DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67419#0210
188 NEEDLEWORK IN COSTUME.
This ever-revolving wheel is still turning; and
so all important now is the mode that one half of
the world is fully occupied in providing for the per-
sonal embellishment of the other half and them-
selves; and could we contemplate the possibility of
a return to the primitive simplicity of our ancient
“ sires,” we must look in the same picture on one half
of the world as useless—as a drug on the face of crea-
tion. Why, what a desert would it be were all
dyers, fullers, cleaners, spinners, weavers, printers,
mercers and milliners, haberdashers and modistes,
silk-men and manufacturers, cotton-lords and fustian-
men, tailors and habit makers, mantuamakeis and
corset professors, exploded? We pass over pin and
needle makers, comb and brush manufacturers,
jewellers, &c. The ladies would have nothing to
live for; (for on grave authority it has been said,
that “ woman is an animal that delights in the toi-
lettethe gentlemen nothing to solace them.
“ The toilette” is the very zest of life with both ;
and if ladies are more successful in the results of
their devoirs to it, it is because “ nous sommesfaites
pour embellir le monde,” and not because gentlemen
practice its duties with less zeal, devotion, or assi-
duity—as many a valet can testify when contempla-
ting his modish patron’s daily heap of “failures.”
Indeed to put out of view the more obvious, weighty,
and important cares attached to the due selection
and arrangement of coats, waistcoats, and indispen-
sables, the science of “ Cravatiana” alone is one
which makes heavy claims on the time, talents, and
energies of the thorough-going gentleman of
fashion. He should be thoroughly versed in all its
This ever-revolving wheel is still turning; and
so all important now is the mode that one half of
the world is fully occupied in providing for the per-
sonal embellishment of the other half and them-
selves; and could we contemplate the possibility of
a return to the primitive simplicity of our ancient
“ sires,” we must look in the same picture on one half
of the world as useless—as a drug on the face of crea-
tion. Why, what a desert would it be were all
dyers, fullers, cleaners, spinners, weavers, printers,
mercers and milliners, haberdashers and modistes,
silk-men and manufacturers, cotton-lords and fustian-
men, tailors and habit makers, mantuamakeis and
corset professors, exploded? We pass over pin and
needle makers, comb and brush manufacturers,
jewellers, &c. The ladies would have nothing to
live for; (for on grave authority it has been said,
that “ woman is an animal that delights in the toi-
lettethe gentlemen nothing to solace them.
“ The toilette” is the very zest of life with both ;
and if ladies are more successful in the results of
their devoirs to it, it is because “ nous sommesfaites
pour embellir le monde,” and not because gentlemen
practice its duties with less zeal, devotion, or assi-
duity—as many a valet can testify when contempla-
ting his modish patron’s daily heap of “failures.”
Indeed to put out of view the more obvious, weighty,
and important cares attached to the due selection
and arrangement of coats, waistcoats, and indispen-
sables, the science of “ Cravatiana” alone is one
which makes heavy claims on the time, talents, and
energies of the thorough-going gentleman of
fashion. He should be thoroughly versed in all its