Do you sometimes avoid dressing fashionably because you are afraid to appear a snob? This seems to have been a concern since before the United States was founded, and it was for that reason that the puritans all tried to dress alike. In the November 2, 1867 issue of Harper's Bazaar, there was an article entitled "Suitable Dress" that began like this:
"The uniformity of dress is a characteristic of the people of the United States. The man of leisure and the laborer, the mistress and the maid, wear clothes of the same material and cut. Political equality renders our countrymen and countrywomen averse to all distinctions of costume which may be supposed to indicate a difference of caste. The uniformity which results is not favorable to the picturesque, and our everyday world in America  has, in consequence, the shabby look of being got up by the Jews in Chatham Street and turned out in a universal suit of second hand clothing." Oh, my! That is harsh.

Nevertheless, Harper's Bazaar has a made a reputation for itself as the premier fashion magazine, not only in America, but throughout the world. Do you subscribe to Harper's?



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