The Oregon daily journal., March 22, 1908, Page 29, Image 29

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MACAZIMEtSECTJOM THREE
PORTLAND, ; OREGON; SUNDAY HORNING, MARCH 22, 1908
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MAGAZINE 'SECTION TUESE
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WHS country, holds Scqte of men-
ivho dress on a fortune a-year. , -
holds scores more whose
attire costs them,' annually , thc bigger frac
tion of what would be a competence to the
tiverage citizen.
And it holds same hundreds, taking in
"the really well-dressed then resident in the
large cities, ' who:, spend above $5000 a
year for their raiment and are calmly un-,
conscious of the fact that other men, who
are not poorly dressed in the common ac
ceptation of the phrase, would consider
them extravagant.
They think, simply, that the man who
dofsn't spend as much as they do may be
respectable, but he is not the really well
clothed man. And, as the scale of expendi
ture rises, those nearer its apex in turn
look down upon their; emulators.
But they, themselves,' have no very
. keen sense of vanity or delight in the splen
dor of their attire. Indeed, splendor is the
last, the ultimate horror in dress which the
gentleman eschews. They merely fed that
they can, afford h to.be properly dressed and .
they commiserate, perhaps, the unfortu
nates who can't.
So, discarding the terms "well dress
ed" and ''poorly dressed," it may be perti
nent to inquire, modestly:
How mucht does tt cost the man, every .
year, who is properly Jressedf,
N d. DOUBT, what with two. new hats a
year, two pairs of ehoes, a couple of
suits, half a dozen or bo of shirts, two
or three suits, of underwear, a dozen collars
and a few ties, an overcoat and a couple of
pairs of gloves, whole male populations manage
to pass muster at a total ' expense . of $100 a
year.
Arid large coteries, bound to be "swell"
dressers, manage to permeate the atmosphere
with radiant penumbras at the rate of $500 a
year, while dazzled femininity looks on admiring
ly and gives them credit for every dollar of it.
But this distinction of being properly
dressed can be allowed neither to the barbarian,
whose native bent toward violence, is prone to
affliot the eye, nor to the-poor gentleman, whese
taste, discretion and care join in making him
at least presentable. r .
Nor' is there , any golden mean. A man is
either: properly dressed or he is not properly
dressed, with some vagarious, awful examples
among tho "gent" class who are improperly
dressed. , -
Thomas W. Lawson,. his proverbial com
posure and mildness of soul perturbed by some
foreign criticisms ma.de in the unregenerata
.West, retorted recently from Boston with a de
fense of his duds that left Chicago gasping in
anxiety over its comparative nudity and mado
the famous-Oak Park champion, John-'Farson,
jrery nearly take the count. 5
Employing the same non-comhustabla bxsaui
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of pen with which he excoriated his erstwhile
associates in financo, Mr. Lawson remarked:
"I have mado for me each year fifty-two
complete suits of clothing, one for each week in
. the year; twelve evening suits, one for each
- month in the. year; and an overcoat for each
week in the year, each with hats, boots, gloves
and underclothing to match."
The inference, that Mr. Lawson is an advo
cate of tho grandmotherly precept as to the
mortal danger of changing underwear more
frequently than once a week, would work him
- injustice, because he goes on to explain :
"For thirty years I have had my hosiery
and underclothing hand embroidered with the
week and the month day, to coyer the entire
Beason."
The period he names makes it apparent
that he emancipated himself into clean under
wear as soon as he arrived at manhood's stage
and could be his own master, which is greatly to
his credit., But it did not necessarily fix his
position as a glass of fashion or a mold of
form.
It merely settled the fact that Mr. Lawson
owns enough elothes' to be properly dressed $
their cut and their quality1 are quite other mat
ters. . Chicago's Mr. Parson, urged' on Fame by
local partisans who rejoice in donning ear-
muffs when they come within hearing distance
. of his raiment, is an enthusiastic investor in
white "Prince Alberts," gray Tuxedos and al-:
bino "dress suits."
He is. emphatic in the use .of the word
"waistcoat" still referred to, as the "vest" in
some districts of Pennsylvania, Illinois and the
Klondike when he exhibits tho diamond but-,
tons that adorn the multitudinous pulchritudes
of the varieties ha possesses. ' A "dross suit"
corresponds to tne evening, cwtnes. worn , by
vnUixn: "Prince, Albert" is donukrJbr
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known as the frock coat. No one will hold
against Mr. Farson bis penchant for phraseolo
gy of the era of Ward McAllister, in the. light
of his apostleship to modernity in "waistcoats.
But the man , who . aims ' to be properly
dressed the man who will concede that Bos
ton's Mr. Lawson has enough for the purpose
is fain to conclude: that" Chicago's Mr. Farson
appears, to have too many. Given .sufficient
cash, or credit, it is fatally easy to be improp-'
crly dressed. " ' i '
Thejlain fact is, that the social conditions
of the United States afford few opportunities
for the picturesque; no one can be an innovator
and fail' to-be bizarre. '
In Europe, a Kaiser Wilhelm may own a
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forms, with naval gorgeousnesses that relcgato
Solomon in all his glory to the ranks of the
simply well-dressed elite; and even the rapier
tongued Olemenceau, in hypercritical Paris, can
find nothing to cavil at.
King Edward, in England, abandoned to
the exalted hors concours of royalty after set
ting men's fashions for half a century, can
change from his beloved tweeds to his well-beloved
robes of ermine; and, a devout court will
acclaim him the pink of perfection, whatever ho
wears. ; '
Alfonso, juvenile monarch and parent in
Spain, can don anything, from a plaid walking
coat to tho uniform of a major general. Ma
drid lauds his. gallantry toward his English
queen as sincerely 'as it praises his effulgent
patriot. - .
In the next stratum, the dukes of Marl
borough and of Manchester, Captain Cornwal-lis-West
even Boni de Castellaue, in the days
when his income was more than sufficient for
the chewing gum required to supply the needs
of his encounters with th? prince, his cousin
find occasions when - the strict severity of
the modern garb is tempered to man's innate
tendency toward some fuss . and fine f eathersr, .
But, in America, the limit, is always here,
inexorable. Clothes for -functions and diver
sions of all sorts, oh, yes ; but the cut and
color of all of them prescribed, as though by the
Mcdes and Persian, or; by. the infinitely more
particular sumptuary laws; of medieval times, '
JiA MbMinal whole nation to 'shave off
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its mustachios between a single sunrise and
sunset.
That is why as between tho devil of in
adequate dressing and tho deep,, deep sea of
improper dressing so few American men can
I justly be acclaimed as being properly garbed.
I George J. Gould, tho Vanderbilts, Alfred
and William, in New York; James Hazon Hyde
and Charles Dana Gibson, in less or more
active' retirement abroad, ' and, in Philadelphia,
Alexander Van Eensselaer, General Edward de
V. Morrell and .'A. J. Drexel Biddlo these,
with some few. others, are conceded to be im
peccable in their attire. : :
Their perfection docs not necessarily pre
clude a fair degree of propriety on the part of
those who find a dress outlay of $5000 sufficient
for the year; but it does leave them in a class
apart, conspicuous in their isolation.
Yet, without going to the extent, of dis
bursement that characterizes some few, a man
.can enjoy an. ample and .proper . habiliment
which excludes tho-Kussian sables that bring
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the cost of a smgle coat high, ia th thousands,
even as 'he - caa be temlnentry'. correct jrr th
motoring lass without beggaring himself ia
mgn-priced machints. ,
, puffident- tnat in' iSatha buy fi ?
derbies a.year; -at $4 or $5 apiece $20- will U
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