Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-09-16
my VIEWS Of THE
| SHIRT WAIST NAN.
THE SEX is JUST FINDING OUT THAI
CLOTHES WE'RE MADE FOR
MEN, NOT MEN FOR
CLOTHES.
By May Irwin.


a hero He has the spirit OF '76."
He has rebelled against the tyranny
of fashion and declared that every man
has certain inalienable rights, among
which are comfort, convenience and the
pursuit of happiness. q
For centuries fashion has condemned
him to wear in midsummer superflu-
Gus garment called a coat. For hum
dreds Of summers he has perspired and
Sweltered; he has ordered iced drinks;
he has gone to the beaches or the
mountains; he has invented electric
fans; he has tried fifty different kinds
OF patented underwear; he has dosed
himself with drugs to cool his blood;
he has done everything that could be
imagined except to take his coat OFF.
1t reminds me of a Boston professor
who was very absent minded. When
he was sitting in his study one morn
ing he called loudly for his wife, and
when she appeared the distracted
philosopher said to her: 'My dear,
making a fearful disturbance and l
really can't imagine where it can be.
| do wish you would find out where
it is"
His wife at once responded: why,
John, you're sitting on the cat.
Men are just beginning to find out
what women discovered long ago-that
clothes are made for men, not men for
clothes. Women have emancipated
themselves and now it is mems turn
to fight for the liberty to dress accord
ing to the weather.
1t has always been common mascu-
line oonceit that women were the
Slaves of fashion" We women have
listened meekly to this charge for
years. Many of us have even been
accusation.
Yet all the while we were altering the
fashions whenever we pleased. We
adopted mans dress whenever we
thought it was superior 10 ours. We
ordered tailor-made suits. We bought
mems hats, stuck feathers in them and
wore them everywhere. We took a
fancy to mems collars, ties and belts
and appropriated certain styles for our
own use.
When we desire to be cool in mid
summer we simply invent the lace
shirt waist and wear 1t or all occa
sions We take off our hats not only
in theatres burt ON the street
Yet in spite of all these innovations
we have never been expelled dinnerless
from hotels or denied admission at the
church or theatre.
At present the shirt-waist man is in
the minority. If he can only hold out,
like Conger in Picking, until other men
get sense enough to help him he will
soon have Dame Fashion herself on his
side
In few summers from now we shall
have shirt waist lawyers and judges
in the court room and shirt-waist ac-
tors before the footlights playing to
shirt waist house
Who knows but perhaps there may
be such a change in our notion of
what is proper that we shall have signs
in front of every theatre and hotel say
ing: "All coats and vests must be
checked at the door,"
The newspapers will then contain
items like this: 1.-The guests at the So
And-So Hotel were shocked this morn
ing by the appearance of gentleman
at breakfast with his coat and vest on.
Several ladies at once left the dining
room and the walters were finally OBJ
liged to forcibly eject the intruder. 1t
seems that the unfortunate man is An
explorer, and, having spent the last ten
years in Thibet, was not aware of the
enormity of his offense."
Whether the shirt-waist mans vic
tory shall be as sweeping as this no
one can tell But we can be certain of
this-that whenever fashion and COM
fort clash the latter will win in the
end
AS common sense increases both men
and women will refuse to make cloth
ing store dummies OF themselves or to
follow after Paris in every freak Of
a-to oil