The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-22

sandaled feet But I do maintain that
the choosing and designing of what wa
wear should be as much a matter of art
HS the decoration Of our rooms or the
pudding Of our houses. We employ skill.
ca artists to design our buildings, to paint
our pictures, to fresco our walls. even to
furnish our homes and lay out gardens,
out Tor our personal adornment we give
out the job to sewing women, or fash
lohaDle dressmakers, mere mechanics
When measured by the standard of ART.
who have neither the training, education
nor ability to perceive the real signifi-
canoe OF dress. And the result Is that
our clothes are pieces of fashionable
potcnWork, the contemplation Of which
would drive an artist into Bloomingdale,
There was similar grotesque period In
American art, house decoration and land
scape gardening, but we are getting out
OF that now and there is no reason why
we should remain SO hideously clothed
But you would have to found a school
OF art for your dressmaking and educate
new set of artists protested the tall
or-made girl
Or course we WOULD but isn't 1t worth
1t? Besides regular art course the
school should teach the history of cos4
tuning, the national garb of the different
countries and how and why they were
adopted. If I should give a place to all
the leaders in the dress business. from
Mother Eve and King Solomon down to
Beau Brummel and WortlNto all the
men and women, in fact who have tried
to make clothing express something. The
study of individuals should be one of the
important subjects, and this could be
done by having regular models for in
struction. The height, size, complexion
and temperament should determine the
kind of dress to be worn Then the
character of gowns should be considered.
whether for morning, evening street, the
alter or office wear or for outdoor sports
and games. This would influence the
color, texture and style. After that the
gown should be worked out on a dis
tinctly artistic basis. That means on the
basis of health, comfort and beauty. An
artist will insist upon consistent pic
ture, and you can't harmonic beauty
with a pinched-in waist and a boiled
over figure effect such as dressmakers
adore.
There is a chance in this for the high
est art instinct, or genius, or whatever
it is that makes a great picture great
The moral effect would be tremendous.
Clothes are capable of making over a
woman's whole character. If she is bad
~ dressed she is so conscious of it that
she can't be anything else She acts at
her worst and creates an unhappy atmos-
phere that has depressing effect upon
all her associates. But to study her and
idealize her, just as portrait painters do,
and fit her with gown expressing the
result of it, is to raise her to that ideal
or toward it. Added to the conscious
ness of being enveloped in costume ex-
pressing something more than a check
and colored fashion plate, she would
enjoy the freedom of natural waist,
room to breathe in, the power of stretch
Ing up the arms or wriggling each toe
separately in her art boots-and what
woman wouldn't be better for it, morally
and spiritually. besides being a new wom-
an physically?'
Then the tailor-made girl, the frivolous
person, the business woman and the golf
girl nodded solemnly at each other and
repeated: Yes, it would be a great
thing"