ABSTRACT
The tube being formed to afford the highest degree of rigidity with given amount of material, has been adopted as the most suitable form for every part of man’s dress; top hat, collar, coat, cuffs, and trousers. Judging from the charming drawings in the fashion books, a new stove-pipe without a dent is the tailor’s ideal. The stove-pipe hat which bears so close a resemblance to its prototype is at the mercy of a shower of rain or of any chance blow. ‘The tube exactly excludes both these sources of beauty. It is not full enough to take any folds of its own, but it is just full enough to missal the lines of the figure.’ Decomposition has / set in. There is a something inside these hideous clothes: money-making machines, profit-grinding engines are there, but the spirit that lives and feels joy in life is gone. A brown leather boot, with plenty of room for the toes, is a sound and serviceable piece of clothing.
