St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-03-02
GIRLS IN Low-oUr GOWNS.
The Place to DratU the Ltne and By Whom
Tt should Be Dr0tUn.

1T NhOtlld Be DrGaCn.
Jennie June's Letter: Some heated dis
cussions have taken place of late in regard to
what constitutes full dress. 1t is undoubt-
edly true that the custom of wearing low bod
ices is extending and increasing in direc-
ton that is at least desirable-viz: among
young girls. Now, there is no particular
harm in the wearing of low, decently-cut
bodices. Forty or fifty years ago children
and young women wore them universally;
but there is harm in the wide difference be-
bodices which form mere strap at the waist;
there is immodestv in stripping young girl
so that the charm of her fresh young woman
hood is forever destroyed and her sense of
what is right and proper forever blunted.
Dressmakers are more at fault in the matter
than mothers, and could do more
to prevent fashion from proving snare.
They tell girls that it is pruGish and old
maidish to object to cut which leaves the
bust exposed, and that fashion leaders and
authorities wear them so, and so the mother
may utter her protest; she very often does,
but She is powerless before the combined in
iuence of the modiste and the desire of the
girl, just entering life, to represent the
latest style and show her pretty person to
advantage. Yet it not infrequently happens
that such exhibitions are not only sug
gestively indecent, but very unbecoming.
1t has been the fashion of late to leave the
edge of the low bodice at the neck quite
plain and bare, with nothing to soften the
line Of velvet or satin in its contact with the
skin, no matter what the color, whether
white or a dusky red. The softness of youth
and the grace of American beauty
triumph over very severe circumstances,
but the charm which they exer-
else is, in spite of the drawbacks, of
an ignorant caprice which calls itself fash
ion; not aided by it. There are soft satin
skins, so perfect in color and texture that
the rise of the neck and throat seems only
the continuation of the fine, firm body of the
fabric. But these are so rare as to claim and
receive exceptional honors and privileges
The majority requires a gentle medium to
soften lines and establish friendly relations
between any unyielding fabric and the
shrinking, sensitive, delicate skin, particu-
larly when the force Of color is added to
that of texture.
That exaggerations are not needed is evil
dent by the presence at every ball, at every
evening entertainment, of dresses cut low,
yet in perfectly unobjectonable manner.
They may be round, or square, or pointed,
but they are modest and womanly. Low
bodices are not necessarily Objectionable.
The latter NAV be cut square or heart-shaped,
and left open so low in front that almost any
low bodice would be raiment for a vestal
compared with it. There is nearly ALWAYS
more than one way Of attaining an object,
and if an exhibition of that kind is an OBJ
ject an cdict against low bodices would not
prevent it. What is needed is self-respect
enough among women to draw the line. and
not permit any imaginary authority to inter
fere to the discredit of their own judgment
and sense of propriety.