No Dressmaker Is Now Considered
Orthodox Who Cannot Show A Prefix Of Madame, And The Rage For Foreign
Materials And Workmanship Of Every Kind Is As Ludicrous As In England.
Although the deception practised is very blameable, there is some comfort
in knowing that large numbers of the caps, bonnets, mantles, and other
articles of dress, which are marked ostentatiously with the name of some
Rue in Paris, have never incurred the risks of an Atlantic voyage.
But
however unworthy a devotion to fashion may be, it is very certain that the
ladies of New York dress beautifully, and in very good taste. Although it
is rather repugnant to one's feelings to behold costly silks and rich
brocades sweeping the pavements of Broadway, with more effect than is
produced by the dustmen, it is very certain that more beautiful
toilettes are to be seen in this celebrated thoroughfare, in one
afternoon, than in Hyde Park in a week. As it is impossible to display the
productions of the millinery art in a close carriage in a crowd, Broadway
is the fashionable promenade; and the lightest French bonnets, the
handsomest mantles, and the richest flounced silk dresses, with jupons,
ribands, and laces to correspond, are there to be seen in the afternoon.
Evening attire is very much the same as in England, only that richer
materials are worn by the young. The harmony of colours appears to be a
subject studied to some purpose, and the style of dress is generally
adapted to the height, complexion, and figure of the wearer.
The figures of the American ladies in youth are very sylph-like and
elegant; and this appearance is obtained without the use of those
artificial constraints so justly to be condemned. They are almost too
slight for beauty, though this does not signify while they retain the
luxuriant wavy hair, brilliant complexion, elastic step, and gracefulness
of very early youth. But unfortunately a girl of twenty is too apt to look
faded and haggard; and a woman who with us would be in her bloom at
thirty, looks passée, wrinkled, and old. It is then that the sylph-like
form assumes an unpleasant angularity, suggestive of weariness and care.
It is remarkable, however, that ladies of recent English extraction, under
exactly the same circumstances, retain their good looks into middle life,
and advancing years produce embonpoint, instead of angularity. I was
very agreeably surprised with the beauty of the young ladies of New York;
there is something peculiarly graceful and fascinating in their personal
appearance.
To judge from the costly articles of jewellery displayed in the stores, I
should have supposed that there was a great rage for ornament; but from
the reply I once received from a jeweller, on asking him who would
purchase a five-thousand-guinea diamond bracelet, "I guess some Southerner
will buy it for his wife," I believe that most of these articles find
their way to the South and West, where a less-cultivated taste may be
supposed to prevail. I saw very little jewellery worn, and that was
generally of a valuable but plain description. The young ladies appear to
have adopted the maxim, "Beauty when unadorned is adorned the most." They
study variety in ornament rather than profusion. "What are their manners
like?" is a difficult question to answer. That there is a great difference
between the manners of English and American ladies may be inferred from
some remarks made to me by the most superior woman whom I met in America,
and one who had been in English society in London. In naming a lady with
whom she was acquainted, and one who could scarcely be expected to be
deficient in affection towards herself, she said, "Her manners were
perfectly ladylike, but she seemed to talk merely because conversation was
a conventional requirement of society, and I cannot believe that she had
any heart." She added, "I did not blame her for this; it was merely the
result of an English education, which studiously banishes every appearance
of interest or emotion. Emotion is condemned as romantic and vulgar
sensibility, interest as enthusiasm."
The system which she reprehended is not followed at New York, and the
result is, not that the ladies "wear their hearts on their sleeves for
daws to peck at," but that they are unaffected, lively, and agreeable. The
repose so studiously cultivated in England, and which is considered
perfect when it has become listlessness, apathy, and indifference, finds
no favour with our lively Transatlantic neighbours; consequently the
ladies are very naïve and lively, and their manners have the vivacity
without the frivolity of the French. They say themselves that they are not
so highly educated as the ladies of England. Admirable as the common
schools are, the seminaries for ladies, with one or two exceptions, are
very inferior to ours, and the early age at which the young ladies go into
society precludes them from completing a superior education; for it is
scarcely to be expected that, when their minds are filled with the desire
for conquest and the love of admiration, they will apply systematically to
remedy their deficiencies. And again, some of their own sex in the States
have so far stepped out of woman's proper sphere, that high attainments
are rather avoided by many from the ridicule which has been attached to
the unsuitable display of them in public. The young ladies are too apt to
consider their education completed when they are emancipated from school
restraints, while in fact only the basis of it has been laid. Music and
drawing are not much cultivated in the higher branches; and though many
speak the modern languages with fluency, natural philosophy and
arithmetic, which strengthen the mental powers, are rather neglected. Yet
who has ever missed the higher education which English ladies receive,
while in the society of the lively, attractive ladies of New York? Of
course there are exceptions, where active and superior minds become highly
cultivated by their own persevering exertions; but the aids offered by
ladies' schools are comparatively insignificant.
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