They also wore gay embroidered _obis_, or large sashes, which are put
on in a peculiar fashion. They are of great width, and are fastened
tightly round the waist, while an enormous bow behind reaches from
between the shoulders to far below the hips. The garments fit tightly
in front, while at the back they form a sort of huge bunch. On their
high-heeled clogs the women walk with precisely the same gait as
ladies in high-heeled boots. In fact, so exactly do the Japanese women
(you never see Japanese _ladies_ walking about in the streets)
caricature the present fashionable style of dress in Europe, that I
have formed a theory of my own on the subject, and this is it.
Some three or four years ago, among other proposed reforms in Japan,
the Ministers wished the Empress and her Court to be dressed in
European fashion. Accordingly a French milliner and dressmaker, with
her assistants, was sent for from Paris, and in due time arrived. The
Empress and her ladies, however, would not change their style of
dress. They knew better what suited them, and in my opinion they were
very sensible. This is what I hear. Now what I think is, that the
Parisienne, being of an enterprising turn of mind, thought that she
would not take so long a journey for nothing--that if the Japanese
ladies would not follow European fashions, at least European ladies
should adopt the Japanese style.
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