The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-10-29
THE TAILOR MADE GIRL
A PRODUCT OF THE DRESSMAKER'S
ART IN ITS GLORY.

Not What They Seem, but the Fashion
able Women of the Metropolis and the
Resorts Are Very AttractiVe-A Small
Minority of Our Women.
"What superb figureP' exclaimed the
man on the veranda, as slender woman
with full, Junolike bust and magnificent
hips strolled down the lawn.
What a superb dressmaker she en-
ploysp' responded the wife at his SIDE who
had. with woman's quick instinct, noted
the scraggy throat above the stylish collar,
the thin, bony wrist beneath its weight Of
bangles, and drawn her own differences
The splendid creature turned and passed
! again. The figure was that of a goddess
fresh sprung from Jove himself. The face
thin, wrinkled and haggard, surrounded by
faded gray hair The wife smiled mali
cious 81 told you So" The man whistled.
Verify, the fashionable modiste deserves
place among the immortals not only for
artistic feeling in color harmonies and
combinations, but for the sculptor's cum
ming in the arrangement of lines and the
fashioning of shapes and forms The hui
man form divine is only clay model to
the artistic modiste. She presses it in here,
packs it out there, shapes it cleverly to her
liking. If she doesn't by taking thought
add one cubit to the stature of her model
she adds a most convincing and deceptive
semblance of it by the arrangement of
studied lines and draperies.
NEVER DAUNTED.
1t is unfortunate that the dressmaksr's
ideals do not coincide with those of undis-
puted artistic excellence; that they are in
spired by Noah's Ark wooden women
rather than by Phildean goddesses and
Grecian nymphs and sirens. The dress
makers modelling clay is cotton batting or
horsehair, or even the wooden shavings
known as excelsior. With it she works
her miracles. Are square shoulders the
fancy of the momenti All her women
have shoulders like cadets. Are hourglass
figures the thingi How uniformly she
produces them. Are English waists ''inl"
Her women out-EngliSh the English in
slenderness. Or are low busts desirableS
No woman comes from her hand without
the beautiful length of line from the point
of the shoulder to the bust curve The
only thing that really puzzles the artist of
the thimble and shears is hopelessly
stout woman. Flesh is aggressive and
combative; if pressed in here it will bulge
somewhere else with disastrous effect to
symmetry. But she doesn't quite lose
heart even at this, but laces it in, buttons
it down, shuts it in a compass of steel, and
if the model doesn't die, sends her out into
the world looking ten pounds lighter and
several inches taller than she is.
The first thing the dressmaker insists |
mn wit har xr5nf &c ba of -
particular fancy This corset is wonder |
ful and intricate arrangement, which gives |
the long, sloping waist curve to thin and |
plump figures alike. 1t rounds out the |
fat figure and binds in the stout one in its |
relentless ribs of steel, and woman, with |
her marvellous power of endurance, adapts |
herself to it with smiling grace, tucks /
away all the vital organs that should be
about her waist wherever there happens to
be most room, just as she packs her over
flowing summer trunk and shuts the lid
down relentlessfy upon its contents, learns
to get along with about half the allowance
of fresh air she should have and is happy
None of the once popular bust i'm
provers" of wire, haircloth, air cushions,
or curled hair are tolerated now. The
woman with no bust at all is the modiste's
delight, for she Is convinced that not even
the Creator himself can design such raw
Ishing curves and gracious slopes as she
can produce with her wadding and whale
bone. Just now the small, low bust is the
thing most desired, and very little padding
Is used save to fill hollows about the arm,
where it is literally supplied both at the
back and front. Hollow chests are made
10 look full and beautiful with layers of
Tadding cleverly pulled out at the edges
20 leave no creases where it terminates
Prominent shoulder blades and collar
bones are set in soft beds of cotton. Stop
ng shoulders are built up and when the
lress is finally finished, so sure is the dress
maker of the correctness of its cut that if
t wrinkles or puffs she stutfs the offend
ng wrinkles with cotton to change the
igure rather than disturb the, to her.
beautiful lines of the bodice.
Men talk learnedly of the wonderful i'm
'rovement in the physique of women, of
he benefits of physical culture, gymnastic
md outdoor exercises, and the dressmaker
miles rs well as she can for the pins in her
mouth, buys more cotton and wadding and
thinks
TRICKS OF THE HAIRDRESsER
1t must be admitted that less fake hair is
Vorn than in the days of chignons, but .
What is worn is better worn and more de- ,
eptive than ever before. The fancy for
ufiness and the art attained by the hair I
resser in producing it in straight hair do
way with the necessity of abundant
resses. But beware of the loosely coiled
not of hair with its escaping curls. Z
)on't set your affections upon it's perfumed G
rettiness, for ten to one if it isn't store G
air. And that little curl that always /
ais so softly against the white neck you 6
)ng 10 caress might come off in your hand G
-ithout shears and without agony to the q
cad 1t adorns. Fake bangs have pretty q
ell gone out, for with careful cutting and p
lrling most hair can be trained into a =
retty bang. But there are some tresses n
lat Will be perversely straight on warm
avs, and the naturally curly hair of some
Irl who can't afford to go TO the seashore .
adorns the straight haired girl
no can go.
Never Is the artifciality of the fashion
Die woman so apparent as when she goes y
nong her country friends. How slim and !.
raight and tall she has grown, how light Il
n foot In its perfectly fitting boot, how u
esh and seashell-ike her skin. how ex- u
lisitely neat and dainty the fit and fall Of ',
II perfumed gowns and manifest Her 4
vn youngest sister looks old and plain be- -
lie her; her figure is bad, her skin seems :,
arse and brown, and yet the country SIS =
r lives in the purer air and sunshine, y
'es to sleep earlier aud rests more in q 40
" than the city woman rests in a week. "
l. !