The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-03-25

| certain class OF reformerS have bent their
energies more or less for many years to
the destruction and exile OF this means
of grace" and with some success. i hid
eous garment, or, rather, an agglomera-
| ton Of garments, known as q dress re-
| form" or a combination, has been
| invented, and large class OF brave and
| determined women have worn them,
and some continue to wear them, but
whence the satisfaction they seem to de-
rive and the benevolent wish to induce
everybody else to follow their example,
never could understand. They certain
| ly lose in appearance, for l don't think
! the most rabid reformer can really pre-
| fer the bulky waists. the fiat busts and
| the queer look as if the woman and her
clothes were walking in opposite direc-
| tons, or as if the house were on fire and
| she had thrown some shapeless wrapper
! over her nightdreSs.
Of course, everybody comedies, in these
days of hygiene and common sense, that
a corset should never be worn tight
| enough to hinder respiration, even under
| violent exercise. It should never make
one feel it uncomfortable to throw ones
! self upon a lounge in the daytime, nor
| should it be relief to take it off at
night. 1t should be simply, as the old
fashioned name implies, stay to the
body, holding it in cOmely form and
making a smooth, harmonious surface
over which to fit the gown. And to do
| this properly the corset must be well
made and Of good material. Don't buy
poor ones, if you go without one of your
gowns to secure the price of good ones.
If you have naturally good figure
cheap corset won't fit you; if you have
poor figure no dressmaker can make it
better unless you give her a good corset
to fit over. Cheap corsets are always
straight up and down, scant in the bust
and hips, stiff and unyielding of fabric
and furnished with bogus bones that
warp and break at once. Leave every
thing under SO to the dress reformers as
objects of holy horror and whets TO their
appetites for anathema.
a caprice of fashion in these later
years has suggested underclothing and
corsets Of various tints and fabrics, cul-
minating in black silk. During one of
my visits to Paris I allowed myself to
be persuaded into buying some sets of
this black silk raiment, including cor
set, but did so merely to secure a me-
mento Of a vagary of the mode sure TO
soon pass away; for however pretty and
piquant rose, or blue, or scarlet, or black
may be in contrast with a soft, white
neck and arms, nothing satisfies the eye,
or soothes the conscience Of good taste,
like creamy white in cambria and lace
and embroidery. One, however, must
here make an exception in the matter of
hose, which should, to my mind, never
be white, unless in harmony with some
especial costume.
Boots, again, are a matter where one
may not judiciously ecOnonize. Be your
foot pretty or ugly, be sure you will
spoil it both as to appearance and feeling
by wearing cheap and therefore i'll fit
ting boots.
When have time I mean to devote
myself to the question Of why cheap gar
ments, corsets, shoes, skirts, gloves,
whatever you please, are always fash
Toned for i'll shaped forms. Why is it
not as easy to cut cheap shoe long and
narrow and with high instep as short
and wide and fiat? And so with all the
rest; you cannot economic on corsets,
shoes or gloves and be well dressed. And
one word more: If you have slippers let
them be chronic invalids, never leaving
the bedroom! 1t is very nice and com
Portable to have a pair to slip into as you
go to your bath or your wardrobe, or sit
at your toilet table at night. but there
ends their appropriate use. Well fitting
yet coy boots are the wear for every
other emergency Of life. They are the
most becoming of all foot gear; they
brace and protect the ankle, and they
are in the long run mo pun intended) far
more comfortable than slippers or low
shoes.
OF course they may be SO prettily and
delicately made as to suit the ARREST cos
tune, and when of that style are a fas-
cinating detail of dancing costume. |
remember a pair | had made of violet
silk to match q costume, which were
really l0ueS. And as a proof that good
and well fitted boots preserve the feet
from change or infirmity, l will mention
that my own have been made upon the
same last for twenty years without the
least change, and that can put on
new pair before breakfast and wear them
all day without once remembering them.
But they are good boots. So having dis
posed of what may be called the cont
Dental portion Of a woman's toilet, let
us consider those outward and visible
signs" by which the world will judge
whether she is well dressed or not.
As to material. So many women
seem to fancy that very cheap silk is
necessarily better than good wooden or
even cotton fabric. Now, it is not so;
and l always want to say as much to the
dear struggling souls whom l often meet
in much trimmed robes of that thin and
rustling silk which reminds one of dried
autumn leaves whirling along before
dusty breeze. Even such six costs quite
as much as good cashmere, or some one
of the hundred other varieties of soft
wooden fabrics, and the cost Of the cheap /
and snowy passementerie used to trim |
the silk would have provided enough /
good silk, or velvet, or handsome but +.
tons TO make the wool dress all that il
should be. Hero Is \ little secret: Any .
one accustomed TO think OF such things,