The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-04-29

about their dress than women" said Mrs.
Ruge. AT times they have become fool
ish and worn things to show off their
handsome figures, or let vanity run away
with them, but in the main they have
been saner than women, SO far as clothes
go.
Trousers, the distinctive feature of
mems dress, were worn in Egypt for the
first time. Both women and men had been
wearing aprons. Aprons were the very
first attempt to ornament and decorate
the person Before they appeared men
and women wore skins and furs-plain,
severe and simple The aprons were a
fanciful frill The women of Egypt got
to wearing them long, and imperious
fashion required the men to do the same
1t was difficult for the men to move free
ly, though, wearing these long aprons
A genius appeared. He cut holes in the
aprons, stuck his legs through and be-
hold he had the rudimentary trouser.
Little by little something was added be-
hind or in front until today we have the
perfect pattern"
Until the present time, Mrs. Ruge said
the caprice and whim of women threw
common sense to the winds, and the re-
suit was the most outlandish dress con-
ceivable.
I'VE have progressed" said Mrs. Ruge.
1--WE have found that 1t Is foolish to sub
init to the slavery of fashion. Today
whatever is beautiful is fashionable. For
merly Ii was whatever Is fashionable Is
beautiful. l consider, though, that the
periods in which the most beautiful cos
tunes were worn, both by men and
women, were in the time of the Greeks
and during the Renaissance"
Hats have always indicated ideas, said
the costume expert The felt hat, broad
brimmed, free and easy, has always stood
for liberal ideas, freedom, hatred of
tyranny and manliness.
THE first felt hats were worn by
Wallensten's soldiers during the Thirty
Years war" she said. THE Hollanders
wore them to show they had thrown off
the rule of Spain. The Puritans wore
them, and so did the Quakers, making a
fashion of soft hats, which Indicated their
| formality and sternness. Today the
| Rough Rider hats and the cowboys
sweeping hats stand for the same thing
love of liberty"
Mrs. Ruge Illustrated her talk with
stereopticon views and living pictures.
The girls of the Art Workers club
showed themselves dressed as Greek
maidens Roman matrons, Egyptian prin-
cesses, Spanish gypsies, ladies of the time
of Philip ii. of Spain, ladies Of the court
of Louis XIV. ladies of the First and Sec
ond Empires. and in costumes of every
period which had distinctive costume
They appeared in great frame of black
and gold, which had a background Of
green velvet.
How would you like to walk along
Broadway In that?" whispered one of the
women in the audience when a girl of
Pericles' time appeared in the frame
Not much, said her girl friend. I'D
lose that in the first department store
crush l got into"
Mrs. Ruge exhibited costumes to show
the effect of the age of troubadours, the
Crusades, the Renaissance, the invention
of gunpowder and printing and the dis
covery of America had on costumes She
regretted that she hadn't been able to
procure a man who would pose in the
skintight trousers, each leg of a different
design, that the Italians wore in the
fifteenth century.
ut would have been so pretty" she
said
The crinoline, invented and popuarzed
by the Empress Eugene. was shown on
the screen and in living pictures.
THAT was bad enough" said Mrs Ruge
but the narrow gowns of 1870 were worse
1t was pitiful to watch a lady trying to
cross a ditch with that garb on"
! Next came the hustle of 1880.
| Would you believe that your mothers
thought them handsome?" said Mrs Ruge
| people who didn't wear them were called
/ cranks