Etiquette and “Smart” Fashion

“Smart” gloves for “smart” outfits — Certainly nothing sounds more idiotic than the description of a coat or costume as “clever.” It is a complete misuse of the word. Smart, equally so in its real meaning, is similarly excused by usage. 

One Woman’s Viewpoint

“Fashion has the power to appear temporarily in the guise of beauty though it is the antithesis of beauty nearly always.” – Emily Post
Fashion is really not smart, nor clever, but it is oftentimes, thankfully, short lived.

Do you remember how we used to qualify a disagreeably bright child as a “smartie?” when we were all playing together in the childhood games of memory? Just as it appears to me that the adjective “smart” has by evolution, come to be applied to an overzealous fashion type. You go to buy a hat and something absolutely absurd in its freaked “out of the ordinaries” is brought out and commended to your favorable attention by being dubbed ‘‘smart.’’ 

If you wish to describe a circle of society as pre-eminently eccentric in entertaining fads, fancies, etc..., you speak of it as ‘‘The Smart Set.” Anything crazy or unusual indulged in by it, is condoned because it is “smart.” Some people even go so far as to dub gowns “clever.” This being the synonym of smart. Certainly nothing sounds more idiotic than the description of a coat or costume as “clever.” It is a complete misuse of the word. Smart, equally so in its real meaning, is similarly excused by usage. The “smartness” alluded to is, however, very apt to cross the line and get into the realm of freakishness. 

A woman, longing to be considered smart, buys unbecoming clothes because they are not what everyone else is wearing. I heartily approve of individuality. But individuality to excess, lacking the qualities of good taste and becomingness, is as much a breach of etiquette as loud laughter. You may attract attention, but it is not always of the kind that a woman should seek. 

To study a distinctive style is commendable. It will make even a plain woman more attractive than the pretty one who wears just the ordinary things that anyone can buy or make. A study of one’s own style in dress, in speech, in manner is worth while. But “smartness” as represented by an extreme accentuation of anything, proclaims a desire to attract undue attention, which in itself is a breach of good form. — “The Hostess,” 1912

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia