Page:Book of Etiquette, Volume 2, by Lilian Eichler.djvu/178

154 In the world of good society, dress plays an important part in the expression of culture. There is a proper dress for afternoon wear, and another for evening functions. There are certain costumes for the wedding, and others for the garden fete. The gentleman wears one suit to business, and another to dinner. Where civilization has reached its highest point, there has dress and fashion reached its finest and most exquisite development.

But instinct can be carried to excess. Inherent love of beauty can be so abused that it becomes a sign of vanity. Fashion can be made a series of fads, and style an excuse for eccentricities. It is because men and women, and especially women, are so eager to adopt any new style creation offered to them by the vast army of "authorities," so impatient always for something new, new—that the dress of to-day has earned the censure of students of sociology. "Supply the demand" has ever been the slogan of the producers, while they strive in every way to increase the demand.

And yet, the study of dress is a beautiful one. Women are never so lovely as when they are dressed well. Men are never so attractive as when their garments are faultless. There is something romantic in the gown and veil of the bride, just as there is something delightfully refreshing in the sight of a young girl daintily attired on a hot Summer's day. There is poetry in dress, just as there is in a towering cathedral or in a well-molded statue.

One of the most important, in fact, the important principle of dress is harmony. Nature itself is a glorious example of all that is harmonious. Picture, for instance,