The psychology of dress / [Frank Alvah Parsons].

  • Parsons, Frank Alvah, 1868-1930.
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The psychology of dress / [Frank Alvah Parsons]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    came the principal thing, materials and trimmings being graded according to the wealth or whim of the wearer. If the new Republic sought to simplify dress or to reduce its cost, it failed. On the contrary luxury increased, display became a mania and the prole¬ tariat came again into its own with complete surrender to its new possibilities. Thus was firmly established the order in which we live, which has its advantages for those whose sense of humour is still alive. In a book published in New York about 1877 we find an attempt to awaken the new world aesthetic sense to its relation with costumes, and the injection of the moral element in the treatment of various items of personal adornment. The writer assures us that the art of dressing the head and the art of fashion are connected without being identical, and that in spite of this close association we may readily detect their differences. He writes also: “Like all other parts of her dress, a woman’s bonnet is an indication of char¬ acter, and this can only arise from its relation to senti¬ ment. Look at that nun who is passing by, devoted to charitable works, and who bears the name of the virtue she practices; she wears on her head a large white cornette, which conceals the profile of her face, only leaving the organs of sight, breathing, and speech uncovered; her hair is invisible, and even its growth is hid under the bandage across her forehead. Starched and stiff, this cornette expresses to herself complete withdrawal from the world. Its single fold has a pur¬ pose and determination; no hand has touched it. Its smooth whiteness is an emblem of chastity and purity. Look now, at a fashionable young lady of the present