Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-08

,ca this season is the silhou-
cite She did the same thing
three Years ago. anu u was
,bre. months before women took any es-
recial notice OF H. and five months be-
fore i. was accepted. But. mark YOU. II
nas accented In that truth lies the IN
terest of the whole situation.
To-day she is exploiting Silhouette
thar i supposed 10 conform 10 nature. II
came about through the advocacy OF the
corsetless figure Every one who weighs
over llo pounds found that the corsetiess
f.-,re was much of "A myth and can only
h.. real in the figures Of such women as
mo dressmakers employ az manneQuihs'
tho woman Of average bulk looks hideoLs
when uncontned. Her clothes do not NJ
her figure and her figure cannot hoid II
self properly without some support
when this was found out. then the
French produced 4 corset that allows the
abdomen and the front or the waist ii,ie
10 retain the curves of nature, anu the
hack 10 be. held In q straight, nat llne.
This was the silhouette of the directoire
Rut Paris is calling 1t the silhouette or
nature which is not quite true, because
nature produces hips and there are no
curves al the side of this new inquire.
This Silhouette Was pToQuCeu uui iie
the latter part of February In the French
dressnaking houses. and was laughed at
bv the majority of American buyers and
bv all the private patrons. But a long
line of successes by Paris in the way of
changing the clothes and the nsufe
should make any one take new move
ment by them unuer serious eohaiu0i"
ton.
You NAV remember that America
sneered at the hobble skirt, at the La
yall!ere figure, at the Drian- pastures. at
the enlarged waist line. at the ellmina-
ton of the hips at the fiat couture with
its eartabs. at the slashed skirt. at the
high-heeled street slipper Review the
last three years and put pin In every
change in fashion which Paris started
and at which America laughed. and
which America accepted more heartily
than any other part Of the world.
The future is always judged by the
past, or else experience comes 10 naugnl
and therefore one can hardly afford to
laugh at this new silhouette introduced
by Paris. Three months ago America said
that only the demi-mondaine class In
Europe would wear the widely opened
neck on the street. but take walk on
any great thoroughfare today, and test
Your powers of arithmetic by trying to
count the women who have their necks
uncovered In front from chin to bust.
-
Do you remember reading columns OF
written matter during the last six months
in which the subject Of the slashed skirt
was dismissed as purely Partisan fancy,
and 1t was said that 1t was impossible for
america to take 1t up? Well, two months
after il was shown in the French ateliers
american women we're wearing 1t in the
drawing room. and today the mass OF
women-mind you. ! do not say the best
class Of women-are wearing the slashed
skirt on the street with as little uncon-
seriousness as their ancestors had IN wear
ing the indecent hoop skirts
Why. therefore. should there be any
doubt that the American women will take
up the silhouette Of nature? Surely there
is a great deal Of comfort in letting the
waist and abdomen assume their natural
proportions. and while We consider 1t
hideous. II Is we'll to remember that our
present ideas of what Is artistic are
formed on an artificial basis. Not only
thai, but our ideas change with the
changing fashion as to what is lovely
and what is not.
II is a temptation to review the various
stages and epochs OF what man has ia
miliarly called indecent dressing" be-
cause there are many In this generation
who seem to forget that this offense has
been part of humanity throughout the
centuries There Is less of 1t done today
than ever. and even the epoch through
which we are passing, criticised as 1t
NAV be. is slight compared to all the
cpochs that preceded il.
After all. there should be nothing Of
>ansive in allowing the figure to assume
Its natural proportions. and this is what
the new movement amounts to. 1t is true
that the hips are still fiattened, which is
different from the last time that the pro-