The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-10
WOMAN AND HER FIGURE.
ONE EFFECT or THE SPREAD o.
THE GERMAN CORSET.
Il Carries small waists and Unsraosfai Lines
whore Its Cheapns.s Sells t-Nst Popular
Here-The Advantage Of the Dressmaker-
Nh Ineresse OF Drinking Among women.

No Increase OF Drinking Amons women.
One rarely looks for news OF the fashions In
a consular report. but there are grounds for
satisfaction In the announcement which comes
thus in offcial form that German corsets are
no longer so popular here "a they were several
years ago. II Is not advantaae ous TO the women
OF other countries that the corset OF German
make has already become 10 popular among
them that IL has driven out all local makes In
places where the less expensive kinds are bought.
Between forty and fifty thousand women were
employed in the corset factories OF Hesse-Nas-
sau, Berlin, Hamburg, Saxony and Wurtem-
berg Ave years ago. Even last year 7+,SiS
pounds Of German corsets- they are alw rays
estimated In pounds were brought to this
country. as against l,0es. 772 pounds sent from
Germany to England, 23s. S37 TO Hollan and
las. 800 to Switzerland.
II the German corset Is TO spread over the
world 1t Is encouraging TO know that the ns-
ures OF American women are not TO be distorted
into the strange lines that conform with the
German ideas Of beauty. These lines are dis
tinctly at variance with the ideas that obtain
now In this country and are completely at
variance with the ideas Of the corset that are
most popular now. II will be observed that
France does not figure In the list OF countries
to which the German corsets are exported. and
something besides patriotism 10 undoubtedly
responsible for that. IL Is the question OF
taste that undoubtedly keeps the German
corset beyond the frontier 1t Is impossible
to imagine that a French woman would con-
sont to have her appearance spoiled a. 1t would
be. by the outlines Of the German corset.
These corsets are made to produce a figure that
conforms only to the most arbitrary idea. Be
fore 1t became questionable to have small
waists II was the desire of every woman, and II
In a measure continues so to-day, to have her
waist look small when she was viewed from
the front or back. The German idea. judging
by the corsets manufactured in that country.
is to make a woman look thin when viewed
in profile. SO the corset is drawn 80 tight
that life must be diflcult and health out Of the
question merely that the waist when viewed
from the side may look as narrow as possible.
This would never appeal to the taste Of any
other country.
1t is the cheapness Of the German corset
which has had more than anything else TO do
keepers who handle them here that German
corsets possess greater strength than those
made anywhere else and that element has made
them popular with persons who buy cheap
corsets, They would have to be capable Of
withstanding a great strain 10 be service4ble
In their own country. German women lace
more tightly than those Of any other nation.
English women OF fashion pinch in their waists.
class do not. French women. In spite OF the
impression TO the contrary. are not as a rule
tightly laced. French dresses are never made
10 fit tightly, and that is in itself sufficient evil
dence that the corsets are not drawn to an
uncomfortable extent.
One Of the French fashions which frequently
prevents an understanding between the Paris
and her American customer ts
10 have these loosely fitting waists that
are regarded BY French women as the only
~corsets, so much praised, are quite different from
the French. They are drawn tight and the
effect il to make the women look as II they had
the eccentricities OF outline 10 be discovered
in the German ~corsets. although the women
Of Austria and Germany are equally addicted
to tight lacing. III in the latter country that the
hardest-worked household drudge. restaurant
waitress or ~shopgirl goes about her task SO
tightly e~ncompassed by her stiff. hard corset
times as difficult by her manner OF dress. Yet
she would not give up for anything In the world
that modish waist which her corset supplies.
be ruined. but she Is sustained BY the conscious
ness that she Is as tightly laced as any princess
In the land.
It viii be very difficult to persuade most
women that the dressmakers need to be pro-
tected against them. The women feel that the
ou'O'Hho'S io"'' e'"hu III "oVu VI 'oi'o nie"''
Of protecting themselves against the Dress
m.u o,woys ~. raaoh.d ,hro,ah ~. oorrts
may always DC reacheu through INC cour0S
and they have never found that the dress
makers were slow in taking advantage OF this
me'hoo o' rei'e'' me oressniaher oah always
recover her due when the purchaser has money,
| and the percentage Of bad debts in the accounts
-, ,oshio,,hlo Sou wi, dssma,.r 10 suou
1t has generally been thought that the ma
jority OF suits brought TO recover money for
gowns reiscted because thev Aid not N nronerIv
gowns Ieyeo'eu oe'aus7 'hey oiu = ~ properly
were decided IN FAVOR OF the plaihun. Ii inc
dressmaker comes into court with a suit against
a customer IL usually taLes over wbeluino
I",Is
evidence against the 10 decide
the case In favor OF the defendant. In the
| majority NJ cases brought In tho dist,ic, co,,rts
- an.s 49, .t.ms. ~. -
INC oresshhaker "ihs' Whatever INC e'iuehce
may be. A dress that seems to a woman an
| intolerally bad 1T may to aJudRe seem n very
ear, earnar, 7, g. ,his d,snosi,,nn an ~.
part OF the Civil Magistrates that has led many
women 10 pay what a dressmaker has asked
for a gown that did not Mt rather than go through
the litigation almost certain TO end In defeat
The success of the dressmakers In this lit.
CATION has been such that the newly-formed
Ladies' Taiors' Society OF New. York seems
superfiuous when one considers that It's object
the refusal Of women to accept dresses on the
ground that they do not TT. Seventy we'll
known tailors already belong TO the associa-
gowns have. begun TO come in it is thought
.nn I'M III ,ne Iasnlonaoie o~ressnaReIs IN we Guy
mediate object is 10 secure lesislation per-
hitting the Introduction OF expert evidence