Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-07

special correspondence OF Inc Star
PARIS. November %. 1907.
HAVE just been reading fasci-
mating article in LIE Figaro, lie
Krach de la Beaute'' 1.-THE downfall
u of beauty. written by Marcel Pro-
vost. who has given to the world
many delightful studies of Farisian life
and In this latest story he speaks a simple
II not readily realized truth Should any
one attempt nowadays, he says. in salon
Of any pretension to start d discussion as
to who might be the most beautiful wom-
an in Paris not the least interest would
be aroused. but once suggest that Nine
x. Is the most elegant and every one Will
take part. Twenty eager disputants Will
be ready to break a lance with you on
behalf OF rival claimants. In Paris a
woman beautiful without elegance. in the
French sense of the word. commands no
position. If she be elegant as we'll as
beautiful. she counts exactly according to
the degree of her elegance. The French
critic also says that beauty Of feature no
longer counts for everything. In fact, 1t
counts for very little unless backed VI by
grace of form. subtle intelligence, genius
In the affairs of dress and chic Indeed,
IL woman be endowed with the last
named mysterious quality she need not
bother about the rest. for her success Is
assured. We all know that. as rule. the
women of France are not beautiful. but
they absolutely reverence the good points
they possess and dress with a chic that
in itself Is species of beauty. If nature
has created them beautiful of form%or
feature. so much the better, but If not
there is ALWAYS art. And the Partisan
does not spell 1t with capital A. She
does not draw attention to 1t. but she uses
il.
All this only shows that natural beauty
Is not everything. There is an art in
being beautiful.
Dowdiness and Smartness.
The other day I was asked to define
the difference between dowdiness and
snartness. and / found the question none
too easy to answer. We may say that
the poise OF a hat. the cut of a coat, the
hang of a skirt and the blending of shades
Or fabrics or textures are all points OF
difference. but does this constitute a salts
factory definition? / was very dissatisfied
with my powers of discrimination until il
occurred to me that perhaps tn realizing
of the relation of one garment to another
and of each and ali to their waarer con-
stituteG the radical difference between the
''doWd" and the elegantc For instance,
take thc hat and the face below II. One
woman Will consider hat lust som thing
TO put on her head and plant II there
without ever considering its relation to
her hair or face. While another Will look
upon hair. face and hat one corporate
whole each depending on the other and
one and all responsible for helping along
the ensemble. Then when We say that
certain woman knows how to wear her
clothes and another doesn't it just means
that the former values the Importance of
corseting herself and holdi < herself cor
rectIy as essential to making the most OF
her clothes and that the later does not
realize there is any relation between
these preimiuaries and the effect of the
garments on her back.
one instantly thinks of the familiar
spectacle in the showroom of the train
ed mannikin displaying a garment before
"A patron with perhaps inquire that has
never realized or attempted to raaiizo its
possibilities And sometimes the patron
herself tries on the model. and then indeed
fine ..scene is changed" l rSm>mber a
very amusing incident which happened
AT n couturiere's when a customer got
quite indignant and considered she had
been defrauded because the: coat she had
decided to order did not look the same on
her shoulders as it did on the salcsgirl.
who. of course. could not be candid and
tell her the reason why. 1t would be
cruel to blame any one for real lack OF
symmetry of form or for de formileS that
cannot be overcome. bot the fact remains
that the greater number of bad figures
are the results OF careiessness-
1 was very much interested not long