The dictionary of daily wants / [Robert Kemp Philp].

Robert Kemp Philp

Date:: [1861]

Credit: The dictionary of daily wants / [Robert Kemp Philp]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

44/1152 page 34

$The clothing of infants demands the ^eatest i attention, for their organs and functions are ; so feeble as to be liable to serious and even j fatal consequences from any sudden or : undue exposuie of the body. The clothing of \ the aged should also be of warm materials ■ and of sufficient quantity, as a sensation of | coldness is inseparable with the decline of life, and artificial means are therefore needed to supply the place of the natural warmth. Cleanliness in apparel is necessary both to comfort and health; linen should be changed three times a week, and flannel once; and where washable clothes are worn in summer they should undergo that process every month or six weeks. Apparel, as appertaining to female attire, will be treated separately. See also Boots, Coats, Hats, Shirts, Trousers, Waist- coats, &c. APPAKEL, Female, from its veiy nature and fashion, favours elaboration and the exercise of the decorative art. Indeed, fe- males are permitted and even expected to bestow such an amount of care and attention upon attiring their persons as will tend to render them the charm of the household and the ornament of society. Ho female, there- fore, need despise studying dress as an art: by which we mean that exercise of taste and judgment which teaches what style and colour of dress is most becoming to the figure^ nice, age, etc., and also what fasliions and colours best blend and harmonize with each other. The following rules illustrating this subject may be confidently relied on and advantageously applied. Short females should not wear flounces to their dresses, because the undue breadth which it gives to the lower art of the person tends to diminish its eight. For the same reason they should not wear large check patterns or stripes running round the dress. Tallfemaks, as a matter of course, may wear their dresses on principles diametrically opposite to this. Stout females should wear dark-coloured dresses, and simple patterns, ns they di- minish the apparent size of the figure; the skirts also should have few or no flounces except where the figure is above the ordinary height. Thin females should wear light- coloured dresses, and patterns displaying breadth of design, such as large checks, broad stripes, &c.; flounces may also be freely adopted, as they serve to diminish the angles of the ligure, and to impart a certain degree of rotundity. Young females have a wide latitude allowed theni for dress; gayer colours and more fancil'ul styles may be indulged in, so long as they do not amount to over-dressing or unsuitableness. Klderlg females should attire themselves in a neat quiet manner; the materials of tlieir dress should be substantial, the colours dark, and the design small. Above all things Ihey should avoid a juvenility of style, since, instead of making old people look younger, it has an immediately opposite effect, and only serves to bring out more prominently, and to contrast more painfully, the youth of the dress icith the age of the wearer. Dai k females look best in light colours, which supply aj pleasing contrast to the complexion, or in yellow, which sheds a subdued violet hue favourable to brunettes. Fair females appear to the best advantage in black, on account of the contrast which is derived Irom it; or in light green or sky blue, both of which colours possess the power of imparting to pale or fair complexions what are called complimentary tints. The science of colour, as it exercises so im- portant an influence on personal attire, ought to be studied much more carefully than it is, for it is no uncommon thing to meet females M'hose costume creates an unfavourable im- pression, simply because the colours of the various articles of the dress have been selected without the slightest regard being paid to their harmony with each other, this reciprocal agreement of colours is based upon certain laws of harmony, rela- tion, and contrast, thus: red has an affi- nity for green, blue accords well with yel- low. white with violet, black with white, violet whh yellow, and 6/ue with red. To a.scertain what coloui’S will harmonize with each other, the following simple plan may be adopted. When making a dress or other article, cut a piece of it of the size and shape of a large tvafer, and lay it on a black ground; look on this tor a few seconds either by the light of the sun or candle, then suddenly turn the eye on to a sheet of white paper, and the tint which presents itself will indicate the colour that will harmonize best with the ai-ticle being made. We now come to the suitability of dress gener~ ally, in regard to which it may be safely laid down as a rule that the style universally regarded as the most becoming is that which is elegant without being gaudy or ostenta- tious, and simple without savouring oi prudery or affectation. Extravagance or singularity of design, large staring patterns, and a profusion of gay colours, instead ot being agreeable are positively repulsive to the eye. 3Iany females appear to labour under a delusion in this respect, and when dressed in this grotesque fashion imagine that because they are stared at they are admired, whereas if they could but hear the comments which these vagaries provoke, they would not be long in exchanging their style of costume lor one of a totally different nature. As personal ornaments may be considered a part of dress, a few hints respecting them will not be unacceptable here. In tlie first place, all ornaments should be made of those materials of which they are supposed to consist; mosaic jewellery in place of gold, paste insteiid of diamond, and numerous other substitutions, are paltry artifices wliich no person of respectability or good taste woidd descend to. In most cases they fail to produce the effect intendc'd; their very lavishness, taken in connection ivith the wearer’s means, beuet suspicions of their genuineness; tuid when they are at length detected, the exposure only cau.ses discom- fiture. In the second place, a profusion of ornaments, however valuable they may be, are not to be approvcil of. Such a profuse indulgence appeal’s like an endeavour to$

The dictionary of daily wants / [Robert Kemp Philp].

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