhibiting the carnage about Paris; 
 or, in other works, the legions of Napoleon I 
 returning from Moscow, or the triumphant 
 entry of the French Imperial staff into Milan 
 after the battle of Magenta with those pict- 
 ures of our own civil struggle Fredericks- 
 burg, Manassas, and Vicksburg and one can 
 perceive how far behind we are in what 
 every army should have dramatic military 
 effect. Therefore, whatever can be said of 
 the fighting qualities of some of the noted 
 militia regiments of New York and other 
 cities of the Union, pro or con, they, at least, 
 deserve those we have in mind high praise 
 for their efforts to reform the uniforms of 
 our soldiery. As to the regular service, a
 
 170 The Reign of the Brass Button. 
 
 speedy and complete change could be made 
 by the single signature of the Cabinet officer 
 at the head of the service, and it is to be 
 hoped he will not long delay. Nor would 
 an autocratic mandate like this have other 
 than a happy influence on civilian wear. 
 Those who do not look beyond their noses 
 cannot trace the influence of miltary wear on 
 civil clothes ; yet it exists, and always has been 
 felt, and will continue to have a legitimate 
 effect. The costume, however, and for what- 
 ever worn, has an undoubted dominion, ex- 
 tending beyond its immediate use, and from 
 this fact and cognate causes we may look for 
 the ultimate daily suit of clothes that will 
 govern the new period in dress of the age to 
 be.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE MAN-MAKER. 
 
 BULWER, who, in describing Pelham, was 
 drawing his own portrait, has left some in- 
 imitable reflections, showing what a poetical 
 and ambitious temperament will do for a 
 natural-born coxcomb as this strange littera- 
 teur was. But, as he said of himself, " Under 
 the affectations of foppery, and the levity of a 
 manner almost unique for the effeminacy of 
 its tone, I veiled an ambition the most ex- 
 tensive in its object, and a resolution the 
 most daring in the accomplishment of its 
 means." Yet vanity of dress was never ab- 
 sent from his mental make-up ; and, with pen 
 or voice, he was always fluent when descant- 
 ing on the garb of a gentleman. He thought 
 that the supreme excellence of coats was not 
 to be too well made ; that they should have 
 nothing of the triangle about them ; that 
 wrinkles behind should be carefully avoided ; 
 that the coat should fit exactly, but with- 
 out effort. This, he held, could never be
 
 172 The Man-Maker. 
 
 the case where any padding, beyond a thick 
 sheet of buckram placed under the shoulder, 
 and sloping gradually away toward the 
 chest, could be admitted. The collar, too, 
 was an important point worthy of the closest 
 attention. He thought it should be low 
 behind, broad, short, and slightly rolled. 
 About the tail of the coat, it was not to be 
 broad or square on any account, save when 
 the figure was much too thin. "And," said 
 he, " no license of fashion can allow a man 
 of delicate taste to imitate the posterior luxu- 
 riance* of a Hottentot ; on the contrary, I 
 would lean to the other extreme, and think 
 myself safe in a swallow-tail." As to the 
 sleeve, it was Bulwer's axiom that anything 
 too tight about the wrist should be avoided in 
 men's wear, as this tendency would give a large 
 and clumsy appearance to the hand. As the 
 waistcoat is apparently the least observed 
 article in dress, the fact is lost sight of that 
 it influences the whole appearance more than 
 any one not profoundly versed in the habil- 
 imentary art would suppose. Besides, it is 
 the only main portion of the attire in which 
 we, as men, have a fine opportunity for a re-
 
 The Man-Maker. 173 
 
 fined and highly cultivated taste ; for, what- 
 ever the fashions as to trousers and coats, 
 the wearer has a wide range in waistcoats 
 from which to choose arid balance any pecu- 
 liarities of figure or local coloring. In this 
 respect he has almost a woman's license. 
 Take the richly colored and dotted cashmeres 
 of to-day, and they present quite as exquisite 
 and rich effects on the chest of man as can 
 be found on the bust of fashionable women. 
 Let the artistic fact, therefore, enter into the 
 mind of every gentleman and every tailor, 
 that it is by variations (often radical) in cut, 
 color, and fabric of the waistcoat, that the 
 human figure can be made to have many 
 attractive aspects. Some men must have ex- 
 panse of shirt-front, some must be clad in cloth 
 up to the collar-button, while just media 
 are suitable for others. The dressier among 
 the famous men of these later days have 
 generally selected a rich and ornate species 
 of vest ; but extreme caution has always 
 been observed that nothing tawdry and com- 
 mon should be permitted. Herein a gentle- 
 man, without being vulgar or ostentatious, 
 may follow his own taste, and make it as ex-
 
 174 The Man- Maker. 
 
 elusive as possible, while in all other gar- 
 ments he must advise with and follow the 
 reigning styles. Trousers and braces, or sus- 
 penders, if the name be better liked, could in 
 themselves make a chapter. While the use 
 of suspenders is a sanitary problem, to a cer- 
 tain extent, no immutable law can be pro- 
 mulgated thereon. For mere outward effect 
 they are, no doubt, a veiy admirable ex- 
 pedient ; otherwise, there can be no ques- 
 tion that they do, to some degree, check the 
 free movement of the body, and at times im- 
 pose a disagreeable burden on the shoulders. 
 On some figures they are indispensable, par- 
 ticularly when the physique tapers almost 
 in a straight line from the shoulders to 
 the feet ; but when a gentleman is built with 
 hips that belong to the ideal man, then he 
 can dispense with these accessories without 
 impairing the general effect of his well-made 
 trousers. In this matter of trousers, too, 
 there are individual conceits which often 
 must be respected. The thin man, the genm 
 stalk, is particularly sensitive, lest his tubular 
 clothes should be too slender ; and, oh ! how 
 does the jelly-legged biped implore you to
 
 The Man-Maker. 175 
 
 make graceful outlines ! And then there is 
 the possessor of a delicately shapen arid aristo- 
 cratic foot, even too small for a man already ; 
 what will he not suggest to further enhance 
 its effeminacy? Sometimes he would have 
 his trousers short, so as to develop the fine- 
 ness of his has de sole, or give them a spring 
 at the bottom to show only the tips of his 
 shoes. 
 
 In selecting his man-maker, the true gentle- 
 man of fashion, and even he who does not 
 concentrate any particular thinking on dress, 
 should be careful to inquire as to the quality 
 of his clothes. Novices can rarely tell at a 
 first glance goods of fine and superior manu- 
 facture from those of inferior and fraudulent 
 grades. This is chiefly true in the misrepre- 
 sentations that are made in passing off native 
 for English fabrics ! And here conies in the 
 patriotic American, and says, " Why should we 
 not make as good cloth as the British ?" The 
 answer is simply we do not, and the reason 
 is obvious. England has for her market the 
 entire world all of the European continent 
 and South America, and the West and East 
 Indies, not to speak of the Canadas, while
 
 176 The Man-Maker. 
 
 the United States are obliged to manufacture 
 against this great competition, fortified by 
 cheap labor, for the home consumption alone. 
 This is no place to preach tariff, or anti-tariff, 
 sermons; but America has ample protection, 
 and is still unable to make satisfactory 
 woolens to suit the highest classes of mer- 
 chant tailoring. Notwithstanding the high 
 tariff, however, both importers, like the 
 author, and our manufacturers, are grievously 
 swindled annually by that abundant class 
 who have clothes made in England, and 
 actually smuggled into the country by a 
 variety of familiar devices. There are even 
 broken-down gentlemen who have credit left 
 in England with their tailors for hundreds of 
 suits of clothes, and who receive them in a 
 clandestine way at this and other ports, only 
 to dispose of them at one-third their value, 
 or place them in a pawn-shop as almost 
 daily customers. This is a curious method 
 of keeping the wolf from the door, yet there 
 are several well-known illustrations of it in 
 New York. It is entirely possible to follow 
 such a bent for years; and easily, where 
 tailors have been under contract for so much
 
 The Man-Maker. 177 
 
 a year. But this system does not prevail in 
 America, and much less now in England than 
 is generally supposed. It is worthy of note, 
 too, that Englishmen are beginning to send 
 to New York for their clothes, which cost 
 them three English prices, only that they 
 may take advantage of our superb cutters 
 aud fitters.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 AXIOMATIC TRUTHS FOE THE GENTLEMAN AND 
 THE TAILOE. 
 
 WHILE the author has sought to avoid 
 anything like shoppiness in the preparation 
 of this treatise, and has sought to avoid any 
 cheap and redundant display of technical 
 knowledge, he feels, in carrying out the intent 
 of this work, as announced in the introduc- 
 tion, that he should lay down some general 
 rules for gentleman and tailor which, if fol- 
 lowed, will result in very materially advanc- 
 ing the aim he has in view artistic wear, 
 and the prosperity of the craft. 
 
 FOR THE GENTLEMAN. 
 
 I. Never select a tailor because his prices are 
 low. This is a commandment quite as 
 important as that laid down by Thomas 
 Jefferson, in his Ten Rules of Life: 
 " Never buy a thing because it is cheap." 
 You may rely upon it, that the more
 
 Axiomatic Truths. 179 
 
 you pay for an article of clothing, at a 
 tailor's whose reputation is number one, 
 the better will be the garment in all 
 particulars in closeness of fitting, ex- 
 cellence of workmanship, and superior 
 cloth and trimmings. It is obvious that 
 the merchant who is allowed a liberal 
 margin of profit, and who has keen 
 competition in his own field, will look 
 after that which he produces under such 
 circumstances, with a greater pride and a 
 keener scrutiny, than he would if doing 
 a hap-hazard business. 
 
 II. Having selected your tailor, go to him for 
 advice, and carefully weigh it in the 
 choosing of goods and styles ; but you 
 are not required to surrender any pecu- 
 liar ideas of your own, without their 
 fallacy and impracticability are thor- 
 oughly demonstrated. By all means, be 
 not in too much haste to have your 
 clothes hurried through without the 
 necessary fitting. This is one of the be- 
 setting sins of the American. And re- 
 member, likewise, that whatever your de-
 
 180 Axiomatic Truths. 
 
 fective physique do you fancy yourself 
 too short or too tall, too thin or too ro- 
 tund with a suitable measure, once 
 obtained, you can always present a 
 favorable exterior. 
 
 III. You should have a complete wardrobe 
 at all times. If this be prepared with 
 care, and covering every occasion where 
 you are liable to be present, and adapted 
 to special lines of life, embracing games, 
 hunting, riding, driving, and yachting, 
 the cost will be very moderate to re- 
 plenish it from time to time, as circum- 
 stances may require ; and often, with 
 ample precautions, it will last for years. 
 It is an illustration of this principle to 
 note that the Prince of Wales is entitled 
 to wear seventy different uniforms. The 
 estimate is rather under than overstated, 
 for he has a right to don seventeen mil- 
 itary and volunteer uniforms alone, to 
 say nothing of the special costumes as- 
 sociated with his position as Great Stew- 
 ard of Scotland, Governor of the Charter 
 House, Lord of the Isles, President of
 
 Axiomatic Truths. 
 
 181 
 
 the Society of Arts, knight of some score 
 of orders, etc. 
 
 IV. Some flash and bizarre fashions should 
 be scrupulously avoided. There is 
 nothing so gratifying to the true gentle- 
 man as to be told that he is always well 
 dressed, without the observer's ability to
 
 182 Axiomatic Truths. 
 
 determine why. This result can easily 
 be achieved by varying the garments, 
 both as to pattern, figure, and colors, ac- 
 cording to morning, evening, or dress 
 occasions ; and a not very extensive as- 
 sortment is necessary for this purpose. 
 
 V. If you are a salaried man, and therefore 
 one of method in your expenditures, set 
 a fixed sum apart for dress, and even if 
 this be seemingly large, you will find that 
 a neat and otherwise attractive appear- 
 ance will not militate against your ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 VI. Be scrupulous in observing the fixed 
 laws of society, on public and dress occa- 
 sions, in reference to your attire. Should 
 you always be en regie, you will find 
 yourself a welcome guest in many house- 
 holds and circles otherwise unattainable, 
 and often in demand, from the sole fact, 
 that you respect conventional forms 
 and will never appear in an outre or ill- 
 timed costume.
 
 Axiomatic Truths. 183 
 
 FOR TAILORS. 
 
 Tailors are often culpable sinners against 
 their customers, and quite as often inno- 
 cently so. But if, as a rule, they will follow 
 these inflexible axioms, they will find them- 
 selves very soon on the high road to fortune, 
 if the author can take his own modest suc- 
 cesses as a criterion. 
 
 I. Promptitude should be the unfailing motto 
 of every tailor, hoisted high above all 
 others, to guide him in his journey 
 through life. The author does not recall 
 that he has ever, in a single instance, dis- 
 appointed a customer, unless some unfore- 
 seen accident has occurred, and then the 
 patron has been notified before the ap- 
 pointed time. More substantial business 
 is gained by the strict observance of this 
 duty, than by any intrinsic quality in 
 the workmanship itself. That tailors 
 have become a popular jibe for tardiness, 
 unnecessary procrastination, and often 
 downright lying, is due to carelessness in 
 this particular. It may be set down as 
 a just observation, that no proprietor
 
 184 Axiomatic Truths. 
 
 has a right to undertake to fill a definite 
 order for a fixed date, if he has any in- 
 ward suspicion that he cannot execute it 
 on time. 
 
 II. At whatever pecuniary loss, no tailor 
 
 should permit a suit of clothes to issue 
 from his house if he has any doubts as 
 to its fitting or other qualities. To flat- 
 ter a patron into believing that he has 
 a splendid garment, by drowning his ex- 
 postulations with specious and technical 
 phraseology, or assuring him that it will 
 wear into the desired shape and ease, is 
 a kind of swindle which will travel fast, 
 to the tailor's injury. If an irremediable 
 misfit be made, better pocket the loss in 
 a good spirit, and with a lofty contempt 
 for a few paltry dollars, than send a man 
 out of your shop to be told by his 
 friends and rival cutters that you are a 
 slop-tailor. 
 
 III. Tailors should seek, by cultivating a 
 friendly rivalry among each other, to as- 
 sist, as a body, in praising good work
 
 Axiomatic Truths. 185 
 
 when it is seen, and avoiding unneces- 
 sary asperity in criticising those of high 
 standing in the guild. A really superior- 
 minded tailor is above any such prac- 
 tices as this, feeling that his work, like 
 that of the successful painter, speaks for 
 itself, where animadversions on the styles 
 or goods of others only have the effect to 
 confuse and bewilder the dressers, with- 
 out any tangible advantage to any one. 
 
 IV. Above all, the present race of merchant 
 tailors should seek to throw around 
 dressing every artistic adjunct it is pos- 
 sible to secure. The servile copying of 
 the fashion plates and reproduction of 
 a suit of clothes worn by some European 
 notable are not the beginning and the 
 end ox his science by any means. Rather 
 should he have an original turn to his 
 lines, if they do not offend the eye or the 
 rules of art, and place individual excel- 
 lence in his designing as his ultimatum. 
 
 V. The customer should be constantly im- 
 
 pressed with this one truth the better
 
 186 Axiomatic Truths, 
 
 his dress, the greater his popularity, the 
 sounder his health, the more certain his 
 prosperity and his daily reward of a 
 life of content and happiness.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS WEAR 
 
 Count d'Orsay, undeniably the best dressed 
 man of his time, held it for a maxim that in 
 dress there was nothing insignificant. Noth- 
 ing could be more true than this, and d'Orsay 
 was himself a striking illustration of his 
 saying. Those who saw him in the street or 
 in the ball-room, at a reception or a review, 
 carried away with them the impression of 
 a radiant vision, a harmonious and admira- 
 ble face and form, the detailed features of 
 -"which they were wholly unable to describe, 
 conscious only that everything was in its 
 place and in keeping. This harmony was the 
 result of a perfect art applied to a singularly 
 fortunate nature; an art, that is, which 
 neglected nothing in the details of the cos- 
 tume. If it had been otherwise, if d'Orsay 
 could have worn an ill-fitting boot, or a hat 
 that did not suit his dress, what a shock 
 would have been given to the sensibilities of 
 every observer ! It is easy to apply the les-
 
 188 Miscellaneous Wear. 
 
 son taught by the example of this great 
 leader of fashion. 
 
 Every man who can dress, owes it to 
 society, to himself, to his tailor, to dress with 
 care and attention to the smallest matters. 
 There can be no greater or more fatal error 
 than to imagine one's self fairly arrayed when 
 coat, waistcoat, and trousers have been pro- 
 vided. As well imagine that a tree is per- 
 fect when it has trunk and branches and 
 twigs, without either leaf or blossom or fruit. 
 The neck-wear must be appropriate and 
 refined, or the coat, though it be a master- 
 piece, will seem to have been unlawfully come 
 by; the shirt-front must appear, not like a 
 white sea, but so as to relieve the general 
 effect of the upper costume ; the cuff's must 
 be of the right length, neither too long nor 
 too short, either excess being destructive of 
 the true function of the cuff, which is, to add 
 a finish to the arm and tone down the abrupt- 
 ness of the transition from the sleeve of the 
 coat to the hand, whether gloved or ungloved ; 
 and the boots must be without fault, easy, 
 elegant in shape, and, as it were, the unavoid- 
 able and necessary outcome of the trousers.
 
 Miscellaneous Wear. 189 
 
 There can be nothing accidental in a rightly 
 dressed man. Each portion, each article of 
 his outline, must be the continued expression 
 of his individuality. This is no secret to the 
 true tailor, but not every one has had the good 
 fortune to put himself in the hands of an 
 artist. So essential is attention to the smaller 
 minutiae of dress, that every intending patron 
 of the art of costume should lay it down as 
 a rule, for himself, never to think that he is 
 dressed until h'is tailor has inspected and 
 approved what has been done. There is even 
 more in true attire than is yet suspected. 
 All really permanent creations repose upon a 
 solid basis of performance ; a house must be 
 founded upon the rock, and not upon the 
 sand ; a great painting, or a noble statue, im- 
 plies long and patient study of principles 
 and infinite labor in drawing, and so we hold 
 it to be beyond the wit of man to dress well 
 without a patient study and thoughtful ar- 
 rangement of the underwear. The external 
 fitness and elegance suppose an internal ar- 
 rangement of corresponding qualities, and 
 not to meet the expectation of this sincerity 
 in apparel is to be guilty of a deep hypoc-
 
 190 Miscellaneous Wear. 
 
 risy. Every reader of Ruskin remembers 
 with what burning eloquence this great genius 
 has denounced the shams of architecture, the 
 painted wood and iron in place of stone, the 
 molded stucco work where should have been 
 carved marble. If imitations like these are 
 detestable and immoral, what is to be said of 
 the fraudulent semblances made to do duty 
 in dress, which should be absolutely beyond 
 suspicion, seeing that it is the outward and 
 familiar shape by which a man is known alike 
 to friends and enemies? Who could endure 
 the thought of descending to put on what 
 the dictionaries call a dickey f The mind 
 shrinks back at the image brought before it, 
 and we hear with incredulity that good men 
 and true have masqueraded under this im- 
 perfect disguise. Good men they may have 
 been, in the sense of innocent, because ig- 
 norant and unthinking, men ; but true men 
 they were not, for they went about among 
 their fellows with imposture in their thought, 
 and a shabby make-believe covering their 
 breasts. It is not thus that a really artistic 
 dress is to be made up or worn. In this, 
 sincerity and reality are the first requisites.
 
 Miscellaneous Wear. 191 
 
 Beauty, in Plato's definition, is the fitness of 
 things to their purpose ; and he who would 
 be well dressed must never forget this defini- 
 tion. The underwear must be of the best, 
 and carefully fitted to the person ; and, with 
 this foundation well laid, the outer costume, 
 designed by a true artist in his line, must 
 give to every beholder the satisfaction of a 
 perfect and rhythmical grace, and to the 
 wearer the serenity of a mind and a con- 
 science in harmony with the great law of 
 right.* This may seem to be the language of 
 exaggeration; but it is far from that. No 
 man at ease with himself can be at war with 
 the universe. Conduct, it has been said 
 by a thoughtful writer, is three-fourths of 
 human life ; and right conduct in every hu- 
 man relation is at least three times as easy to 
 the truly dressed man as it is to the un- 
 worthily attired. These things prove them- 
 selves. 
 
 * A long-continued personal experience enables the author 
 to say, that Messrs. Webster Brothers, of 26 Lombard Street, 
 London, have recognized this principle for years in cutting 
 the drawers and shirts supplied by their house ; and their 
 attention to this point, so generally neglected, has recom- 
 mended their products not less than the special quality of the 
 gray wool employed.
 
 192 Miscellaneous Wear. 
 
 It cannot be too carefully borne in mind 
 
 v 
 
 that the style of miscellaneous wear is a mat- 
 ter for serious study, with the counsel and 
 critical aid of the tailor. How far the per- 
 sonal peculiarities of the wearer ought to 
 modify his acceptance of the prevailing fash- 
 ions is a question to which he himself can 
 hardly give a final answer ; at least not until 
 that far-off day arrives for which Burns ut- 
 tered his still ungranted petition, that we 
 might 
 
 See oursels as ithers see us. 
 
 The tailor sees as the world sees, with an 
 added special intelligence entirely his own, 
 and his judgment should be the decisive one, 
 his approval the mint stamp on the coin. 
 
 Exaggerated style is the thing to be 
 avoided. It is right to be simple in taste, 
 but simplicity must not be carried too far, 
 lest it become conspicuous boldness; neither 
 should a prevailing fashion draw the eyes of 
 the passers-by to the fashion of the dress 
 rather than to the wearer of it. The ex- 
 treme in either direction is an error, though 
 great examples may be brought forward to 
 justify each of these. How, for instance,
 
 Miscellaneous Wear. 193 
 
 does the action of Brummel, when he made 
 the crowd stare at his wonderful starched cra- 
 vat, commend itself to the sound critic of 
 costume? Only one answer is possible: it 
 was a grave offense against the laws of good 
 taste. This was one extreme. For an ex- 
 ample of the other, take this passage, from a 
 somewhat famous description of a distin- 
 guished Southern general, when about to ad- 
 dress a great political meeting a few years 
 ago: "His costume was characteristically 
 simple ; plain black, from head to foot, his 
 waistcoat low cut, revealing the broad shirt- 
 bosom. He was retiring in his neck-tie^ The 
 language is peculiar, but plain enough to 
 show that the great soldier overstepped the 
 modesty of true art in the studied simplicity, 
 or, shall we say, the obtrusive withdrawal of 
 his neckwear from public view? It had 
 been less offensive to good dressing to appear 
 without a neck-tie than with one which pain- 
 fully attracted the eyes of all to its affecta- 
 tion. In all these matters the perfect model 
 is Count d'Orsay, and every one who is hap- 
 pily endowed by nature may, with pains and 
 study, approach to his excellence.
 
 194 Miscellaneous Wear. 
 
 The constant study and effort to improve 
 are indispensable. One can never know too 
 much of the science and art of form, and also 
 of color. The real artist-tailor must have 
 a knowledge of the laws of color, to direct 
 and chasten his practical acquaintance with 
 the effects produced by juxtaposition and by 
 contrast. He can guide in the right way 
 those who would otherwise wander in con- 
 fusion of mind, but his task is lightened 
 when his customer has also paid attention to 
 this subject. 
 
 Chevreul on Color should be the hand-book 
 of every man of fashion. It is not, perhaps, 
 out of place, to suggest, while on the subject 
 of color, that the greater clearness and bright- 
 ness of the American sky must be allowed 
 for in studying contrasts and harmonies of 
 shade and tones originated under the duller 
 heaven of England. 
 
 If it is necessary to pay great attention to 
 the finish and proportion of the collars, and 
 other visible portions of the underwear, it is 
 quite as imperative to give long and anxious 
 thought to the gloves, the shoes, and the jew- 
 elry, which cannot be an after-thought. The
 
 Miscellaneous Wear. 195 
 
 simple rule for the gloves and the shoes is 
 the French one, to be bien chausse et bien 
 gante. Nothing can be added to this, for it 
 covers the whole field. One needs only to 
 remember that the hands are made to lay hold 
 of and to relinquish objects, and the feet to 
 walk with and to support worthily the state- 
 ly form of manhood. The gloves, therefore, 
 should cover, not cramp the fingers. If prop- 
 erly fitted, they give an air of their own to 
 the hands, and leave them, at the same time, 
 free for all the courtesies of life. 
 
 It is the same with the boots or the shoes. 
 The shoes that pinch belittle and degrade 
 the wearer more than any other solecism in 
 dress. It is in vain that a man with shoes 
 too small for him endeavors to appear well 
 dressed. His clothes may be masterpieces, 
 but the attention will be perversely drawn to 
 his hobbling gait and the attempted disguise 
 that disguises nothing. The shoe must fit 
 the well-dressed man, and it is the perfection 
 of its fit that will make it seem to be even 
 smaller than its actual measure. Every at- 
 tempt at deceiving the eyes of others in this 
 part of the dress is hopeless, and the unlucky
 
 196 Miscellaneous Wear. 
 
 wearer of too small shoes has not even the 
 satisfaction of a self-delusion like that of the 
 ostrich with his head in a bush ; for he .sees 
 that every one sees his flimsy imposture. 
 
 Should a well-dressed man wear jewelry ? 
 This question suggests, like many other ques- 
 tions, the need of a new word to meet the 
 necessities of a new development in social 
 customs. For want of a better, we are obliged 
 to call by the vague and inappropriate name 
 of jewelry the watch-chain, the ring, and one 
 or two minor articles of gold and precious 
 stones which a gentleman now permits him- 
 self to wear. As a received part of the cos- 
 tume, what is properly known as jewelry is 
 unheard of. The days are gone when a great 
 noble could present himself in society in a 
 coat blazing with diamonds, so loosely sewn 
 on that every now arid then some of them 
 fell to the floor, to be the prize of the first 
 comer. Gone, too, not to return in our day, 
 the time when Disraeli, in the beginning of 
 his career as novelist and man of fashion and 
 politician, dazzled the eyes of London with 
 his semi-barbaric richness of ornament. In 
 that time even the sober citizen of London,
 
 Miscellaneous Wear. 197 
 
 and the American, with his confessedly lim- 
 ited and provincial ambitions, held it to be 
 beneath the dignity of a respectable man to 
 appear in public without the bunch of seals 
 attached to his massive watch-guard. Where 
 are uow those solid cubes of gold, set with 
 red and white carnelians and dark cairn- 
 gorms, dangling to and fro, or reposing trust- 
 fully against the person, according to the 
 wearer's greater or lesser breadth of beam ? 
 Who can find them? Who can gather up 
 the snows of the past winter ? 
 
 To-day there is a changed spirit abroad. 
 A chain, the less noticeable the better, a ring, 
 and by preference a seal-ring, wrist-buttons, 
 and a scarf-pin, make up the jewelry in the 
 attire of a well-dressed man. Of all these 
 the seal-ring is undeniably the one with the 
 noblest pedigree and the least questionable 
 title. The watch is of comparatively recent 
 origin, and, even if we regard it as indispen- 
 sable to the personal outfit, may well be worn 
 without the golden chain, while it is quite 
 conceivable that a severer taste may repudi- 
 ate the scarf-pin as unnecessary, or even as 
 the sign of a harking-back toward barbarism ;
 
 198 Miscellaneous Wear. 
 
 but the seal-ring is identified with the very 
 principle of civilization. It is the symbol of 
 law, of the respect for constituted authority, 
 of the sacredness of contracts, of the respon- 
 sibilities, in one word, which hold society 
 together. In no one article that is worn is 
 there concentrated so much of personal char- 
 acter and dignity as in the seal-ring, conse- 
 crated, as it has been from the earliest ages, 
 to the most serious and solemn purposes and 
 to the gravest occasions in the life of its 
 owner. How much of the unwritten history of 
 the race partly reveals itself in the collections 
 of seals in our museums ! A well-cut seal is 
 in itself an evidence of its wearer's identity 
 and an expression of the refinement and so- 
 lidity of his culture.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE PROPOSED E EVOLUTION IN DRESS. 
 
 WHEN Louis the Sixteenth was talking 
 with the Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt 
 on the night after the taking of the Bastille, 
 he wound up his remarks with the words : 
 " It is an insurrection." " No, sire," replied 
 the duke, " It is a revolution." The leaders 
 of fashion, like the rulers of kingdoms, often 
 mistake the signs of the times, and fail to 
 appreciate the gravity of a situation which 
 is the result of causes not actually within 
 the range of sight. To pronounce the word 
 revolution is to alarm and disconcert the vast 
 multitude whose belief in the permanence of 
 existing conditions is absolute. It may be a 
 consolation to some to remind them that the 
 revolution is always with us, like the poor, 
 like the succession of day and night. In the 
 cycles of style and of fashion, as in those of 
 the natural world, movement is the supreme 
 law, and movement around a central point. 
 As in language, so in dress. Many forms that
 
 200 Revolution in Dress. 
 
 have gone down will rise again, and others, 
 now held in honor, will pass away. 
 
 Is there to be a revolution in styles of 
 dress? No one can say when such an event 
 is near at hand, still less can any one hope to 
 bring it about by preaching or even by ex- 
 ample, except in the modification of existing 
 forms, and this is not revolution, but change. 
 Too ambitious an aim in such matters surely 
 defeats itself, even when led by an acknowl- 
 edged authority and power, like that of the 
 Prince of Wales. When undertaken by a 
 lesser man, ridicule gathers about the move- 
 ment and overwhelms the leader and his fol- 
 lowers. This is seen in the history of Oscar 
 Wilde's proposed reform, a scheme not intrin- 
 sically absurd, and not without good features 
 of its own, but mismanaged from the begin- 
 ning, because its apostle was deficient in 
 a sense of humor, and, one cannot help think- 
 ing, more or less insincere. There must be 
 singleness of purpose in the advocate of re- 
 form, and the purpose must be a worthy one. 
 Self-seeking must be far from his thought, 
 and even the suspicion of it must be avoided. 
 
 So far as an outlook over the broad field
 
 Revolution in Dress. 201 
 
 can reassure us, we may feel that no very 
 great change in costume is to be expected in 
 the near future. The democratic spirit of 
 the age, and the constantly widening com- 
 mercial activities of every people, are mighty 
 influences at work to limit and define the 
 general style of dress in the world. It is be- 
 coming more and more difficult to assign a 
 man to his place in society on the evidence 
 of his costume, and this state of things will 
 last for a long time to come. There will al- 
 ways be the distinction between the well- 
 dressed man and the man who is careless of 
 his attire ; but the number of the well-dressed 
 will go on increasing with the spread of 
 sound information and the growth of right 
 ideas, and, with added numbers, the better 
 dressed portion of the people will constantly 
 attract to themselves more recruits from the 
 less advanced multitude. It will only be 
 when something like an equilibrium is 
 reached, when the world is about fairly di- 
 vided between the two, that a revolution will 
 have everything in its favor. 
 
 The growth of taste in art, and especially 
 in painting and sculpture, is working silently
 
 202 Reoolution in Drew. 
 
 and surely to modify the views of men with re- 
 gard to costume. So long as the business world 
 is the all-important world, the conceptions of 
 the end and aim of dress must be shaped, in 
 part, at least, by the needs of business. The 
 principle of Herbert Spencer, that man is the 
 result of his conditions and his environment, is 
 decisive in this matter. Even if we would, we 
 cannot escape from the controlling powers and 
 forces of the time. The day will come, how- 
 ever, when a knowledge of art, and the famil- 
 iarity with the great artistic periods of his- 
 tory, will have made men impatient of the pov- 
 erty of modern attire in the picturesque and 
 aesthetic elements, neglect of which for too long 
 a time is sure to revenge itself upon the intel- 
 lectual nature and diminish the creative 
 forces of a people.* Illustrations of this truth 
 are to be found nearer home than China, but 
 there is no one country that supplies the illus- 
 tration on a scale so vast. Thorough and 
 perfect in detail as is the art of China, it is a 
 
 * The revolt has begun in Germany, where the artists of 
 Diisseldorf and of Dresden have discarded the costume of 
 the present age and have returned to the picturesque style of 
 the days of Eubens, the black velvet breeches with blue 
 stockings, the velvet vest, trimmed with red silk, and the 
 large felt hat with or without plumes.
 
 Revolution in Dress. 203 
 
 stereotyped and immobile art, the continued 
 reproduction of the same models and the 
 same forms. Stricken with sterility at an 
 early day, from whatever cause, the Chinese 
 might be said to have no apprehension of the 
 picturesque, were it not for their landscape- 
 gardening. In every other direction their 
 intellectual nature, keenly alive to material 
 and practical aims, bears the unmistakable 
 impress of the prosaic, and this is not only a 
 great defect, it is also the source of incalcula- 
 ble positive loss to the productive power of 
 the nation. Natural genius has, of course, 
 something to do with this effect ; but the im- 
 aginative gift has been bestowed upon all 
 races, and the ancient inventions of the 
 Chinese show that they at one time possessed 
 it in no small measure. What they are to- 
 day other peoples may well shrink from be- 
 coming ; nor has any one of them reason to 
 fear such a future, so long as it keeps alive 
 the divine fire on the altars of art. This will 
 purify the atmosphere of our modern world, 
 and no other single agency can do so much 
 for us. Every form of art, architecture, paint- 
 ing, sculpture, music, engraving, carving,
 
 204 Revolution in Dress. 
 
 cameo and gem-cutting, must be made famil- 
 iar to us, not only in the products in our 
 shops and stores and homes, but in the im- 
 portance given to them in our educational 
 systems and our libraries. The spirit that 
 craves this intellectual gratification is the 
 spirit that creates salutary, because aesthetic, 
 revolutions in costume, but it must be a spirit 
 animating a whole people. When the change 
 is at hand it will announce itself surely 
 enough, so that men will not be left unguided 
 to wander after false teachers ; but we may 
 well speculate to some profitable purpose on 
 the direction a revolution of the kind will 
 take. 
 
 Is it likely that the movement will be slow 
 and tentative, or rapid and decided? Es- 
 tablished usage, and the enormous inter- 
 ests involved, lead us to accept more readily 
 the idea of a gradual retrogression toward a 
 period not too far remote, beginning with the 
 single step of a change of form in some one 
 article, such as the coat, or the waistcoat, and 
 passing on from that to another, until the 
 whole scheme of dress is transformed. This 
 is what seems at first sight the orderly devel-
 
 Revolution in Dress. 
 
 205 
 
 WILL IT EVER COME TO THIS? 
 
 opment of the idea of reform in a matter so 
 settled as to its main characteristics ; but is 
 it quite certain that reforms, beginning as
 
 208 Revolution in Dress. 
 
 this one would, from the people, would fol- 
 low this orderly progression ? 
 
 There are historical examples of reform in 
 dress imposed upon the nation by the will of 
 the ruler, and against great opposition ; but 
 these are hardly ot a nature to help us to a 
 conclusion; The severe garb prescribed by 
 Calvin, for the people of Geneva, was accepted 
 in a religious temper of mind not less austere 
 than his own, while it needed all the despotism 
 of Peter, and all the sacred character of his 
 authority in the eyes of his subjects, to carry 
 out his decrees against the national costume, 
 and the no less national beard ; nor could any 
 will less stubborn than that of Mahmoud II 
 have forced upon his fanatical people and 
 army the detested uniform of the Franks. 
 On the other hand, we find the Japanese 
 ready to adopt, with the sciences and the arts 
 of the West, the costume that seems at first 
 to make a sharp division between the Eu- 
 ropean and the Oriental. In a movement for 
 reform in dress in America, are we likely to 
 show ourselves more or less conservative than 
 the Japanese ? Our errors are more likely to 
 be on the side of conservatism. It was
 
 Revolution in Dress. 207 
 
 rather the sense of a national inferiority, in 
 obvious respects, that made the Japanese 
 hasten to abandon the civilization of their 
 fathers to take up that of the West. Noth- 
 ing like this can influence the American, for, 
 in all that pertains to the material advantages 
 of the highest civilization, he is in line with 
 the foremost, and the leaven of culture in 
 all that makes the older count lies of the 
 Christian world attractive is working more 
 actively with every year on A Jarger number 
 of people in the United States. Substan- 
 tially the same with the people of the Old 
 World, the Americans have the advantage 
 over them that all the inspiring associations, 
 all the witchery and charms of travel in the 
 storied lands of Europe, are new and fresh 
 to the visitor from the New World, and im- 
 press him with an abiding sense of their in- 
 finite value. Great historic scenes, castles 
 and palaces, and august ruins, he cannot 
 transplant to his Western home ; but the 
 faces and figures of the men who gave im- 
 mortal renown to these famous places haunt 
 his recollection and mingle with his dreams 
 of the future, that his children are to see.
 
 208 Revolution in Dress. 
 
 What more natural than that tins noiseless 
 and pervading influence of culture, which 
 already declares itself in the architecture of 
 the land, should one day bring about a general 
 and spontaneous movement for a revival in 
 America of the picturesque and stately cos- 
 tume of the heroic Elizabethan age ? There 
 is needed for such a revival a public, weary 
 of the tame monotony that fills our streets; 
 and this public is gathering power and volume 
 with every year that passes over us. Who, 
 that has looked upon a procession in one of 
 our great cities, has not felt that dullness and 
 common-place are more formidable in the 
 out-door life of America than elsewhere in 
 the world? The military music stirs the 
 blood as it does in Europe ; but while in 
 Europe the feeling for beauty is gratified by 
 the varied and splendid costumes, no less than 
 by the brilliant uniforms of the soldiers 
 marching past, our processions are made up 
 in far too large a proportion of citizens in 
 the every-day dress that permits no illusion 
 in the mind of the spectator. While the Mar- 
 seillaise, or Beethoven's Turkish March, is 
 tli rilling through the veins, the eyes rest on
 
 Revolution in Dress. 209 
 
 a line of six or seven hundred John Smiths, 
 in black coats, walking in the middle of the 
 street, for their own satisfaction, possibly, 
 but not for the entertainment of others. 
 
 There must be an end to this kind of thing, 
 as the perception of the significance of art 
 becomes clearer. The colorless aspect of 
 American life is not the natural outcome of 
 the conditions made for us in a land so full 
 of light and beauty, and we may well rest 
 content with the belief in the power of the 
 imagination to bring out the latent love of 
 
 o o 
 
 form in a people that inherits so fully the 
 tendencies and the traditional impulses of 
 the great races of the world. 
 
 For the American takes kindly to culture. 
 Active and energetic as he is in the pursuit 
 of business, he is rarely unobservant of the 
 finer possibilities that lie beyond success. 
 The minor courtesies of life come to him as 
 if by instinct, and one is surprised to see 
 with how little friction the business of the 
 day proceeds among men so eager and so in- 
 tent upon their own objects. With natures 
 so receptive of the finer influences from with- 
 out, the Americans are singularly fitted to
 
 210 Revolution in Dress. 
 
 begin the reaction against the prosaic in 
 dress ; a reaction that must come with the 
 increase of wealth and noble leisure, and the 
 love of those liberal arts which soften and 
 dignify the manners and adorn the life of 
 man. 
 
 It is enough to believe that the future will 
 be at least equal to the past ages in the cre- 
 ation of variety and picturesqueness in cos- 
 tume. There will be new conditions made, 
 and new adaptations and combinations of 
 older forms to meet the requirements of the 
 coming time ; and, firm in this faith, the au- 
 thor closes this survey of the field, that has 
 so much engaged his attention and his serious 
 thought, like one who feels that 
 
 'tis a joy to straighten out 
 One's limbs, and leap elastic from the counter, 
 Leaving the petty grievances of earth, 
 The breaking thread, the din of clashing shears, 
 And all the needles that do wound the spirit.
 
 26 
 
 LOMBARD STREET, 
 
 CITT, LONDON, 
 
 (el's 
 
 , 
 
 DESIRE TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THEIR SPECIALTIES IN 
 
 BELT BAND DRAWERS and DESIDERATUM HALF-HOSE, 
 
 These Drawers are scientifically cut and fitted with, a Belt 
 band, which entirely supersedes the old arrangement of the 
 belt. They are therefore peculiarly adapted for hunting, and 
 absolutely invaluable to corpulent men. 
 
 The fabrics recommended for these Drawers are the Non- 
 Slirinking Lincoln Wool of various thicknesses, for 
 Winter, Fall, and Summer; Fawn Beaver, for sensitive Bkms; 
 Merino, Lisle Thread, and Silk. 
 
 The Desideratum Half-Hose are made of the finest 
 Balbriggan Cotton, surmounted by a wool top, which 
 obviates the necessity of suspenders. 
 
 Dent's Gloves for Ladies and Gentlemen, specially cut 
 and selected for Webster Brothers. 
 
 Thrown, Cable Yarn, and Spun Sflk Underwear, 
 
 in suits of Vest, Drawers, and Half -Hose. ,
 
 A 000 035 081 9