San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-12-29
HER sHApE is NEW.
The Up,to-date Girl Comes Out With a
Brand New Figure.

|
Have you noticed the girl with the
new shape? You men. mean. of
course, the girls know all about it, and
If they have not adopted 1t themselves.
they have at least seen evidences of ii
all around them, says a writer in the
New York Herald. They call it the
blouse effect" The men don't know
what to call it. They just stare and
try TO make up their minds whether
they like ii or not
As n matter of fact, it is one of the
most pronounced steps in the direction
of dress reform taken in many years.
At first glace, it doesn't seem so, for
the general effect is rather pleasing,
and most instances of dress reform are
hideous. | suppose if you were man.
and a man who is not particularly OBJ
serving, you are wondering what am
talking about. Well, I'll explain it to
you.
Come to think of 1t, it's rather deli
cate matter to exploit in cold. unre
| sponsive type. / suppose you mighl
say that it is a sort of getting back to
first principles, as far as the female
| form is concerned. You know for sew
| eral years past, the inclination has
| been to build up the figure from the
waist. Well, this is just the reverse
| The bust instead of being pushed up
into the neck is allowed to fall as ma
ture intended.
This gives Il somewhat fiat chested
appearance to a girl, but this effect is
offset by the loose blouse, which falls
in graceful folds about the waist. The
new shape is brand new. The autumn
girl this year, if she is up-to-date. will
come out as devotee of the new
shape, and pledge you my word, she
will enjoy more real solid comfort AMI
at the same time look better than she
has in any other costume.
AS far as the form itself is concerned.
aside from the outer garment the girl
will find that it is quite n near APP
proach to that of her great grandmOth
er. The autumn girl of last year looked
like wasp, with bust and hips as alb
normally large as her waist was alb
normally small. Compare her with the
girl Of this year. From the masculine
point of view--and, after all, it would
be folly to deny that the average wo
man dresses to please the men-the
matter is one for careful mental weigh
ing and deep thought.
The fetching qualities of the new
styles are probably not as potent as the
old. There is an absence of chic. But
at the same time there are many men
who admire simplicity and they will
unquestionably ho pleased.
The hourglass went out of fashion
some decades back. but its imitation
in woman's figure has just received
its congo, perhaps never to be recalled
TO popular favor. That old remark of
Enobarbus-yas it?-about Cleopatra.
that .'age cannot wither her nor custom
stale her infinite variety" which has
been worn almost threadbare by its APP
plication to every charming woman in
particular, and to the sex as whole,
still holds its Own-and we are having
variety. Whether the present variety
has come to stay, whether it is merely
a passing within or a stage in the evo-
luton of the modern woman, is the
question which is agitating the minds
of the modistes corset makers, and the
victims themselves.
IL you will take a look backward at
| the fashions of a year ago you will find
| that the old hourglass shape was the
idea most wildly presented to the
minds by the figure of the woman
| who paraded through the pages of the
| Journals of modes. Broad shoulders,
high bust, and broad hips, with a
waist which suggested the service of a
muscular maid, were the characters
| ticsof the model set before our admir-
ing and cumulative eyes.
Those who hadn't these beauties nat
urally supplied natures deficiencies
with buckram, croline and such prop
| critics of the modiste, and good iml-
tation of the real thing was achieved.
Big sleeves with ruffies and puffs gave
the shoulders the broad effect, braiding
and other decorations on bodices were
so planned as to give the waist trim
| and tapery effect, and the horizontal
| lines of trimming around the hips ad-
ded to the apparent width of the figure
| there.
| 1t is different no Miss Flora Nc
| Himsy'' may be a carelessly corseted
| and laced as of old, but no one knows
| it, Her blouse waist modestly and
! shyly conceals all lines OF the figure,
and the Venus of Milo and the woman
who is built on the plan of a post"
as some fiippant man expressed it, can
pass the same examination as to form.
To the slight woman and the figure
less one these bloses are godsend.