Читать книгу The American Gentleman's Guide to Politeness and Fashion or, Familiar Letters to his Nephews - Margaret C. Conkling - Страница 8

Uncle Hal.

P.S.—In accordance with my promise, there follow the admirable directions and remarks of the elegant and obliging friend referred to in my previous letter. He will, I trust, permit me thus to tender him, renewedly, my very grateful acknowledgment of his flattering politeness, and to express my sense of the important addition made by his kindness to my unpretending epistles.

"My dear Col. Lunettes:

"I regard myself as highly complimented that so distinguished a representative of the ancien régime, as yourself, one so entirely comme il faut, as all admit, in matters of taste, should esteem my opinion, even in regard to minor points of etiquette, as worth his attention.

"I need scarcely add, dear sir, an assurance of my conviction of the honor you do me by affording me a place in your remembrance, and that I make no doubt your profound knowledge of the world, united with your unusual opportunities for extensive observation—long un habitué de belle société, in various countries, as you have been—will afford a rich treat, as well as much instruction, to those who may be favored with the perusal of your proposed Letters. That he may have the honor to be thus fortunate, is the hope of, dear sir,

"Your very respectful

"And obedient servant,

"————

"Belgravia, Tuesday Morn.,

"May 6th, '56."

Gentlemen's Dress.—The subject now to be treated of, may be divided into several classes:—morning, promenade or visiting, and evening or ball dress; which again may be subdivided into others, such as riding-dress, dress suitable for bachelors' dinner-parties, or opera (when unaccompanied by ladies). Besides these again, we have dresses suitable for fishing, shooting, and yachting purposes, which, however, scarcely call for, or admit of, the display of much taste, inasmuch as the occupations for which such costumes are designed partake rather of the nature of healthy exercise than of that quiet and gentlemanly repose necessary to give full effect to the graces of the more elaborate "toilette." Military, Naval, and Court dresses may also be considered out of the scope of the remarks in this letter, because their being made scrupulously in accordance with rigid Regulation Rules, leaves no room for taste, but substitutes the dicta of official routine.

To commence our exemplifications with a Wedding-Suit, which, from the wearer's approximate connection with the ladies deserves the "pas"—it may be remarked that the time of day in which the ceremony is solemnized should determine the character of the costume, that is to say, whether it should be morning or evening. In either case, however, general usage allows (not to say demands), a more marked style than is generally worn in morning or evening usual wear. Should the wedding take place in the evening, a very elegant costume is, a dark claret dress-coat, white ribbed-silk, or moire antique, waistcoat, white silk neckcloth, black trowsers, silk stockings, and shoes. The lining of the sleeves, also, of white silk, coming to the extreme edge of the cuff, imparts a singularly light and elegant appearance to the hand and glove. An equally elegant Morning Wedding-Dress might consist of a rich, deep-brown frock-coat; waistcoat of black cashmere, with a small violet-colored palm-leaf figure; neck-tie of silk, combining colors of black and cherry, or brown and deep blue; trowsers of delicate drab, or stone-color; gloves primrose, or slate-colored kid.

The usual Evening-Dress is so imperiously insisted on, that it might be almost classed in the category of uniforms, being almost invariably composed of black coat, vest, and trowsers. Two items, however, in this costume, admit of disquisition amongst "men who dress," viz., the vest and the tie—both of which may be either white or black, without any infraction of the laws of bienseance. This, therefore, must be settled by the taste of the wearer, who should remember that black, having the effect of apparently diminishing a man's size, and white that of increasing it, it would, therefore, be judicious for a person of unusual size to tone down his extra bulk by favoring black in both these garments, while he who is below the average standard could, if not actually increase his height or size, at least create the impression of more generous proportions. I, however, must confess a decided partiality for a white neck-tie, at least; because, although subject to the disadvantage of being de rigueur amongst waiters and other members of the Yellow Plush Family, it is, nevertheless, always considered unexceptionable, at any season, or hour, in any rank, profession, or capacity.

A Morning Call should be made in a frock-coat, or at least one in which this style predominates. It must, however, be constantly borne in mind that it is quite impossible to furnish even general rules on any one of these points that shall prove immutable, since not only each successive year, but every varying season produces decided changes in the standard established by Taste and Fashion.

Bachelors' Dinner-parties are pleasant, social reunions, at which gentlemen enjoy themselves with more abandon than would, perhaps, be considered consistent with the quiet and more retired respect due to the presence of the "beau sexe;" and, as a natural consequence, admit of a more négligé style of costume. Still, however, a certain regard must be had to the requirements of good society; and as many of these parties, when they break up, adjourn to the opera, or theatre, where they are pretty sure to meet ladies of their acquaintance, a costume half-way between morning and evening is, by tacit agreement, prescribed; for instance:—a coat of some dark color (generally termed "medley-colored"), cut rounded over the hips; black cap; inner vest, buttoning rather high in the breast; dark-grey trowsers, and black silk neckerchief, or ribbed silk scarf.

Instead of giving sketches of particular costumes, it would, perhaps, be better and tend more to develop the importance of dress, if a few remarks were made on the general rules which should guide one in selections for his own wear.

The four staple colors for men's wear, are black, blue, brown, and olive. Other colors, such as drab, grey, mixed, etc., being so far as the principal garments go, what are termed "fancy colors," should be very cautiously used.

As was remarked above, black has the effect of diminishing size, but it has another more important effect, which is to test, in the severest way, the wearer's claims to a distinguished appearance. It is a very high compliment to any man to tell him that black becomes him, and it is probably owing to this property that black is chosen, par excellence, for evening or ball dress. Men, therefore, of average or ordinary pretensions to stylish contour, should bear this in mind, and, when such color is not indispensable, should be careful how far they depend on their own intrinsic dignity.

Blue, of almost any shade, becomes a light complexion, besides being an admirable set-off to black velvet, which can, in almost all cases, be judiciously used in the collar, in which case, a lighter shade of blue (also becoming such a complexion) can be worn without killing (as it is technically termed), the darker shade of the coat—the velvet harmonizing both.

Brown being what is termed a warm color, is eminently adapted for fall and winter wear—olive and dark green, for summer.

When Beau Brummel was asked what constituted a well-dressed man, he replied, "Good linen—plenty of it, and country washing." This, perhaps, is rather too primitive. The almost equally short opinion of the French critic is decidedly more comprehensive—"un homme bien coiffé, et bien chaussé, peut se présenter partout." Under any circumstances, however, it may be laid down as immutable, that the extremities are most important parts, when considered as objects for dress, and that a well appointed hat, faultlessly-fitting gloves, and immaculate boots, are three essentials to a well-dressed man, without which the otherwise best constituted dress will appear unfinished.

Besides the necessity for the greatest care required in the selection of colors, with regard to their harmonizing with each other, and their general adaptation to the complexion or contour of the wearer, there is another matter of the first importance, and this is, the cut. Of course, everything should be sacrificed to perfect ease, as any garment which pinches, or incommodes the wearer, will strongly militate against the easy deportment of even the most graceful, and tend to give a contracted and constrained appearance. Every garment, therefore, should leave the wearer perfectly free and uncontrolled in every motion; and, having set out with this proviso, the artiste may proceed to invest his work with all the minute and seemingly immaterial graces and touches, which, although scarcely to be remarked, still impart an air or character, which is unmistakable, and is expressed in the French word chique.

Wadding, or stuffing, should be avoided as much as possible. A little may be judiciously used to round off the more salient points of an angular figure, but when it is used for the purpose of creating an egregiously false impression of superior form, it is simply snobbish. Some one has called hypocrisy "the homage which vice pays to virtue." Wadding is the homage which snobbishness pays to symmetry!

A well-dressed man will never be the first to set a new fashion; he will allow others to hazard the innovation, and decline the questionable honor of being the first to advertise a novelty. Two lines of Pope (I believe), admirably illustrate the middle course:—

"Be not the first by whom the new is tried, Nor yet the last by whom 'tis set aside."

Besides which he will find it far easier to become a critic than an author; and as there is sure to be a vast number of men who "greatly daring" dress, he will merely be at the trouble of discriminating which is worthy of selection or rejection; he will thus verify the old saw, that "fools make feasts and wise men eat thereof," and avoid, by means of his own knowledge of the becoming, the solecisms which are pretty certain to occur in a number of experiments.

Trinculo.