Dressing case

“ The passionate attention given by our own household males to those few articles of apparel in which we have thought it safe to allow them individual choice, unregulated by requirements of uniform, articles such as socks or cravats, must prove even to men themselves how much safer it is that their clothes-craze should be vicariously expressed, that women should do their dressing for them. ”

“ In the dress of both sexes the joining of the sleeve to the shoulder has, as a rule, that large puff which stage dressmakers bestow so lavishly upon all old English costumes, but otherwise the woman’s gown and hood and the man’s doublet, jerkin and trunk hose are plain enough, even the shoes losing all the fanciful width. Mary, indeed, added to the statute book more stringent laws against display of rich apparel, laws that would fine even a gentleman of under £20 a year if silk were found in his cap or shoe. ”

“ We now found ourselves in the corridor devoted to baths, where each man received a bundle of clothing. The object of the label now manifested itself; it was to attach to our clothes—not likely to be wanted for some time. The bundles consisted of a pair of blue worsted socks, a blue striped shirt, a blue pocket-handkerchief the thickness of a tile, a towel as coarse as a nutmeg-grater, and a suit of clothes. The clothes, when new, are really very good, and by no means objectionable. There is nothing of that conspicuous, degrading appearance about them that distinguishes the convict dress. ”

“ As for the women’s dress, being a mere man I cannot describe it; but ladies who visit the prison seem to be agreed that it is plain and neat. It is certainly strikingly different from anything they wear.
It is a rule that all convicted prisoners shall wear prison clothes. There are not very many of them whose own clothing is clean enough for them to wear, and not a few are more ragged than they need be. Whether they would not be better employed in cleaning and mending their own clothes than in doing many of the things they are required to do is a question that might be considered. ”

“ The eighteen-shilling chintz great-coats, so ostentatiously put forward by nefarious tradesmen as dressing-gowns, and which resemble pattern-cards of the vegetable kingdom, are unworthy the notice of all gentlemen—of course excepting those who are so by act of Parliament. Although it is generally imagined that the coat is the principal article of dress, we attach far greater importance to the trousers, the cut of which should, in the first place, be regulated by nature’s cut of the leg. ”

“ The garb of various sisterhoods still catches our eye, and there are certain points which may help us occasionally in identifying a doctor, a lawyer, a schoolmaster, and an actor. According to a recent article by a detective in one of the daily papers,52 the characteristics and individuality of a man will show through his clothes, and the writer alluded to, suggests the putting of a clergyman into a soldier’s or a sailor’s uniform, or again, the dressing of a valet in his master’s clothes. ”

“ As we have found before, garments which fall to the ground give dignity, and women sacrifice their dignity [358] with difficulty. Yet, as need hardly be pointed out, men do not wear dressing-gowns when they are jumping, nor fur-trimmed mantles when they go to business. Dresses with trains could be kept for ceremonial occasions, or when there is nothing much to be done, or again, we might add, when there is little dust to be raised. ”

“ The dressing, which consists of a sheet of waterproof, gauze, cotton wool, bandaging, and two safety pins, packed first in an extra sheet of waterproof and then in a bag of lining material, is sewn into one of the bottom corners of the jacket of every man who goes on active service, the description card occupying the corresponding corner on the opposite side. ”

“ The trade cottons in the stores form the material of every lady’s dresses, and as for the making, common consent, not to speak of climatic conditions, votes the simplest style the best. Where every stitch of sewing in dress or blouse must be done by the person who is to wear the garment, it is astonishing how soon one grows to regard elaborate tuckings, flouncings, inlayings, with hostility, and how satisfied the eye becomes with the simpler and less “fatigued” lines of the garments fashioned by women who cannot hire a dressmaker for love or money. ”

“ It will be perceived that the acts of 1890 and 1894 did not levy a duty on 'worsted dress goods,' eo nomine, nor on worsted dress goods by commercial designation, nor on worsted dress goods as distinguished from woolen dress goods; but a duty on dress goods, whether made of 'wool, worsted, the hair of the camel, goat, alpaca, or other animals.' The description is addressed to the quality and material of the goods, namely, women's and children's dress goods, made of wool, worsted, etc. ”

“ The last quarter of the 19th century, breaking through the strange mock-modesty which spoke of breeches as “inexpressibles,” saw the question of hygienic underclothing a subject much in debate, and now most men other than the poorer sort wear, besides the shirt, a light woollen vest and short drawers or long pantaloons of wool or wool’s counterfeit. Woollen shirts are worn by bicyclists, cricketers and tennis players. In morning dress the inconvenience of the starched shirt-front is commonly avoided. ”

“ That no person either man or woman shall hereafter make or buy any apparel, either woolen or silk or linen with any lace on it, silver, gold, or thread, under the penalty of forfeiture of said clothes. Also that no person either man or woman shall make or buy any slashed clothes other than one slash in each sleeve and another in the back; also all cut-works, embroideries, or needlework cap, bands, and rails are forbidden hereafter to be made and worn under the aforesaid penalty ”

“ Substantial clothing seems to be the taste of our sensible people, who are good judges of such matters. Blue striped shirts, shoes, boots, buskins, and corduroy trousers, meet with ready sale. We are in great want of light black beaver hats, which every one who can get them wears; but we can procure no male headpieces here, except some villanous-looking silk ones of an old-fashioned shape. In the country, or in undress, little attention is paid to mere ornament; but in company, or on state occasions, we are a very well-dressed and particular people. ”

“ The great difficulty in fitting garments is to prevent the movements of the body being cramped. This difficulty is entirely obviated if jerseys are worn, and I therefore strongly recommend them. Their adoption in the case of growing girls is beneficial, not only from the point of view of health, but also from that of economy; for, if ordinary dress bodices are worn and fit as they should, they are very soon outgrown, and must then be given up, or they will prove injurious. ”

“ The word 'worsted' means primarily and popularly a yarn or fabric made wholly of wool. A substantial part of the consuming public, and also some buyers for retailers and sales people, understand the words 'Merino,' 'Natural Merino,' 'Gray Merino,' 'Natural Wool,' 'Gray Wool,' 'Australian Wool' and 'Natural Worsted,' as applied to underwear, to mean that the underwear is all wool. By means of the labels and brands of the Winsted Company bearing such words, part of the public is misled into selling or into buying as all wool, underwear which in fact is in large part cotton. ”

“ In the system of under-clothing which I advocate, and which is illustrated by the above figure, combinations should be worn next to the skin; or, if the objection to these, which I spoke of on p. 131, is raised, a vest of woven wool, coming well down over the hips, may be worn next the skin, and drawers, either of the same material or of flannel, can be buttoned on to the bodice. The thickness of the material of which this and all the other garments are made can, of course, be varied to suit the temperature of the air. ”

“ The record shows that annually many million pounds of fabric, new and secondhand, are made into shoddy. It is used for many purposes. It is rewoven into fabric, made into pads to be used as filling material for bedding, and is used in the manufacture of blankets, clothing, underwear, hosiery, gloves, sweaters and other garments. The evidence is to the effect that practically all the woolen cloth woven in this country contains some shoddy. That used to make comfortables is a different grade from that used in the textile industry. ”

“ On the one hand, there has been the revolution in the popular habits of dress, caused chiefly by the uprising of the cotton manufacture; and, on the other hand, there has been an apparent over-supply of needlewomen, instead of the scarcity which might have been expected. In old times, when the working-classes wore woollen garments, as stoutly put together as our shoes are now, and seldom or never washed; and when the gentry wore costly stout linens within, and woollen or stiff silk fabrics as upper dresses, the sewing was very elaborate and precise, but it was to last for years or for life. ”

“ The woman who goes to business must dress inconspicuously. Clean, freshly laundered white shirt waists with simple dark skirts form the best of outfits. But with laundry bills at prohibitive prices, a substitute must be found for them for the girl in moderate circumstances. For this reason it is more sensible to wear dark serge, silk, or satin fashioned into severely simple frocks relieved perhaps by white linen or organdie collars and cuffs.
The woman who entertains at home in the morning wears a simple frock of the sort in which she may appear on the street. ”

“ It must be understood as being the intention of the legislature to add to 'clothing ready-made,' in the acceptation above given, every article which in its design and completion and received uses, is an article of wearing apparel, and to comprise such article within schedule C of the act of 1846, no matter of what material composed, either in whole or in part, or by whom composed or made up, whether by the tailor, sempstress, or manufacturer. ”

“ Changes of dress, from thick to thin, should always be made in the morning. At this time the vital powers are usually in full play. Many a young lady has laid the foundation of a fatal disease, by disregarding this rule, in exchanging the thick dress, with woollen stockings, for the flimsy dress and hose of silk or cotton, which are considered suitable 310 for the ball-room or party. Sudden changes in wearing-apparel, as well as in food and general habits, are attended with hazard; and this is proportionate to the weakness or exhaustion of the system when the change is made. ”

“ A full-dress suit consists of a swallow-tailed coat, a low, white or black single-breasted vest, black trousers, a white necktie, a stand-up collar, a high black hat, and a pair of light kid gloves. This dress should never be worn until evening, and never before the dinner hour. A white necktie should not be worn except with a full-dress suit, save by clergymen and a few elderly men who never wear any other color. Black trousers should not be worn except with a dress coat, save at funerals. A high hat should not be worn with a sack coat. ”

“ One difficulty that appears to arise is the difficulty of finding any dress which is "not distinctive," the real fact being that the clothes provided are as a rule so much better than those worn by people of the same class outside, that it is impossible not to identify the inmate out for his weekly walk. ”

“ In the early settlements of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia, sumptuary laws were passed to restrain and attempt to prohibit extravagance in dress. The New England magistrates were curiously minute in description of overluxurious attire, and many offenders were tried and fined. But vain daughters and sons "psisted in fflonting," though ministers joined the lawmakers in solemn warnings and reprehensions. Young girls were fined for silk hoods and immoderate great sleeves, and boldly appeared in court in still richer attire. ”

“ The new, plain suit of clothes he is given upon leaving prison is worn only until he can find a secondhand clothing store where it may be exchanged for something less good, but clothed in which he will have a trifle less fear of identification. ”

“ It was again in a strain of old-fashioned intolerance that, writing on the Rational Dress question in 1883, the same journal remarked, "That monstrosity of fashion the divided skirt is an outrage not to be countenanced—an unnatural costume which must be productive of unwomanly ways which are to be deprecated. Moreover, as it approaches the trouser in form and in use, it must engender an increase in the heat of the body which is most undesirable." It is a pity that so excellent and high an authority as the Lancet should have stooped to express such hasty and evidently ill-considered opinions. ”

“ The long court train may be of an entirely different material and color from the dress itself, if the wearer pleases, the only stipulation made being that the richness and splendor of the fabric must be beyond question. ”

“ The plan here indicated has answered admirably in the cases of some friends of mine, who have always been dressed on sanitary principles, but who, on State occasions, have to resign the high-necked and long-sleeved dresses and vests which they ordinarily wear, even for dinner and small evening parties. These young ladies have not yet suffered from their enforced obedience to fashion. ”