is the primary demand; and _the dress that appears
uncomfortable is untasteful_.

"But in the secondary function of dress, ornamentation, there are
several diverse objects to be attained--dignity, grace, vivacity,
brilliancy, are qualities distinguishing different individuals, and
indicating the impression they wish to make on society, and are
expressed by different combinations of the elements of beauty, line,
or form, and color. When the appareling of the outer being is in most
complete harmony with the mental constitution, the taste is fullest."

III.--THE ART OF DRESS.

True art adapts dress to its uses, as indicated in the foregoing
extract. It is based on universal principles fundamental to all art.

The art-writer already quoted says, very truly, that "Dress is always
to be considered as secondary to the person." This is a fundamental
maxim in the art of costume, but is often lost sight of, and dress
made _obtrusive_ at the expense of the individuality of the wearer. A
man's vest or cravat must not seem a too important part of him. Dress
may heighten beauty, but it can not create it. If you are not better
and more beautiful than your clothes you are, indeed, a man or a woman
of straw.

The next principle to be regarded is the _fitness_ of your costume, in
its forms materials, and colors, to your person and circumstances, and
to the conditions of the time, place and occasion on which it is to be
worn. Fashion often compels us to violate this principle, and dress
in the most absurd, incongruous, unbecoming, and uncomfortable style.
A little more self-respect and independence, however, would enable us
to resist many of her most preposterous enactments. But Fashion is not
responsible for all the incongruities in dress with which we meet.
They are often the result of bad taste and affectation.

The first demand of this law of fitness is, that your costume shall
accord with your person. The young and the old, we all instinctively
know, should not dress alike. Neither should the tall and the short,
the dark and the light, the pale and the rosy, the grave and the gay,
the tranquil and the vivacious. Each variety of form, color, and
character has its appropriate style; but our space here is too limited
to allow us to do more than drop a hint toward what each requires, to
produce the most harmonious and effective combination. In another
work,[A] now in the course of preparation, this important subject will
be tre