Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-10-14
NEW CORSET FOR STOUT MEN
1t Came Into Vogue Contemnor,roo,.,,
and as a Result of the Shirt Waist
New York SUM-

Il can truthfuIiy say that wa,
| never so cool or 50 comfortable &c
| have been since | wore corset - s.;d
! the fat man, slipping a seltzer lemon,
ade through straw. Il aIwavs \ i
an idea that a man who wore a co,.sa,
did so through foppishness ar a dasire
for small waist. Look at mel,
He was the last man in tha world
that one would associate with corsets
being very stout, although well
gfoomed and with an erectness from
the waist up that is not always ono of
fat mans characteristics.
The way | got to wear one IF tho
things" he said, was when 7 noticaa
Tonwate going around in his shirt
waist First | made fun Of him and
then l began to notice that his chit
didn't set in wrinkles, damn and nm
pleasant looking, but that il had q taut
look and this puzzled me, for Tonwate
weighs more than l.
Finally / asked him about II ana
then he told me of Il Twentv-tbird
street corset maker who had invented
a corset 2irdle for fat Men lust as soon
as the shirt waist fad came out last
year. She reasoned right away that
fat men would be debarred from the
new idea for the trouble with a fat
man is that his flesh creases and Law
ers about his waist and this doesn't
look pretty with a shirt waist
This woman got up flexible light
weight belt with Il few good stiff bones
over the hips, and the result was a
neat-looking waist. the body not seem
ing to come in contact with the outer
linen. 1t was the greatest thing ever
invented, and | ordered several Of
them. and wouldn't be without one
now
The inventive corset maker is selling
dozens of these girdles 10 stout men
and is shipping them in quantities to
the summer resorts where men ride
horseback and play golf without coats
Il caH them girdles." she explained
because the idea OLA corset worn by
man is associated with dudes and
military dandcs who sometimes wear
shape stays to give them graceful
waist line.
My sirdies are simply Ia hold in ihe
surplus flesh about the waist so that it
doesn't come al visible contact with the
outer garment. II is this principle which
causes Il woman IN Il Silrt waist to Look
50 cool. But when men went for the
shirt waist in their .ndeavor to look as
cool as the shirt-waist girl they forgot
the fact that a womanS body is carefully
sirded in beneath her waist. For thin
men ii was not so difficult. but for lat
men the SHIRT waist was impossible
II thought ii al out one day when i
very stout man in 4 shirt waist came into
car He looked so very unpleasant and
warm that | began To- realize that cor
set was in reality cool garment and
then | quickly evolved the notion Of the
girilc. IL took immediate hold when
displayed one in my shop winuow with a
picture showing the use for which *
was intended.
While the shirt waist for men has not
proved very popular in the city. it is
the general rule in the country. Men ride
and row and drive and play golf and
tennis in the loose waists of silk ana
flannel and linen The dining room and
the drawing room are the only PAGES that
are forbidden the summer man without
a coat. And the uses of the girdlc have
been appreciated. The taiiurs advocate
them now as their use does away with
belts or suspendcrs. The trousers are cut
50 that they set over the girdlc in mill