ABSTRACT
The elements of clothing and of dress are distinct; not only that, but they even verge on incompatibility; the purpose of either is frequently best subserved by special means which are adapted to perform only a single line of duty. The origin of dress is sought in the principle of adornment. Under the patriarchal organisation of society, where the social unit was the man, the dress of the women was an exponent of the wealth of the man whose chattels they were. The cardinal principles of the theory of woman's dress are these three: expensiveness, novelty and ineptitude. Besides these three, the principle of adornment, in the aesthetic sense, plays some part in dress. It has a certain degree of economic importance, and applies with a good deal of generality; but it is by no means imperatively present, and when it is present its application is closely circumscribed by the three principles already laid down.
