The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-01-20
rEz ART OF WEARING A GOWN

Af<s AM Or W9AhiN0 n 0OW ~.
Il wish knew" said the girl VITA
he chiffon muff, why stage gowns,
dke stage love making and stage SEN
timents, are always so much more
beautiful than those in real life,
They are not" said the other girl.
Half the gowns one sees on the
stage one wouldn't wear in drawing
room or on the street for anything in
the world. Do you know that lots OF
actresses buy their imported gowns
from the secondhand dealers? Well,
they do!
1T is not the gown, but the way in
which an actress wears it that makes
it so attractive. She knows what sort
Of frock to buy, just how to put it on
and just how to carry it. That is what
nine women out of ten in private life
don't know. The average woman Sc
Iects frock without any reference to
herself whatever. She just buys it be-
cause it is pretty and puts it on ex-
actly as it goes. Usually she looks
like an animated clothes rack, with
her garments hanging on her.
"An actress gets into the feeling
of her gown. The moment she slips
into it she feels her role. If the
gown is long and clinging and nlmy
and diaphanous she simply floats
every minute that she has it on. II
it has yards and yards of train she
learns how to manage it, how to sit
down so that it will wind itself around
her; how to sail across the room as
though she were trailing wings after
her; how to turn without stumbling
all over her skirts. She feels every
inch of the dignity that train gives,
and she puts on her naughty look
with her naughty frock. But the wo-
man in private life always looks as
though her trailing skirts were just
hooked on behind. They are not a
part of her. Every. bride | have seen
looked as though she felt the weight
and enormity of her train. She actual
ly shrunk into insignificance beside
it and shriveled up under her enor-
nous tulle veil. She was entirely
subordinate tosher clothes.
did you ever see Nine. Rejane in
one of her chiffon CONNECTIONS? did.
It was of sky pink with a mantle OF
pink chiffon falling from her should
ers and almost completely enveloping
her. Well, that was floating dress,
and I don't remember once having
seen Nine. Rejane walk step while
she had the dress on.N
She just seemed to float on to the
stage like cloud, to float from chair
to divan and to float out again. She
didn't sit, she didn't stand, she didn't
kneel; she just moved; and that was
all you knew. When she changed that
frock for short girlish one with a
baby waist, you wouldn't have recog-
nized her. She looked ten years
younger Her chin had been lowered,
her eyes had grown big and innocent
looking, and she seemed suddenly to
have acquired feet and to have lost
ten years and gained ten pounds. 1t
was all in the feeling induced by the
frock.
"An actress makes her frocks part
OF herself. Ii they are frilly, she Hut
ters and fiirts in them; if they are
hobby she becomes at once jaunty
and debonair; if they are magnificent
she takes on new dignity. She trails
them, bangles them, sweeps them,
holds them, clutches them. fiutters
them, or hugs them, just as they seem
to need it. Sne makes them subordi-
nate to herself, while at the same time
she brings into relief their most strik-
ing feature and displays to advantage
their slightest suggestions.
"Every gown has some sort of mo-
tiff, and unless you are able to dis
cover it's artistic significance you will
appear as badly in it as though you
should quote a bit of poetry without
knowing what it meant."-Indianapolis
News.