The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-11-14
LEGS VERSUS STOCKINGS.
How the Lately Developed Color
Theory Was Employed by a
Recent Committee on In
Observation-Disclosures
in Hosiery.
CourisY,Tonyual

great zeal mas been written OF late
about stockings, and n theory which gener.
ally obtains that a leg looks smaller in a
black stocking than colOred one. Specu.
lative minds have found an mex sustibIe
theme in the widely VARYING ed. cts of diff
rfereut stockings upon the same leg. con-
tending that their legs may BE- made plump
by judicious use of color. and a careful
disposition of lstii.dinal and longitudinal
stripe according To the necessities Of the
case. That q lex like Bernhard,'s, for in
stance, could borrow rotuEdi,y from bull
red, blocked blue and dull pink iretted
with gray; that Madame PATTI, whose
plump calves hang over her trim iittle
boots. finds salvation in ebony stockings"
While Materna considers longitudinal ribs
and dark colors her only haven of refuge.
THE msgnifyiug inHn, nee of angles, bars,
aud blocks" is rCommt pded to Margaret
Mather, and it is alleged that Kellogg
owes the taper Of her shapely ankles TO he
"frisze an'' DIDO style" meaning, of course,
the horizontal, decorated stripes in three
different colors.
Some have gone so far "a TO claim that
he misfortune Of bowlsgs may be ssgra-
waited into deformity, or reduced to an
almost imperceptible deviation from the
perpe ndicular by judicicus treatment and
careful study of effect When the fashion
OF wearing two stockings of different col
OTIS came IL II Was the signal fer numerous
quilts TO fall into line and tell what thew
knew ara much more that they inisgined
they knew aboat the Ell: Ct of the practice:
and Glars Belle committed h. rself 10 the ac-
copied theory by taking half . crlumn To
tell how E.uch smaller one oi the actresses
legs looked than the other, Wien one-half
her tights werc pink an the other half
| black. But then the things Clara Belle
don; know about women would fill VOL
umes. All these theories sound we'll, and
look plausible enough i'm a Column of fash
ion items, but they are not borne out bv
facts. Whatever Sarah may say to re-
porter conce: ncerning the relative value of
cOlors In her own case, she knows that sub
stan ial padding is the only remedy for at
| tennation, and the imputstion embodied in
the Kellogg system stands out a. a libel.
pure and simple. The truth is that the
whole stocking theory has been exploded
by recent investigation, the process and
result Il which have beeu kindly divulged
in the interest of truth and artistic accu-
rxcy
After listening for FIVE or sly wears TO the
twsdGle about stockings. Il. zen girls deter
mined TO make the experiment for them
selves, and lev weeks siLce, they assem-
bled by appointment, oh bringing her cd
tire stock of hosiery, locked themselves ia,
ard prepared Tor an exhaustive investiga-
ticn. A model was selected, and a black
stocking pat on one leg end retained per
mauently, and the other was Systematically
rUn through The seven primary colors. with
their innumerable shades and infinite COM
binations, beginning with the dark selicol-
ors and finishing with shell pink and cleo
frlc blue. There was no dis,irguishable
difference In the apparent size OF the limbs
while trying the browns, navy blues, and
dark grays and wines, and the eleven re-
naming gi,is who we're stationed al proper
angles Tor observation, were q unit on these
shades, but they split npon the ox-blood.
two pcrceiving diff. renee and nine failing
To- perc. i've 1t, and they went generally to
pieces on cadet blue with y broad decorated
stripe around the calf. Failing to come 70
any thing like an agreement the cadet blue !
was laid aside or future reference, and the !
jury passed To- the consideration of an old |
gold silk sprinkled over with ripe cherries |
Looks ut least an inch larger" said one, |
IS she rested h'r elbow on q bossock and |
her chin in her hsnd for an intent scrutiny. |
This time five saw a difference and six did |
not. At the electric blue they stood eight |
.or the theory and three against IL. bat |
when the shell pink Vas put ON they all /
agreed that the l. & i'm the black stocking
looked smaller than the other.
. Maybe il is smaller" said one.
"Sure enough, IL may be" said another
" let's measure it" 7
Whereup0n there was unanimous vel |
ior measurement. which was met by indi.-
hant CIRCUMSTANCES on the part nf the mod
el, and her assurance, oft repeated, that they
were OF one size. She was i'm the minority
and the Judges we're not to be diverted from
the real Issue. A measurement was imne-
dialsly taken and developed a variation OF
at Toast half an inch in size, showing the
Ixg in the white stOckin: to be that much
larger. The entire party we're then meas
nred. and this brought out the fact that out
of twelve pairs of representative legs, Sc
ected at random, eleven pairs showed
difference i'm lie of from One-eighth
II an inch to an inch in circum-
ference, and that only one pair of
he whole dozen was available for expert
nent. The trying-On was resumed, and
his time even the cadet blue, with its dado
Il daisies on 4 wine-colored ground, failed
10 bring out difference of opinion. 1t
ook about day to decide the question,
cut it was set permanently at rest, and
here are at least ten young women who
will hereafter scout the color theory.
An actresses stockings are generally con- .
'idered public property and are AS freely
discussed as the Egyptian policy or the
Nickel Plate railway, and there is scarcely
my we'll known actress or prima donna
whose stock of hosiery is not invOiced
Yearly. II is said Of Mary Anderson that
he is on the stocking question what bib
iomaniac r. on books. She has about a =
on, all told, plain, clicked and exquisitely
that have been gathered from /,
Ill parts OF the world, and purchased at
abulous expense by private costumer.
Cary shows bias in favor OF dull gray,
brown and blue, picked out with bright
e. x-.l9 - \