Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-09-09


Chicago: 22s Fifth Ave., New YORK
City; Gumbel Bldg. Kansas City. Mo
FIXING THE STYLES.
Whatever may be the opinion OF
the present indecent styles IN WON
ems dress, or the impenetrable
enigma Of their adoption by even q
portion of our needless American
women, we know where they come
from. and in view Of that fact the
remedy lies In the hands of every de-
cent American woman. ~
During the past five years In parti-
cular the Paris dressmakers have, step
by step, shown the steady degenera-
ton OF their waning art in the so-called
"Paris styles which they have sent
over here. Each year the tendency 10
lower the standards has become more
strongly marked. But 1t must be said
to the credit OF the French gentlewom-
an that these "styles" are neither IN
dorsed nor worn by her. She scorns
them with contempt. They are the
creations Of the disordered minds OF
French dressmakers who have lost all
sense of art and decency. have become
pure commercialists, and who, laugh
ing in their sleeves at the American
women, are, ais one OF the greatest OF
them recently said, seeing how far
they can 60 Sin making damn fools OF
the American women No French
woman OF the slightest refinement
wears these styles" they are the
hall mark Of the women of the French
underworld that frequent the Paris
boulevards and the French race
courses. As Nine, Sarah Bernhard
said upon her last visit. to America,
II was q perfect amazement to her to
see apparently decent American WON
en- dressed like the demimonde OF
Paris.
Nor is this a matter Of my own or
anv personal opinion: it is an incon-
troyertible fact known and acknoWl-
edged by every American buyer who
goes to Paris and everyone conversart
with the French fashion situation.
No matter how we may blame the
unthinking American girl In donning
the uniform OF her sister Of the under
world, or her careless mother In her
criminal negligence In permitting ,her
daughter to do so Tor what is sadder
still. dressing herself in these styles),
the right point of attack is at the
source Of supply. The Paris dress
maker has become degenerate. and
as such it is time that every decent
American woman should leave his de-
signs unbought. Thousands OF clean
minded and clear-thinking American
women are already doing this, and the
steady trend toward American fashions
for American women, and the wonder
fully rapid spread Of the idea through
out the country, are the first awaken
tnesl Of American womanhoOd to the
right thing to do. Nor is this trend
confined to the American woman. The
rebuke being administered to Paris,
which particularly this summer her
dressmakers have felt in marked
falling OF in trade, is worldwide. In
Milan the dressmakers are united In a
campaign for Italian fashions for
Italian women; Spain is standing for
Spanish fashions for Spanish women;
in Berlin a dressmakers' union has
established school for German fash
ions for German women; the women OF
the Netherlands have absolutely re-
fused to buy paris styles" for over
wear and now comes London IN regis
tering an emphatic disapproval OF the
Paris modes.
In tho absolute loss Of its once sup
erb art in dress designing, Paris is on
the wane, and no one realizes 1T more
clearly than do her own couturiers. So
alarmed are these dressmakers over
the tide of revolt in America that three
OF their leaders came over here during
the past year ito see what was the
matter" The present outburst Of in
decent dressing from Paris is the last
gasp Of a vanishing art. Paris, as
fashion center, faces the setting sun.
And never was the time more pro-
pitious for the rising of the sun In
America in firm and complete estab-
lishment of American fashions for
American women. To say that we
cannot design our own women's clothes
is idle talk We can. We are rapid
" accommodating the historical works
in our libraries and the paintings in
our galleries to furnish us with the
basis for study the same is did the
Paris designers of old. And what we
have not here we can send our de-
signers to the Cluny Museum in Paris
and to the great art galleries of the
world and secure. No race is more
acknowledgedly skillful in the art of
adaptation than are the Americans,
and it is the exercise Of this art that is
called for in dress designing, since
all modern costume must, of necessity,
be. and is, based In historical costume.
Paris has always done this; always
adapted; never originated. Not a
single original fashion, per Sc, has
ever come from Paris-it is always
based on the costume Of other races
and nations, either past or present.
But the American woman must give
the American designer encouragement.
She must believe that her own de-
signers know her needs, her tempera-
ment, her environment, better than do
the Partisan designers, most Of whom
have never set foot on American soil.
and are not only ignorant of her but
are contemptuous Of her. No Latin