The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-07-29
Forms Made Beautiful.

make them look as though they had
good figures" said an elderly lady to a
repo, ter who had called at her COZ set
mandatory to learn something of her
art. Il doubt" she continued, "whether
anybody else than the doctors and the
corset-makers-and, perhaps, l might
even leave out most of the doctors-has
any idea of the extent to which curva-
ture of the spine prevails Well, if a
woman has backbone that is very
eccentric, and a PAIR of shoulders that
seem to have been borrowed from i'll
matched people, she cannot be expected
to advertise the unfortunate fact. She
comes to me, and l turn her out as
straight and beautifully nodded as Di-
ana. Where she has protuberant points
that mar the general symmetry of her
outlines, l repress them as far as pos
sible; where she has unsightly hollows
pad them out with the elastic white
horse-hair, or whalebone scrapin-S; her
shoulders l put in proper shape with
adjustable braces if she is too fat, at
least give symmetry to her excessively
liberal proportions, and if she Is too
lean, | round her cut to pleasing en-
bonpoin+ Mind, do not say that |
can make thoroughly bad figure q
thoroughly good one, but l DO pretend
to be able to improve all except those
whom nature has made perfect beyond
AL art-and even to them | can render
service by aiding the preservation of the
beauty of their figures. There are
many young misses who get round
shouldered from habit in sitting at their
studies mainly, and l have invented a
special corset for them to remedy that
defect-one which not only conceals the
deformity, but corrects it, giving them
naturally square and erect figure"
"Is there any established system of
rules for the shaping of corsets =
'Decidedlv, but to make perfect-ht
ting corsets the system has to have as
many variations as there are individual
figures to fit. Wholesale manufacturers
make and importers bring from France
thousands of dozens OF corsets, some OF
them very handsome to look at and
many of them pretty good. They will
fit more or less accurately, too, and are
most likely to Go so where the woman is
least in need e proper corset to cor
rect a natural or acquired deformity.
But there is as much difference really
between those corsets and one made by
an experienced artist-as | claim to be
to tit the particular person for whom
1t is designed, as there is between a
slop-shop assortment CT ready-made
clothing and the well-htsing suit OF
clothes made to accurate measure for
particular customer by a good tailor.
Why, | often have TO tit ladies who are
so crooked that | have got tc cut out
paper patterns on their backs and work
them up to ideal lines Of beauty, as you
may say. Now, what use to them would
oe corset made to tit the female world
in ordinary?'
MANY physicians say that corsets
produce deformities."
Improperly fitting ones, or those
worn too tight by foolish women, do !;
but | will not make corset to construct
the chest and compress the lungs, or to
pinch the waist to a purely Artificial
form. That is, from an artistic point of
view, as great an error as it is from
physiological one. Ny husband was
physician. | have studied anatomy,
AMI l have forty years experience in
corset making, so l do not make such
mistakes"
From what you say. one might
readily imagine that deformty is rather
the rule than the exception among
American women"
Then one would imagine great
mistake. When | first went into the
business for myself, 81 years ago, Amer
can women were, as a general thing,
lean, angular and badly shaped But
since then / have been able to note in
them wonderful improvement, until
now | believe they have finer figures, as
a rule, than the women of England or
France. Don't imagine that | am claim
ing the credit of that improvement for
my corsets Nature has done it. There
has been a perfecting of the physical
development of the race, in women at
least, though | fear it has not been so
apparent in men. We have fewer large,
fine-looking men now than we used to
have, 1 think, but our American women
are the finest in the world, in graceful
g eaxx.