Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-04-30
Fashion in Dress for Women

The extremes of fashion are notorious,
and | have seen a good many extremes IN
my time. I remember a period When
eight or ten stiff starched petticoats were
deemed necessary to make the top skirt
hang as il should and pun out like a
small balloon Laundry work was i'm
mense TO keep such a mass of under
wear in good order, and can recall some
remarks made by men who did not like
to see so many petticoats in bedraggled
condition.
/ can remember. too, when hoop skirts
came along. and some of them were fear
fully and wonderfully made at the start
OF the fashion.
A gay French empress who set the fash
ion only intended to use it as maternity
equipment. but the world of fashion imi-
tators caught on. and directly the land
was flooded with wire woven hoop skirts
Old women and little misses were alike
eager to get one for themselves, and 1t
must be confessed that they saved laun-
dry bills and were pleasantly cool in sum-
mer.
Thirty o. more years ago dress skirts
and dress sleeves were made as tight as
the skin. end the waist was hooked up
until Il fitted the body like a bugs
shirt" ] knew a fashionable lady who
couldn't arrange her bonnet on her own
head unless she did so before that frock
was fastened up-it was so close and
tight.
Nowadays. big waists are all the go,
and the coat suits look as though they
were fitted on a telegraph pole. from the
neck to the hem of the skirt. I can re-
call time when all the women wore bus
ties. and I am frank to say a small hustle
always assisted the snug fit of skirt to
my notion.
/ remember when tight-lacing was
the fad. and | have seen young women
who were reported as tying the end of
their corset strings to the teaster bed
post and then the girl would pull until
the desired small waist was accomplish
ed and her frock could be hooked.
No wonder there was so much faint
I ing recorded and fainting heroines were
50 prominent in all the novels of that
time whv they didn't faint when they
were Iaved to the limit all the time L
do not know. for nothing upsets me so
quickly as tight frocks, tight shoes or
tight neck collars.
If the present style was little fuller
in the skirt and a little less baggy at
the waist | should say we are pretty
well provided for as to style.
! was told the other day by one who
, studies styles that the corsets were ex-
tending downwards and skirts were get
ting so scanty that the probabilities are
that we will see a close tight waist
down to the knees with a twelve-inch
frill to trim the bottom like old-fash-
Toned pantaksts
/ would be glad to see bonnet that
would cover the ears in winter and
shelter the eyes in midsummer. 1
should detest a frock that would COM
pei me to side into a chair when l sat
down because sitting down endangered
buttons and hooks and eyes, though /
have seen just such dresses many years
ago. / thought a small hoop skirt was
both pretty and comfortable. and a
small hustle didn't hurt but helped the
feminine form. but a tight sleeve is a
] positive nuisance. and / have seen them
so tight that the circulation was i'm
! peded. am glad our fashionables have
given up those pouter pigeon shirt
waists that allowed the wearer to carry
nandkerchiefs, gloves, etc, in the bosom
of the waist. Now the shirtwaists are
nearly perfect.