The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-23
THE cURvELEss WOMAN.
VI. Adams Fears IL Is Really Coming
to This,

4
NJ Paul Adams, great journalist of
Paris, has just written a strong article
against the growing fashion of "fiatness'
in woEaen's clothes and figures
He suggests there is sad future of
/ curveless women.
THE most attractive Venus" he says.
is transformed into Ganymede. She is
like lead soldier in a 6-cent box"
Because they haven't them in Eng
/ land, cries M. Adam, referring to these
curves, must we go without them, too?
And this beautiful ardor of patriotism
which animates the society of large cities,
will it not at least serve TO make US
cherish the beauty of cur racer" de-
mands the DISTRACTED journalist. alarmed
for the future of humanity. He appeals
in frenzied language to the French women
of bygone days, who charmed not always
wisely, but very, very we'll, to do some
thing to loosen TIE hold of the new cor
sets on their descendants.
Behold now these descendants abom-
inably renounce the charms which have
captivated our writer's Our wives, our
daughters, our sisters effaee themselves
in the English fashion in spite of all our
diatribes against cosmopolitanism and the
foreigner. Can it be that in our country
the cult of the boy is replacing that of
the dryad of beautiful form?
THE woman o.imitates a man in APP
pearanee sins against beauty.
1T is an esthetic crime.
The excellence of every creature con-
sists in preserving in its own beng and
in accomplishing the most complete ex-
preston of its own qualities. The woman
who initiates man in appearance pro-
duces a hybrid, and the result scarcely
iustifies the tortures it necessitatSs. Let
these women. therefore, give US back the
beauty of our Celtic and Latin races
Fashions do not depend entirely on
caprice. They express also the uncc n
scious tendency of the epoch. u.
Ideas which are repeated during sew
eral months finish by influencing the
w:ole manner of life. Here for years
people have been calling the nation TO
energy, preaching to il with comparisons
in favor of England, applauding the
woman's movement in America, in
France, in Russia: calling upon wives TO
cultivate loyalty, intelligence, science,
and independence to take part in pt Ii
tics. They are more or less persuaded by
all these eXhortations.
IF the coquette resists them she must
be reasoned with, and to reason about
these ideas is to adopt them in part.
AT the time when people were talking
about decadent litera.lre the shops were
full of materials of pale shades, furni-
luTt VI IdSiit WattTy
green, faded blue, washed-out red were
the colors for gowns. set off by Byzan-
tine passementerie.
Pre- Raphaelitism crossed the English
Channel.
In every salon was a strange flower
standing, solitary, in q small rose vase on
the table.
To-day the air is filled with warlike tu-
multi The cannon roars in Africa and
Asia. Diplomatic problems arise. Strikes
rect attacks of the Anarchist executioner.
Social disorder rumbles as war does be-
tween opposing civilizations. Struggles are
imminent
And our women themselves again try
to look like the Amazons. though they no
longer have to draw a bow. Still they want
to appear masculine and martial not
weighted down by a single superfluous
ounce of flesh.
They don't dream that by making them
selves less attractive to young hero they |
diminish the motives for his bravery.
IF the Latin fights for less beauty, he |
will fight less fiercely."
The French dressmakers and the women |
are laughing at NJ. Adam.
Never were women's figures so artistic |
as now.
In the Palace of Costumes at the Paris |
Exposition the seasons gowns are the |
most beautiful, the most alluring Of any |
shown
Ire new corset and the new figure are
beautiful.
The really artistic men say there was
never day when women look so charm
ing as now!