The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-20

and Hygiene.
Copyright 1885.
New YORK, Aug. lS-Annie JennesS
Miller. the latest of the dress reformers, IS
watching for the ship of good sense u como
in, with the millennium on board, down to
tue Maine coast While pretty things in
silk and lace yet lay about her chamber in
process Of packing, l asked her how the
crusade came on.
She SAID;
''Tnere is ten times the interest in hygienic
dress now which found a year ago, espe-
cialy in the west
Mrs. Miller has taken up her abode per
rlanent!y in New York, and the poll 'hed
wood floorings, slken hsngings, the rare bits
Of color IN pictures and br!e-a-brac with
which she mas surrounded herself, made q
fitting background for the supple figure clad
in long, graceful lines Of yellow, shading
into more vivid tints, bringing out outlines
Of Greek grace, and setting oft the brown
hair. brown eyes and clear skin OF very
american piquaGcy. N =. Miller would b.
pretty woman dressed anyhow clothed &C
cjruiug 10 her particular hoy she Is beau
sifui. N lille she sits you say TO yourself
thar here is a woman VINO Is well; who . she
walks YOU know she is buoyantly we ]; il
she runs upstairs you 90 not even ask your
self Why she does not stop, put her hand
over her heart and palPltate.
30 YOU know" Mrs.. Miller began,
s'that in a year or two We shall
have in every state in the union
a body of women as compact and well
organized as the ". G.. 7. u. wear
lag healthy clothing and preaching it TO
others? Women ae beginning Of course
separately, but they are beginning also in
clubs. Dress clubs are forming all over the
COUNTRY Before Christmas there viii be, |
lopa, from 100 to $50 of them. Already
Ia sas has a dozen, Michigan has eight or
ten, California has four, Colorado has two,
Washington Territory has three or four,
Indianapolis has one, and great many
others are waiting for me TO organize
them.
The largest dress club, the one most thor
oughly organized and the first in working
order, is the Chicago club, which Is only two
or tn ee months old, but has more than 300
members. 1t has adopted a constitution
and bylaws, annexed itself as an auxiliary
t. the Chicago woman's club, hired com
Portable headquarters and arranged for
weekly meeting with a regular course of
study in physical science. Every member
pledges herself to wear only hygienic cloth
ing; nothing in tho nature OF a uniform
YOU understand, but such garments as com
understanding To supply themselves and
% convert others they VIII open salesrooms
for reformed underwear and a dreSsmak-
ing establishment where women can order
gowns. Some of the best known women OF
Chicago are in the movement and the energy
Cf tn club Is astonishing. The other clubs
formed are many of them social orgauiza-
tions simply, without any aggressive plan of
campaign, but the Chicago club will be a
model for other cities. When we have 300
such organizations carrying dress improve
ment into everyday life then sensible dress
won't look SO chimericaL
DO you look for any great or sudden rev.
olutionsF
''No; the hone of dress Improvement lies
in the e owing up of the young women
Wherever | go women meet me who say: |
have worn corsets almost from baby hood l
could never take them off. The Oberlin col
lage girls wrote TO me some little time ago
asking il / would help them de ism a col
lege gown which all their girl students
could wear"
''jiow many women have actually adopted
dress reform clothing"
III you mean how many women are to-
day wearing divided skirts under their
Eowas ard no petjcoatS there are several
thousands. Somebody said recently that
only twenty women IN the country wore
iegiettos. Now have reason TO know with
certainty that Mt least 5000 do. 1t is no
long ime since the most richly dressed
woman at grand dinner, a woman whose
point lace draperiss were worth hundreds OF
dollars, turned to me and whispered: i
am in g state of bliss, for the leglettes /
have on this minute are perfection. No
more pett,coats for mel"
evil you tell ME how you would dress a
woman to keep her or make her wellf"
Il would have no bandage whatever
oh bar let N iraf ha,
on snould be the prettiest knitted silk or
geuziest gassamer combination suit she
chose to don. Over this or next the skin, if
she wore no fiannels or substitutes for fan
nels in summer, should come the chelnisette,
which is chemise and drawers in one, and
which can be high-necked or low-necl1ed, of
cotton or silk, plain or embroidered, al any
woman fancies," and Mrs. Miller opened a
bureau drawer and took out something in
male blue suraA, with fairylike Stitchlngs
and edging of lace, filmy CROUCH to make
Tie lover of such like daintinesS pine with
envy.
'Outside of this come the leglettes, which
are the substitutes for petticoats and which
are made plain. of silk or wool, for winter.
For summer Turkish leglettes, or divided
skirts, of muslin, or sprah, or silk pongee,
look worry much like petticoats when worn,
hut are lighter. and gave one so much more
freedom of movement that in case of acct
dent the legletted woman can eXtilcale her
self from danger much more quickly than
She of the dragging skirts" More things in
surah were shown, exqusitely light, soft and
cool.
Then comes the gown. That must de-
pend from the shoulders and one gets tho
most artistic lines by hanging the draperies
on a princess gown form, but all the details
ere matters OF taste. Nothing would ever
make the ordinary basque aud skirt grace
full or diguified, but il a woman wishes to
follow custom closely she can faSten her
skirt on low-necked, sleeveless waist, SO
avoiding the belt at the waist line and then
put her basque over that"
"How much do your gowns weighg'
''From one to five pounds. Only che winter
dresses and a very few of those reach the
higher figure"
Mrs. Miller's summer wardrobe, which
represents some thousands Of dollars, illus
trates the results which woman of art in
stincts can bring about when she studies the
beautiful and the beautiful together. Not
one of the gowns which were going to
Maine with her confined or suggested any
confinement of the figure, and not one OF
them but was more graceful than if il had.
dinner gown which abounded in long
flowing curves that would have pleased a
Hogarth was in delightful combination OF
pale sea foam silk and dark green velvet
Opening in o narrow point showing a touch
of the throat, tho loose silk front fell to the