Evening star., 1913-11-02

bark back to the days when women
laced their waists down to eighteen
inches, wore collars SO tight they were in
danger of apoplexy. and considered 1T
unwomanly to have a loose shoe and
glove. Poor tortured figure OF twenty
years ago. And men called this sweetly
natural and charmingly feminine.
There Is much about the waist OF to-
day that is ugly and awkward, but surely
It's untrammeled size makes for health
and gives every woman a chance to
breathe without restriction. IT Is not
necessary for her to go without corsets
to get these fashionable dimensions. Any
one OF the new corsets Will give them.
and few women, IL any, can go uncorset-
ed unless they have done so from In
fancy.
1t is unwise to drop a corset from
figure that has depended upon 1t for
muscular support and IT Is equally un-
wise for a woman who has worn strongly
boned corsets to adopt the new girdies
OF elastic webbing.
A young girl can do both without in
jury to her figure, but a woman more
that twenty-five years old is foolish to
try. There Is no doubt that the substi-
tuition of girdles for corsets allows the
abdominal muscles to sag and the nesh
over the diaphram to accumulate ana
these are serious objections today. al
though one would think 1t was fashion
able to have flesh at either spot Bless
your soul this Is exactly what the dress
maker does not want: she desires that
you keep yourself as thin as planked
shad 80 she may have q slight frame
work on which to swathe yards Of ma
teriaL So as far as the new fashions
are concerned one must continue to take
exercise for the waist and hips There
is no royal road to slimness.
The root of the trouble lies in the
straight front, for this gives a thickness
to the figure that allows the skirt to
slip far above the waist line. and allows
a e-piece grown to utterly lose its bear
ings. A woman must have a large bust
If she would keep her skirts from slip
ping above a huge waist line and de-
stroyfng her contour. and yet this Is ex-
actly what fashion does not wish.
Let us say. for instance that you have
slight figure and you have allowed
your waist measurement to become un-
usually large. How are you going to
get the skirt of your suit to remain
down? No matter what you do 1t rises
up in front, because its belt Is seeking
the smallest space.
The only way to control 1t Is to pin
the inside belt down to the front bone
Of the corset. This trick must be tried
out with an evening gown as well. for II
one dances the waist line OF the gown Is
pulled up under the arms Ii 1t Is not
securely held down. The wide inside
belt must also be abandoned.
Some women solve the problem by
omitting the inside belt entirely from the
one-piece frock and using only half
, inch betting on the separate skirt; both
Of these are made sufficiently loose to
be fastened to the corset a little below
the normal. A tight inside belt is hope
less when ones waist Is the same size
| from the bust to hips.
| Struggling with this problem many
| women have come to the conclusion that
| the easiest way to solve 1t is to arti-
| ficially lengthen the waist line and hol6
| 1t down with a belt that is fitted to the
| upper hips. This idea Is not new or
| coats. but 1t has not been generally at
| tempted on frocks until this autumn
Even tailored skirts which are gathered
or pleated to inside beltings are held
| down to the figure. below the waist line
by two and sometimes three narrow
straps of suede.
), Evening gowns hang loosely from the
shoulders to two inches below the nor
NAL waist line, where they are held ir
with a girdle of crystals or of gold ol
| silver lace. 1t Is easier to arrange
drapery over the large waist in frocA
of any kind. but the main difficulty
comes in adjusting the walking skirt Of
rough cloth in such way that it vii
not slide up and down the figure.
| Fortunately the new blouses are so ex.
| travagantly large and fall in so many
| folds over the top of the skirt that the
| ugly line of a high-waisted skirt against
| q tight bodice is obviated.
The fitted skirt does not exist among