The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-09-23
Secret of Being Chic in Dress
and Fig g
SHE KEEPS HERSELF TRIM
Homework and Diet Contribute to
This Result-Makes Friend of Her
Mrror-An American
Woman's Mistakes.


a physical cultur1st and beauty lecturer,
"and she never will be until she learns the
arts of the French woman.
There never were as many pretty
American women as now. The girls are
tall and fair and the women volupt-
uous and blooming. All wear costly dress.
when 1t comes to being chic, however,
they are not in it. A thousand times l
have been asked How can l be CHIEF
and l hardly know what to say.
"One of the principal reasons why the
French woman is chic is her underwear.
It is always dainty to the last degree.
There is a subtle something by which
you tell it. 1t may be only the sus-
picion of a rustic; it may be only
chance display of lace; it may be just the
merest suggestion of Hngerie, but you
get the idea that there is more daintiness
than shows upon the surface
1.-The American girl wears expensive
enough lingerie, but she seldom makes it
chic. There is som ething lacking.
"She may lift up her skirt and show an
all-silk pettcoat, but it is not petticoat
that bewitches 1t is merely a piece Of
silk. The French woman, If she were to
| lift her skirt. would bewitch you.
THE explanation is this The French
woman never makes a mistake. In taste
! she is superb.
IF her skirt Is a French pink, you may
| be sure that her shoe heels are French
heels and her stockings pretty stockings.
| She never mixes things up.
THE English girl, on the other hand,
is quite pathetic in her combinations I'm
| der a petticoat of charming hue and ir
reproachable style she will display boots
| that are uncompromislngly masculine.
THE American girl, charming as she Is,
has a great deal to learn of the French
woman. One thing is how not to get fat,
| for one explanation of the chic of the
French woman is that she is thin
ut is said that the French woman is
naturally lean and that she keeps her
| figure by simply doing nothing at all. Yet
| this is not wholly so. She diets and she
exercises in her own way.
1.-THE French woman would hardly go to
a gymnasium mornings, for 1t is too much
like hard work; but she exercises in
other ways.
She Is Not Lazy.
"She does her own house work and
! glories in it. She is not lazy. True, she
does not go into the kitchen and polish
the brass kettles, but she does a deal of
work around the house.
From cleaning out the fireplaces and
setting the fires-an occupation which
her dainty hands are not wholly above
to buying the meat for dinner, she is al
| ways occupied.
1.-THE American woman does not like to
market and she despises the grocer. She
dlslikes the details of her household and
she abhors light housework.
There is, then, nothing left for her
but the gymnasium. and she must take to
1t to keep her figure.
"The French woman has a little waist,
| ot,a nv
eats very little that she does not want
to eat.
'@rhe American woman cannot resist the
temptation to eat. She passes from soup
to fish, from entree to roast, from this to
salad, and SO on all the way along to des-
sert, without refusing anything. The
French woman never does that. She eats
in moderation.
1.-THE French woman sits down and eats
| long, IL not heartily. Her drink is little
weak red wine, and she partakes of a
meat, a salad and a little coffee Very
seldom does she eat anything more. 1t is
this dieting that keeps her thin.
"The American woman is apt to have
| pretty figure at the start. At the age of
| 80 her waist line begins to thicken, and
by the time she is 40 1t is gone At 80
1t is so wide and so high that you would
not recognize 1t as a belt line.
Never Gets Stout.
1.-The French woman, at least those of
| her nationality who aim at good FORM
never gets stout. And If sout. she learns
what to wear. She has the art of looking
chic, no matter how fat she may grow
| But the American woman-never.
| The fat American woman puts on
white shrtwaist. She divides her skirt
/ from her waist with a belt which cuts her
| In two and makes her look short and she
| wears a skirt that is dumpy in its line.
| 1.-The stout American woman revels IN
| satin although it may make her look
| twice as big she Is. You will not find
| a French woman-should she ever be so
| unfortunate as to become stout-in satin
| gown with her shoulders shining and jet
! twnkling from every pilow-like curve.
THE French woman studies her mirror.
/ The American woman never does this
| 1.-The French woman has pier glass
| the length of herself. no matter how poor
| she may be. The glass may be bare af-
| fair draped with mosquito netting and
| hung in a corner but 1t is looking glass
| just the same and it is kept where she
can herself in it as Others see her
"'The American woman does not believe
| in mirrors She has one, 1t Is true; and
after she is dressed she takes a sweeping
| glance into 1t.
but she does not treat it as COM
panion and guide. 1t is merely used for
| consultation and for effect.
1.-The French woman dresses in front of
| her glass She gazes and gazes, and she
| never puts on even small thing
| a bow or ribbon without first asking the
| glass If 1t Is becoming.
| 1.-The American woman, on the contrary,
| seldom looks in the mirror. She puts on
| her bows she pins on her laces, she clasps
| her bracelets upon her arms and adjusts
her pins with only a passing glance.
when all is completed she looks in the
| glass If it is not right she jerks off a
| bow or two The real reason for the poor
| effect escapes her. 1t is that she has not
| dressed with sufficient care and has fail
| ed to ask her friend the mirror a suf-
| ficient number of questions.
Loves Trying Styles.
1.-THE French woman loves to wear try
| ing styles simply because she knows that
| she can do so. She is the only woman
| in the world that can wear difficult things
Other women are not built for princess
| gowns, and for effective Empire cos
| tunes.
| IAN English physical culturist has in
| vented what he calls Empire exercises.
| He took them to Paris, but he found that
| the women there did not need them.
| 1.-THE women in other lands do need them
| though, They are for the reduction of
| the belt line and they are said to be
| very effective.
| enough. Put on a loose dress. Step for
| ward and sink one knee. Regain your
| position and step forward with the other