Page:Science ofDress183.png

CHAP XI.] travelling costume, devised by Mrs. Bishop, however useful it may be, is certainly far removed from the beautiful. It is made of dark cloth, with a skirt to the knees, below which appear a sort of Turkish trousers gathered in to the ankles and finished with senseless little frills pinked out of the cloth. But this kind of dress need not be either ugly or absurd. Mrs. Fleming Baxter exhibited one also intended for highland and mountaineering use, which is really charming. It is made of dark blue cloth with gaiters, knickerbockers, a skirt reaching to the knees, and a very pretty short coat like a gentleman's shooting-jacket, with a hat to match. This is a fair type of the kind of dress to which I now refer, and many similar ones have been seen at various times, differing in unimportant details. Dresses of this sort save the wearer from the friction and weight of long skirts, which form an impediment to the movement of the limbs, and are the means of wasting a considerable amount of energy. They, moreover, clothe the body evenly and warmly, and are comfortable as well as light. Thus, from a health point of view, these dresses are excellent. They are, more-over, extremely chic; but, unfortunately, they are attended with that great disadvantage inherent in all dresses of the kind—that those ladies who first were brave enough to attire themselves in this way would be called, not brave, but bold. The same objection applies to the costume made by Mrs. Louisa Beck, of 24, Connaught Street, Hyde Park; but in this case it can easily be removed, as