Sounds oh so Gothic to me. (everything old is new again...) Sheridan P. :-)
> > From: Gail & Scott Finke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 2006/08/25 Fri PM 10:16:06 EST > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [h-cost] Re: aesthetic dress > > > Lovely as it may seem now, aesthetic dress was considered strange and > subversive at the time. Gilbert and Sullivan had a great show (I have never > seen it, unfortunately) about the aesthetic movement -- "Patience; or, > Bunthorne's Bride." The heroine is a young girl who thinks she can't be in > love unless she's suffering, so she ignores the nice young man who loves her > in favor of the Oscar Wilde-ish poet whom she can't stand. Whenever she's > around him, she suffers, so she thinks she must be in love. During the > operetta, all the young soldiers give up their uniforms for velvet suits and > lilies, to catch the women who are swooning over poets. > > "When I Go Out the Door" is the final song describing the poet and the hero. > The poet is: > > "A most intense young man, > A soulful-eyed young man, > An ultra-poetical, super-aesthetical, > Out-of-the-way young man! > > and > > "A pallid and thin young man, > A haggard and lank young man, > A greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery, > Foot-in-the-grave young man!" > > Of course, the aesthetic folks didn't see themselves that way. > > There's also a great cartoon by G.K. Chesterton called "Vision in Bedford > Park." I can't find it online, unfortunately, but it's in the edition of > "The Man Who Was Thursday" published by Ignatius and annotated by Martin > Gardner. It shows a "pallid and thin" man carrying a lily and a woman in a > loose, aesthetic gown staring in shock at the shadow of a man in a > respectable coat, carrying a prayer book. The caption is "Bedford Parkers > see a Dreadful Vision of the Future: an old acquaintance going to Church." > Bedford Park was an artsy area of London where poets and the like hung out, > and Chesterton was an old "Bedford Parker" himself, before his famous > conversion, after which he preferred common sense and religious orthodoxy to > aesthetic movements, atheism, and intellectual fads. But his associating > aesthetic dress to these things gives you an idea of the way it was > regarded. > > Gail Finke > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
