The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-06-09
TALL GIRLS IN FASHION.

We have read and heard and sung
so much of the tall girl of late, Of her
stateliness and willowy charm, OF her
grace and glory, that we have almost
forgotten those awful days when we
were just turned fourteen and suffered
tortures OF apprehension lest we should
grown up into the iong-ntcked. long
legged Glantesscs we felt ourselves 10
be. Gibson has made the short woman
look like n midget. Christie has iS-
nored her. Yet l never met tall
woman who did not sigh because she
could never know the delight OF look
ing up TO a man.
Let her take heart Of courage Dur
ing this past season there have been
four young women each six feet tall
introduced into smart society here in
Eastern America. And every one of
them has turned out not on'y beauty,
but a social success. They tower above
their mammas and their elder brothers.
Yet they are the rage with the men,
not in spite of, but because OF their
attractive height. For ut last height
has come TO be considered an essential
form Of beauty.
The tiny little thing who could walk
under mans arm no longer laughs ut
the Cawky giantess beside her She
shrinks into insignificance and rails ut
her own short" -comings. Shoes,
hats and frocks are all fashioned with
an eye to the tall woman. The ideal
height of woman among the ancient
Greeks were five feet and five inches.
Our ideal girl is five feet and eight
inches tall and is proportioned accord
ingly.
Take heart OF grace then, ye tower
ing damsels, for just now you are the
artistic fad. You are fashionable.
CURIOUS CHANGES IN FASHIONS.
In the windows of tailors one often
sees colored plates representing ladies
and gentlemen as they should be
dressed this season if they would be
in style. The ladies simper most
sweetly the gentlemen are either state
ly or bear themselves with careless ease
calculated TO show how we'll their
clothes fit them. The Listener Won
ders if, in this age Of collecting, any
body has made a collection of these
plates. They would constitute a most
interesting gallery, say If they reached
back one hundred years. They would
be a pictorial representation Of the
passing of fashion. history of cos
tune, without the lctter-press that an
noys by detractinC from the attention
that should be given TO the pictures.
Think of chronological succession of
these plates by which, for instance,
You might know how your grandfather
looked when he dressed himself TO go |
courtinG about the year 1920, or how |
your father happened to look when he
was a clerk in 1915. Then would come |
the fashions Immediately before and |
Immediately after the Civil War, show
ing the sharp changes that great con- |
fict wrought in mems garments. That |
was n change, indeed, which has had /
an effect lasting to this day even. 1t |
introduced the buttoned-up mode Of
wearing garments, an effect Of trim
ness of setting up. The war taught
Americans to have their hair cut short,
and the way in which men wear their
hair has a marked influence on gar
menture. The elaborately dressed hair
of the ante-bellum period necessitated
a more flowing style Of garment The
coat of that period was long, rs was
the hair, and ii was, without being too
loose, just loose enough. There were
wide trousers, and altogether the civil
ian was not taught that his proper sar-
torial caper was to look as much as
possible like an army officer in plain
clothes.-Boston Transcript.