There is still self-revelation in dress, but not personal self-revelation. We may still apply the test of costume to people and to periods, but not safely to individuals, who suffer from coercion. Women's ready-made clothes are becoming more and more like liveries. A dozen shop windows, a dozen establishments, display the same model over and over again, the materials and prices varying, the gown always the same. The lines may lack distinction, and the colors may lack serenity; but then distinction and serenity are not the great underlying qualities of our fretted age. The “abbreviated oddments,” with their strange admixture of the bizarre and the commonplace, strike a purely modern note. They are democratic. They are as appropriate, or, I might say, as inappropriate, to one class of women as to another. They are helping, more than we can know, to level the barriers of caste.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS

  1. Summarize what the essay says in criticism of modern fashions.
  2. What does the essay say concerning fashions in the past?
  3. Summarize Miss Repplier's suggestions for ideal costumes.
  4. Explain why the writer refers to the fashions of savages.
  5. By what means does the writer give interest to her work?
  6. How does the essay differ from an ordinary informational article?
  7. What advantage does the writer gain by referring to various works of literature?
  8. How does the writer avoid harshness of criticism?
  9. What is the general plan of the essay?
  10. What does the article show concerning Miss Repplier?

SUBJECTS FOR WRITTEN IMITATION

1. Fashions for Men11. Children's Clothes
2. Jewelry12. Style in Shoes
3. Good Manners13. Social Customs
4. Table Etiquette14. Street Behavior
5. Neckties15. Ribbons
6. Dancing16. School Yells
7. Spoken English17. Slang
8. Stockings18. Hair Dressing
9. Buttons19. The Use of Mirrors
10. Exercise20. Walking

DIRECTIONS FOR WRITING

Your object is to write, in a critical vein, about some modern custom, and to write without bitterness. Embody your criticism in mild humor. Find something good even in the midst of what is bad. Above all, draw definite examples from literature and history, in order to make your thought have weight.

FOOTNOTES:

[152] Lord Frederic Hamilton (1856—). An English diplomat and editor. He has travelled in many lands. Among his works are: The Holiday Adventures of Mr. P. J. Davenant; Lady Eleanor; The Vanished Pomps of Yesterday.

[153] Empress Eugenia (1826-1920). A Spanish Countess who in 1853 became the wife of Napoleon III of France and the natural leader of French society.