The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-02-14
Girls i'm LOw-Cut Gowns.
The Place to Draw the Line and by Whom
1t Should be Drawn.
From Jennie June's Fashion Letter.

From Jennie Junes Fashion Letter.
Some heated discussions have taken
place of late in regard to what consti-
tutes "full" dress. 1t is undoubtedly
true that the custom of wearing low
bodices is extending and increasing in
direction that is 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 between
basques cut high to the throat and bodi-
ces which form mere strap about the
waist; there is immodesty in stripping
young girl SO that the charm of her
fresh young womanhood is forever de-
stroyed and her sense of what is right
and proper forever blunted. Dress
s.'akers 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 prudish and
old-maidish to object to cut which
leaves the bust exposed, and that fash
ionable 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
influence of the modists and the desire
of the girl, just entering life, to repre-
sent the latest style and show her pretty
person to advantage. Yet it not unfre
quently happens that such exhibitions
are not only suggestively 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 exercise is in spite of
the drawbacks of an ignorant caprice
which calls itself fashion not aided by
it. There are soft satin skins, so per-
rect in color and texture that the rise of
the neck and throat seems only the con-
tinuation of the fine, firm body of the
fabric. But these are SO rare as to
claim and receive exceptional honors
and privileges. The majority require
gentle medium to soften lines and es-
tablish friendly relations between any
unyielding fabric and the shrinking, SEN
sitive, delicate skin particularly when
the force of color is added to that of
texture.
That exaggerations are not needed is
evident by the presence of every ball,
at every evening entertainment, OF
dresses cut low, yet in a perfectly un-
Objectionable manner. They may be
round, or square, or pointed, but they
are modest and womanly. Low bodi-
ces are not necessarily Objectionable
nor all high ones unobjectionable. The
later may be cut square or heart-shaped
and left open SO low in front that al
most 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 exhibit
ton Of that kind is an object an edict
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 interfere to the discredit of their own
judgment and sense of propriety.