Body ornament

“ The hidden man of the heart; that is, the soul; the hidden, the inner man. Take care to adorn and beautify your souls rather than your bodies. Secondly, The ornament prescribed. It must, in general, be something not corruptible, that beautifies the soul, that is, the graces and virtues of God's Holy Spirit. The ornaments of the body are destroyed by the moth, and perish in the using; but the grace of God, the longer we wear it, the brighter and better it is. ”

“ For since this garment is variegated and woven of various virtues, as chastity, prudence, faith, love, patience, and other good things, which, covering, as they do, the unseemliness of the flesh, adorn man with a golden ornament. ”

“ Personal ornaments appear to have been among the very first objects on which the invention and ingenuity of man were exercised; and there is no record of any people so rude as not to employ some kind of personal decoration. Natural objects, such as small shells, dried berries, small perforated stones, feathers of variegated colours, were combined by stringing or tying together to ornament the head, neck, arms and legs, the fingers, and even the toes, whilst the cartilages of the nose and ears were frequently perforated for the more ready suspension of suitable ornaments. ”

“ Here, therefore, all the glitter of ornament, like that of jewels and diamonds, must be laid aside; nor must we apply even the crisping-iron to adjust the hair. There must be no colouring, no artful washes to heighten the complexion: but elegance and neatness must be our only aim. ”

“ More wonderful still than the mantle which embraces them all is the garment which covers the form of God himself, violet-gray drapery, transparent as if woven out of clouds, closely surrounding the mighty and beautiful form with its small folds, covering him entirely down to the knees, and yet allowing every muscle to appear through it. I have never seen the portrait of a human body which equalled the beauty of this. ”

“ So intense did this love of ornament grow among women, that they began to cover their bodies with fur, feathers, shell, beads and countless ornaments. As late as the year 400 the primitive desire for self-adornment is evident. ”

“ Now, I will bestow on thee, from my own body, a garment that shall be invisible to men, but perceptible to thee, because it will preserve from cold both thy soul and thy body, until the day in which I will clothe thee with honor and glory before the saints and angels. "And immediately he drew from the wound of his adorable Heart a vestment tinged with the purple hue of his precious blood and beaming with light. ”

“ As decoration we can but admire the masterly way in which the ornament is distributed, the refined sense of scale and proportion, and the skilful and subtle treatment of light and shade, even if the detail of the ornament itself is crude and archaic. ”

“ A history of personal ornament is open to many side issues, and unfolds itself in two different—indeed, opposite—directions. Primitive savages, as is well known, wear ornaments before they take to clothes. ”

“ Other people, we know, have a fancy for such ornaments. According to Captain Carver's account of some of the North American Indians, "it is a common custom among them to bore their noses, and wear in them pendants of different sorts." And more instances might be mentioned. But we shall have occasion hereafter to speak of some remarkable modes in which the love of distinction and ornament manifests itself The very same principle leads human nature to embellish itself from the "crown of the head to the sole of the foot." ”

“ All decoration should be planned to enrich—not to assert. All jewelry or ornament should form a note in the general harmony of color—a decorative touch to add beauty and to be subordinated to the object decorated. It should serve the purpose of seeming to strengthen the whole or to protect the parts receiving most wear. Ornament is everywhere attempted. We see ornament at every turn—good and bad alike—in our homes, on clothes, linen, and kitchen utensils. ”

“ THE WEARING OF ORNAMENTS.—Beauty needs not the foreign aid of ornament, but is when unadorned adorned the most, is a trite observation; but with a little qualification it is worthy of general acceptance. Aside from the dress itself, ornaments should be very sparingly used—at any rate, the danger lies in over-loading oneself, and not in using too few. A young girl, and especially one of a light and airy style of beauty, should never wear gems. A simple flower in her hair or on her bosom is all that good taste will permit. ”

“ Sat fair proportion'd on her polish'd limbs,
Veil'd in a simple robe, their best attire,
Beyond the pomp of dress; for loveliness
Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, ⁠205
But is when unadorn'd adorn'd the most. ”

“ We daily witness the pains that worldly-minded people take in dressing and decking out their bodies, merely for the sake of pleasing others; and often do we witness that exterior ornaments are sought after and used to hide their natural defects.
We are careful to adorn our bodies which soon will be food for worms, and we neglect that most beautiful ornament of the soul which is the grace of God. ”

“ It is not less a distinction and an ornament that a man is of a handsome appearance, so as to be easily known from others on that account; and this appears to me to suit a chief best, because the best ornament is allied to beauty. I am moreover more knowing in the law than you, and on every subject my words flow more easily than yours. ”

“ The conscious search for and application of ornament to the decoration of the fabric of the nest, even at the risk of its danger and discovery through the gratification of their feeling for beauty, is a further and most remarkable evidence of the pleasure which they derive from that sense ”

“ For there are tribes to whom climate and civilisation have not yet suggested the necessity of clothing the body, but who nevertheless possess ornaments of some degree of development. From the rudest of beginnings up to the last refinements of art, jewelled ornaments have ever the same purpose in view—to give prominence to individual parts of the body by means of glittering, beautiful objects which involuntarily draw the eye of the spectator in the desired direction. ”

“ And what eclipsed everything, soft billows of gauze, sheen of satin, intricacy of lace, heavy, dark hair, light, fair locks, the almost living skin of the gloves, the pink on necks, shoulders, arms, was the jewellery; more luminous, more vivid in colour, more iridescent than all, were the triumphant jewels. ”

“ It is precisely those things which in themselves are good and beautiful that we consider capable of adornment and worthy of it. To add ornament to an object that is intrinsically vile or hideous, does but augment the existing bad qualities by adding to them a glaring incongruity. ”

“ That p. 6the material of house and ornament should be of the best and costliest and most splendid; that every act, every feeling of worship should have its corresponding sign in some ritualistic observance; that among the accessories of worship should be attractions for means of enlisting men’s various senses; colour, and pattern and ornament for the eye, music for the ear, fragrant perfume for the scent. ”

“ Pure ornament, like pure language, should be simple in its construction and expression, clear in its meaning, with just sufficient embellishment about it to interest the imagination, leaving the intention honestly revealed to the passing glance. The truest lines of grace are the plainest; the most majestic designs are those freest from detail; the greatest charm about the disposal of drapery is in the fewest folds, big folds, falling straight; the best dressed men or women are those costumed the quietest. ”

“ If colour and form produced by a study of harmony and a limited appeal to nature could be united to elaboration and minuteness of finish, with symmetrical arrangements freed from purely mechanical detail of ornament ”

“ He then commences the operations belonging to his department or art; which is to arrange, display, and set the gems so as to produce the best effect, and present the most striking and captivating appearance, according to the nature of the ornament required: whether it be an elegant groupe, richly combined, a necklace, an ear-drop, a ring, or a pin. ”

“ We have ample warrant for affirming that garments, even in this world, subserve a spiritual as well as a natural use; that they are required not less to satisfy the wants and appetencies of the soul, than the immanent needs of the body. ”

“ The earthen jar sits upon her head with the grace of a golden coronet—every attitude is the pose of a statue, a study for a sculptor; and the coarse garment that drapes that form is in your eyes more becoming than a robe of richest velvet. ”

“ We only attempt to sketch those most frequently met with, and which may serve as models of style. Various threefold ornaments—originating, doubtless, in the spirit of that class of men who at first chiefly used this decoration for MSS., and symbolical of the triune nature of the Deity—are frequently observed. In Fig. 10 are two of the most common specimens; the third is a spider-like ornament, also often introduced. Fig. 11 is another simple and common decoration.
Fig. 10. Fig. 11.
THE LAST KISS. BY JENNY A. M'EWAN.
THE last, the last! ”

“ The garments of the angels, like their habitations and their whole environment, are indissolubly bound to themselves as effects to their producing cause. The quality and appearance of their dress are in perfect correspondence with their states of life, and change with those states. Their understandings are stored with the beautiful and precious truths of heavenly wisdom. These clothe and adorn their minds, and create for themselves, by the unerring law of correspondence, garments of corresponding worth and beauty visible to the outward eye. ”

“ The ornament is nervous and excited, festoons, trefoils, gables, gargoyles and niches, all thrust themselves at you; all strive for individual effect, individual attention, and individual value, with a restlessness and an importunacy which knows no limits ”

“ What ornament is, will without difficulty be determined by the application of the same test. It must consist of such studious arrangements of form as are imitative or suggestive of those which are commonest among natural existences, that being of course the noblest ornament which represents the highest orders of existence. Imitated flowers are nobler than imitated stones, imitated animals, than flowers; imitated human form, of all animal forms the noblest. ”

“ The breeze was molding her dress upon her rounded form till she seemed like the statue of a goddess—a goddess of freedom, loveliness, and joy, sculptured in the living flesh—a figure vibrant with glowing health and youth, startlingly set in the desert's gray austerity. ”

“ It could scarcely be thought that such pride should be spent on a little pelt, by a mere backwoodsman and his nine-year-old son. One has seen a woman fingering a splendid necklace, her eyes fascinated by the bunch of warm, deep jewels—a light not of mere vanity, or hunger, or avarice in her face—only the love of the beautiful thing. But this was an animal's skin. ”

“ Contrast comes next, as the mere alternation of upright and horizontal lines form a contrasted ornament | —— | —— | —— | Symmetry perhaps comes next, and is the repetition of any form on its axis; even the rudest blot so doubled makes ornament. Radiation alone is the basis of much ornament, and directly we get as far as the scroll, we must have tangential junction, for broken-backed curves are hardly ornament. Next comes Repose: any decoration that seems to crawl is not pleasing but distressing. As we advance we want Variety and Subordination. ”

“ To call attention to her ornaments is to detract from her priceless ornament of sweet and fleeting youth.
Simple muslins and wools, soft, clinging silks and gauzes should be worn. Flowers are preferable to jewels. A necklace of pearls may be worn, should the complexion warrant, but other than this is a waste of money, and a waste of beauty.
Soft colors, where the skin permits, simplicity in cut, little if any trimming, and we have the costume most fitting for a girl to wear, and when we say “fitting” we have found the key to perfect dressing. ”

“ Would you preserve the temple sacred from all uses, yet degrade the greater deity within it? Would you preserve the delicacy of your beauty, and clothe your form in gorgeous apparel by an action that would stain your soul with foul dishonesty? ”

“ The general proportion may be good, the mouldings accurate, but the instant ornament is attempted, the architect or the dressmaker reveals how much of an artist he is. To put ornament in the right place—where it serves a purpose—is indeed difficult; to render that ornament at the same time an added beauty and an expression of the desired unity is far more difficult. ”

“ Put off the ornaments of gold, the jewels, wherewith thou adornest thy beauty, and crown thyself with the crown of endless affliction. For thou shalt be girdled about with flame and fire shall be thy garment. ”

“ The very daintiness of accessory, the delicate embroidered robes, the long fringed scarves, the embossed armour, light and pliable like silk, which cannot wound the tender young archangels, the carefully waved and curled hair—all this is the religious luxuriousness of nuns and novices, the one vent for all love of beauty and ease and costliness of the poor delicate creatures, worn and galled by their shapeless hair cloth, living and sleeping in the dreary whitewashed cell. ”

“ Ornament is the means by which Beauty or Significance is imparted to Utility. It is either Symbolical or Aesthetic. Symbolic ornament consists of elements or forms chosen for the sake of their significance—Aesthetic ornament consists of forms or elements chosen for their Beauty alone, or their power of appealing to the senses.
Of the historic styles of ornament, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Byzantine, Scandinavian, Persian, Indian, Gothic, Polynesian, and much of the Chinese and Japanese are symbolical, having elements and ornamental details chosen for their significance ”