Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-16
THE QUESTION OF CLOTHES


of his early days, and, of course, as Is
the privilege of age, comparing them
with present uay actors to the latter S
disadvantage, spoke enthusiastically OF
seeing the great Booth play Julius Cae-
sar in a cutaway coat and a string tie
with so much spirit and genius that the
vast audience forgot the toga for the
man and never stopped to inquire what
accident delayed the trunks.
A woman who read this letter an
nounced that it required the highest
genius to make human nature rise
above it's clothes, and she didn't believe
that any woman short of Duse or Bern
hardt could so absolutely forget the
garments that encased her as to act
any part in life with real skill and self
forgetfulness. She quoted the cid lady
who said to Augustus Hare that the
knowledge of being we'll dressed gave
her a sense of peace that religion could
never bestow to prove her point that
woman was always hideously uneasy If
she wasn't conscious of being well
dressed, and she added. furthermore,
that the adoption of the fig leaf gown
by Eve marked the uplifting rather
than the downfall of the race.
Considering there was a time when
leaf garments were the rage and later
time when one skilfully draped piece of
the intensity of feeling women display
in regard to the suitableness and un-
suitableness of their clothes is nothing
short of ridiculous. There is scarcely
girl child in the civilized world over
years of age who would not willingly
give up the prospect of the most de-
lightful party imaginable than go to it
in a frock which she considered not
quite so pretty or SO fashionable as
A. nl,f 70
wear.
There's many and many a woman
who cheats herself out of all sorts of
pleasure because she fancies she hasn't
the proper gown for the occasion, ana
who looks back upon herself as one
who was subjected to a series of mar
tyrdoms if, in her youth, she could not
afford to wear what other women
around her were wearing. And yet 1t is
a strange thing that in the minds OF
almost all of us, men and women alike,
there is a memory of some girl who
was poverty's favorite, who made her
own clothes and made them of the
cheapest materials, and with it all was
the belle of the ball wherever she went.
Perhaps she possessed the genius neces-
sary to rise above her clothes. At all
events we like to conjure her up IN her
pretty fresh muslins and ribbons which
her charm touched with a fairy wand
till they stand out amid all the silks
and satins that have passed in review
before us.
1t is going little too far to say that
the woman dependent upon her clothes
for good time has no resources within
herself to guarantee her any real pleas
ures; because it certainly gives Wom-
an confidence in herself, enough conf
dence, in fact, to enable her to forget
herself, to know that what the occasion
demands of her she has fulfilled so far
as dress is concerned. That point be-
ing settled to her satisfaction she can
plunge heart and soul into the fun of
the moment without giving an uneasy
thought to her personal appearance.
No woman with refined instincts
wants to go about looking over-dressed
any more than she wants to appear
slatternly. The dullest woman often
develops interesting characteristics
when she is conscious of looking her
best, while, on the other hand, the
brightness of even the witty woman is
sometimes fatally obscured by the
knowledge that she is wearing a color
that doesn't become her or a frock that
wrinkles in the back. 1t doesn't do
bit of good to argue with a woman
that in order to enjoy herself she must
forget her personal appearance. 1t may
be a silly characteristic of her sex, but
it is impossible for woman to enjoy
herself if she cannot remember with
satisfaction that she has on the most
becoming gown she possesses. Never
theless, it is highly improper for her to
go to such extremes in the matter that
she can think of nothing but her own
e. 11a