Dressing

“ It would be as sensible to say that breathing is a subordinate kind of virtue. In England a dressing gown is well-nigh a necessity. I know a thoughtful host who provides one for his guests; a warm voluminous garment in which it is possible to go comfortably to the bathroom. In America a dressing gown, for a man, is a useless incumbrance. ”

“ The patterns already issued may always be obtained, as “The Lady Dressmaker” only issues patterns likely to be of constant use in home dressmaking and altering; and she is particularly careful to give all the new patterns of hygienic underclothing, both for children and young and old ladies, so that her readers may be aware of the best method of dressing. ”

“ Care in dressing is also important, and, fortunately, fashion is coming to the rescue here. It is essential that no garments be suspended from the waist. Let the shoulders bear the weight of all the clothing, so that the organs of the body may be left free and unimpeded. ”

“ In dressing for a journey, if you wish to have good luck, dress the right foot first.
Belleville, Ohio.
1386. If the hem of a lady’s dress turns up, she is sure to have a new one.
Alabama.
1387. While sewing on a garment, should you sew it to your dress by mistake, as many stitches as you take, so many lies will be told about you.
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
1388. If you break your needle in making a dress, you will live to wear it out. If you tear a hole in a new dress, the first time wearing it, you will have a new one before that is worn out. ”

“ What lurking temptations to forbidden tenderness find their hiding-places in a woman's dressing-gown, when she is alone in her room at night! ”

“ 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. ”

“ She went up to her room, disembarrassed herself of her finery, and wrapped herself in a white dressing-gown. ”

“ It might be truly said, that I now worked for my bread. It is a little wonderful, and what I believe few people have thought much upon; viz. the strange multitude of little things necessary in the providing, producing, curing, dressing, making, and finishing this one article of bread.
I, that was reduced to a mere state of nature, found this to be my daily discouragement, and was made more and more sensible of it every hour, even after I got the first handful of seed corn, which, as I have said, came up unexpectedly, and indeed to a surprise. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Just as it is desirable, in the interests of health, that wool should be used exclusively for clothing during the day, so it is that the surroundings of the body during the night should be of wool, and the bed or mattrass, being, as it is generally supposed to be, stuffed with hair, wool, or feathers, should be cased in woollen material. ”

“ Here then it becomes apparent that special care is required in the selection of clothes, which can exercise a strong influence, either for good or evil, on the performance of the skin functions, and here we find that wool, which is the natural clothing of man as of the lower animals—a statement to which I shall recur hereafter—provides for our necessities. ”

“ Fashion prescribes the size and shape of bonnets, the make of gowns, their length and their size—the number of breadths and gores—the trimmings, the petticoats, which have become like a second gown, and all the other paraphernalia of a lady's toilette. There is no part of a lady's dress too minute for her inspection and care and legislation. The colour of gloves, the dye of hair, the application of false hair, the make of boots and shoes, the choice of ornaments, are all ordered and arranged. ”

“ When the meal is over, each person washes his own rice-bowl, and turns it upside down in a basket in the corner of the room to drip and dry till it is needed again.
Dress is a very simple matter. There are no such things as fashions. The smallest children wear no clothing at all, except, perhaps, a necklace of coral or beads. The garment worn as a covering for the lower part of the body is the same for all—King and peasant, man, woman, and child. ”

“ Dress is also an article not to be neglected, and I hope you do not neglect it; it helps in the 'premier abord', which is often decisive. By dress, I mean your clothes being well made, fitting you, in the fashion and not above it; your hair well done, and a general cleanliness and spruceness in your person. I hope you take infinite care of your teeth; the consequences of neglecting the mouth are serious, not only to one's self, but to others. ”

“ In cold weather this article of dress is sometimes applied on the outside of the common covering mat, and as this is, from long wearing, or some other cause, frequently not the most cleanly, the outer garment in many instances conceals what is not well suited to meet the eye of cleanliness or delicacy. The hair, whenever the dress mats are worn, is well powdered and pomatumed, in which feathers, sharks' teeth, pieces of bone, European buttons, beads, bugles, &c. &c. are fastened, instead of broaches, or other ornaments. ”

“ I have already given what seem to me sufficient reasons for maintaining that wool is the natural and most healthy substance out of which to manufacture clothes. Clothes in their action should be merely supplementary to the skin, and care is required to enable them to properly perform the functions demanded of them. They should be light, warm, permit free transpiration, or, in other words, ventilate well; they should exert no pressure on any part, and they should be free from all poisonous particles, whether of dirt or of dye. ”

“ The dress of the women is like their habits of life, plain and simple. It consists invariably of a gown of blue printed cotton, the bodice of which ends just below the bosom, an apron of the same material, and a white collar with a flat hem ”

“ Let the hair be always smooth and becomingly arranged, each article exquisitely clean, neat collar and sleeves, and tidy shoes and stockings, and the simplest dress will appear well, while a torn or soiled collar, rough hair, or untidy feet will entirely ruin the effect of the most costly and elaborate dress. The many articles required in a lady's wardrobe make a neat arrangement of her drawers and closets necessary, and also require care in selecting and keeping goods in proper order. ”

“ Dress-making.—Substantial dress, of standard material and kind, strong shoes, and stout bedding, to be manufactured for the poor, so as to render it unnecessary for them, unless by extremity of improvidence, to wear cast clothes, or be without sufficiency of clothing. ”

“ Doth not a cloth suit become him as well, and keep him as warm, as all their silks, satins, damasks, taffeties and tissues? Is not homespun cloth as great a preservative against cold, as a coat of Tartar lamb's-wool, died in grain, or a gown of giant's beards? ”

“ The old, the delicate, and the very young may use a light woolen night-dress outside that of linen or cotton. If comfort demands the use of wool next to the skin, it should be light in weight, finely woven, and with a smooth surface. ”

“ Take our laundress, for instance, an admirable young woman, who gets up clothes to perfection, and who on Sunday exchanges her cotton gown and apron for the smartest of Parisian costumes. The amount of underclothes these countrywomen possess is sometimes enormous, and they pride themselves upon the largest possible quantity, a great part of which is of course laid by. ”

“ One chooses a handsome velvet or other dressy material for a dinner dress, and wears with it her rarest jewels. Good taste and modesty forbid too lavish a display of shoulders. As a rule, in our average social life, the unlined lace yoke and collar and lace sleeves are preferred for dinner wear, the decollete gown being reserved for balls and cotillions. ”

“ Their clothing is a piece or two of quilted cloth, about six feet by four, or a mat. One piece wrapped round their loins, and another over their shoulders, make a complete dress. But the men, for the most part, are in a manner naked, wearing nothing but a slip of cloth betwixt their legs, each end of which is fastened to a cord or belt they wear round the waist. ”

“ As to the etiquette of men's dress in general, the tale is soon told. The "dress-suit" is worn only at dinner and in the evening. At any hour after six o'clock, a man may with propriety appear anywhere in a dress suit, though it is required only on formal occasions. Before dinner, morning dress is worn—the frock coat, or a business suit with its four-buttoned cut-away. ”

“ Fig. 113.—The wig-bag (a survival of the bag-wig) now seen on the back of the collar of the Lord Mayor’s coachman.
This is a progressive age, in spite of the many survivals which still flourish, and when we come to consider the costume of the modern manservant who [144] attends at table, or the waiter in the restaurant, we find that he has come out of his generation, as it were, and has adopted the dress of his masters before they have themselves discarded it. ”

“ The ordinary dress of men of the middle classes comprises a short shirt cut low at the throat, drawers, socks of material made with a single seam up the back, a long embroidered coat, and a shorter jacket of some plain fabric, held by a broad waist-belt, embroidered in colours and fastened by a jade ornament. ”

“ Nevertheless, we may suppose that the dress of the men in the lowest ranks of society has always been short and tight, consisting of braies, or tight drawers, mostly made of leather, of tight tunics, of sayons or doublets, and of capes or cloaks of coarse brown woollen. ”

“ At the same time, the use of cosmetics was introduced.
The Mediæval or Middle Ages.—From the end of the fifth century to the beginning of the seventeenth there was a singular resemblance in many marked particulars between the dress of the two sexes. It now became the object of dress in both sexes not merely to clothe the person, but also to display the figure and adorn it. In the temperate climates there are always greater changes in fashion than in the very hot or very cold. ”

“ A material of loose texture confining much air in its interstices is warmer than same amount of clothing material closely woven. Wool or cotton carded and spread out in the shape of a wadding and held, will make a warmer garment than the same quantity spun and woven, and similarly covered. ”

“ The dress of the men of the upper and middle classes who have not adopted European clothing—a practice increasingly common—consists of cotton drawers, and a cotton or silk shirt with very wide sleeves. ”

“ The every-day dress of both sexes was cotton cloth, a short kilt reaching from the shoulder to the knee, and over this, when not actively at work, a loose gown covering the person from neck to ankle, and confined at the waist with a girdle or sash of bright-colored cloth. ”

“ Women who, from whatever reason, venture out at night, wear the warmest cloaks they can procure. Those of limited means wear a loosely woven hair or woollen over-robe in lieu of their usual outdoor garment, resembling tufted cotton. ”

“ Oiling the body and liming the hair are customary. A dress consisting of a white shirt, a length of white sheeting round the waist, and a sash of native cloth is becoming. Young girls wear a waist-cloth and a sort of pinafore, without either headcovering or boots. ”

“ Remember that your clothes ought to make you look your very best. Clothes can do kindly things—bring out the pretty lights in your hair, make you look an inch taller or hide the awkward curve of your hips—or they can be very, very unkind. It is not always the out-of-date dress either that is the hard task master. ”

“ A survival of the latter as an outer garment is to be seen in the short smocks worn by labourers who dig drains and do similar work. The lady’s nightgown may be elegantly ornamented with lace in the same way as are the linen garments which she wears in the daytime; but very often we find a large collar edged with lace, which recalls the falling band which we have had so often to mention. ”

“ One of the great steps in personal cleanliness and therefore in culture made by our forefathers, was the adoption of a linen tunic next the skin, the “short” garment, or shirt. Again, a piece of cloth wrapped round the body and held up by a girdle forms the skirt or kilt, and the way in which Eastern women fasten their skirts together between the feet for convenience of walking, shows how trousers were invented. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The dress of high-born ladies was very similar to that of the men, for it, too, consisted of rucked trousers, of brilliantly-coloured silk, decorated with embroidery and confined at the feet with plain gold bangles or jewelled anklets. ”

“ The dress of the higher classes was very changeable and subject to fashion as well as function. Ladies no longer braided their hair in long tails, but rolled it up in a net under a veil, often topped with an elaborate and fanciful headdress. ”