The National tribune., 1882-06-10
DEADLY WAYS OF DRESSING,

Journal
DEADLY WAYS OF DRESSING,
Crusade Against Cor,ets, Pettieoafs Tight Boots,
and Twenty ButtOned-GI0yes.
A lecture on the present style of dress was
delivered by Mr. Frederick Treves, at Ken
slngton, under the auspices Of the National
Health Society. The lecturer observed that
the primary objects of clothing to cover the
body and maintain it at an equable temper
ament, have little or no concern in some of
the dresses Of the period. In the low even
ing dress the arms, necks and upper part of
the chest and back are bare, while about the
lower eXtremities is accumulated a mass of
raiment that would garb a dozen children.
In the ordinary dress Of women little regard
Is had for maintaining an equable tempera-
ture of the body. The covering of the upper
part Of the chest above the line Of the corset
is very thin-perhaps that Of the dress only
| The region of the corset is reasonably COW
cred, while about the hips many layers of
clothing are massed. Thus the body may be
divided geographically into frigid, tenn
! perate, and torrid zone As regards tight
! lacing Mr.. Treves said if the most beautiful
female outline is that of young, normal,
| well-developed woman, then a narrow waist
| is hideouS. A miniature waist is a deformity
under any circumstances, and few deform-
tiles are pleasing. The waist is an infection
of the body between the lowest rib and the
hip bone. No normal woman is waistless,
! o1f ~ !
what on development. Children have nor
mally no waist, and tight laced child is a
gross and pitiable deformity. The normal
waist has circumference of about twenty
eight or twenty-nine inches; the elegant"
waist should be twenty inches; the waist
measurement of dressmakers' lay figures now
varies from twenty-one to twenty-five inches
Those who wish to improve their figures by
stays have before them the conceptions of a
twenty inch waist Venus. To the outline of
this hour glass they aspire. The normal
waist is quite oval; the fashionable waist
quite round. Women with miniature waists
who maintain that such waists are natural
to them, and are independent of art, must
have been born deformed. No person enters
this world with n ready made fashionable
waist. AS regards health, the tapering waist
is effected mainly by n compression of the
five lower ribs, these ribs being more mov-
able than all the rest. There is a popular
delusion to the effect that there is plenty of
empty space inside the body and into this
space the displaced organs are pushed in
tight lacing. Tight lacing means depres-
sion not of skin, muscle, and bone, but of
liver, stomach, and lungs. Even a slight |
amount of construction affects these organs
and stays that are by no means tight lessen |
the capacity of the chest for air. Post NOR
TENS on tight lacers show the liver deeply |
indented with the ribs, and more or less |
seriously displaced. The stomach is also |
commonly affected, rs, too, are the lungs. |
The diseases that commonly result are |
chronic dyspepsia liver arrangements, dis
turbances of nutrition, &c. Tight lacing, |
moreover, renders more or less useless the |
diaphragm, or principal muscle ofrespiration.
The breathing powers of the narrow-waisted
are always seriously impaired, and hence fol-
lows possibly the languor, the inability for ex-
tion, moreover, is intertered with, and GER
tain cases are reported of death from apoplexy
in young women who have tight laced. STAYS
injuriously affect the muscles of the back !
These muscles become wasted because their
function, that of supporting the spine, is
absorbed by the corset, and they exhibit the
usual changes of muscles that have been
long disused THIS the back is actually
weakened by the use of stays, and those
women who maintain that they cannot do
without the support of stays make use of
the argument of the opium-eater, who, after
having by indulgence developed craving
for the drug, asserts that he cannot do with
out it. Under no circumstances do young
girls require stays, and to the bulk of Young
women also the same remark applies A
modified corset, composed merely of some
stiff materials, and devoid of all bands and
etc, may be used by those who
incline to stoutness, or whose busts are
prominent, and by women who have been
mothers. Such a corset or bodice would
merely give that slight amount of support
required for comfort and appearance. The j
lecturer next referred to shoes and boots and I
denounced pointed toes and high heels. He 5
thought the amount of clothing usually
worn by women was too great, and that the
number of petticoats was often excessive.
These garments have for their primary OBJ
ect the protection of the lower extremities.
but if additional warmth is required for :
these parts surely the use of an extra petit !
coat or so is not the most sensible way of ;
it. Not only do petticoats add !
greatly to the weight of dress to be carried, 7
out they throw a very injurious burden on C
he hips around which they are attached. t
several petticoats suspended layer by layer t
bout the waist cannot have other than an h
INJURIOUS effect upon health, and the evil is o
specially obnoxious to young girls, in whom o
he hips are narrow and in whom the gar
nents cannot be properly supported without il
considerable amount of construction of the O