Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-03-14
TROUSERS WE'RE APRONS ONCE.
Fashion Made Them So Long That
Men Couldn't Manage.
From the New York

from Tue new 4OFk sun.
Mrs. Clara Ruge revealed the mys-
terry of trousers last night at the R"-
tel Aston. The useful garment car Q
from the banks of the Nile, it appeai =.
and may have been worn for the fiji t
time by King Snefru. of the fourth q. :
nasty, who fiourished about 5000 u. =.
Mrs. Ruge is an art critic who HIS
J made Il special study of costume. She
\ talked at the Aston last night before
! the Art Workers club on the Origin.
History and Development of Costume
William M. Chase, the artist, lent her
some OF his most gorgeous costumes
that h might illustrate. her talk by
dressing live girls up in them and Civ
ing living pictures. Mr.. Chase also
posed the young women. who were
pretty professional models.
Mrs. Ruge devoted several minutes
of her talk to trousers, and the women,
who formed a large majority of the
audience, listened with interest. They
had a right to. If 1T hadn't been for
women'S aprons, first worn in Egypt,
there wouldn't nave been any trousers.
Pants are but aprons of a larger
sensible about their dress than wom-
en-" said Mrs. Ruge. AT times they
! have become foolish 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
OiIiCAi, SO a as 6Os
Trousers. the distinctive feature OF
mems dress. were worn in Egypt for
the first time. Both women n men
had been wearing aprons. Aprons were
the very first attempt to ornament and
decorate the person. Before they APP
peared men and women wore kin and
furs-plain. severe and simple. h
aprons were a fanciful frill. The wom-
en- 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 freely, though,
wearing these long aprons. A genius
appeared. He cut holes in the apron,
stuck his legs through and behold he
had the rudinlentary trousers. Little
by little something was added behind
or in front until today we have the per-
feet pattern"
Until the present time, Mrs. Ruge
said, the caprice and whim of women
threw common sense to the winds, and
the result was the most o%utlandish
dress conceivable.
we have progressed" said Mrs.
Ruge. I'VE AVE found that 1T is fool
ish to submit to the slavery of FASH
ion. Today whatever is beautiful is
Fashionable. Formerly it was What
ever is fashionable is beautiful. l on
slider, though, that h periods in which
the most beautiful costumes were
worn both by men and women We're 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 all
ways stood for liberal ideas. freedom,
hatred of tyranny and manliness.
"The first felt hats We're worn by
Wallenstein's soldiers during the thir-
ty years war;" she said. THE Hol-
landers Wore them to show they had
thrown off the rule of Spain. The Pur-
ftans wore them, and so did the Quak-
ers. making a f;.shie.l of soft hats.
which indicated their formality and
sternness. Today the rough rider hats
n the cowboys sweeping hats stand
for the same thing-love OF liberty"
Mrs. Ruge illustrated her talk with
The girls of the Art Workers. club
showed themselves dressed as Greek
maidens, Roman matrons, Egyptian
princesses. Spanish gypsies, ladies of
the time of Philip II. of Spain, ladies
OF the court Of Louis XIV, ladies OF
the first and second empires, and in
costumes of every period which had a
distinctive costume. They appeared in
a great frame of black and gold, which
had a background of green velvet.
How would you like to walk along
Broadway In that?" whispered II of
the women in the audience when a girl
of Pericles' time appeared in the frame.
Not lnuch.' said her girl friend. I'D
lose that In h first department store
I crush I got into"
Mrs. Ruge exhibited costumes to
show the effect the age of troubadours
the Crusades. the Renaissance. the in
vention of gunpowder and printing and
the discovery of America had on cos
TUNES. She regretted that she hadn't
been able to procure a man who would
pose In the skin-tight trousers, ach
leg of a different design, that the Ital-
ians wore in the fifteenth century.
1T would have been so pretty" she
said. The crinoline, invented and pop
ularized by the Empress Eugene. was
shown on the screen and in living pic
lures.
THAT was "a enough" said Mrs.
Ruge, but the narrow gowns Of 1870
were worse. It 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 you moth
ers thought them h~andsome?" said
Mrs. Ruge. People who didn't wear
them were called cranks."