Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1914-06-18
FEMININE FASHIONS SCORED.
Federation of Women's Club Says
Morality is Revealed in Styles.

)
Federation of WOmen's Club Says
Morality is Revealed in Styles.
Chicago The subject of dress came
prominently before the biennial con-
vention of the General Federation of
Women,s Clubs today. Mrs. Robert
II. Burdette of Pasadena. Cal. discuss
ed it in its relation to morals, white
the assemblage itself, by great ma
jority, exempliied the beauties OF
dress simplicity
Mrs. Burdette spoke to an expert
and appreciatiVe audience.
Worn for Ornament.
With forbidden knowledge" said
the speaker. came self-consciousnes
and with self-consciousnes came the
sense of shame and the protective gar.
ment-and thus did the transgressions
of our first parents cover all future
generations with blanket mortgage
of clothes which we are paying off
with heavy interest
Whether clothes were first worn as
an ornamental covering of the protec-
ton matters little for we seem even
to this day to consider the first of
prime Importance. No matter If the
neck be exposed nearly to the waist
line and the limbs nearly half way to
the knees, if only the style be follow
ed, heath and suggestiveness are lost
sight of in the craze to be in fashion.
Miss Grace Hutchins costume de-
signer of Columbia University, says
the morals of woman are read in
her gowns and that slovenly dress in
dicates her mental traits; that the.
woman who is addicted to extreme
styles is sure to be an extremist in
everything else. But she adds she
does not believe that every woman
who wears immoral clothes is neces-
sarily immoral. She rather believes s
large per cent of them recklessly and
relentlessly follow prevailing fashion
without knowing why.
Not for Good Women.
~'"As the fashions are today a wo-
man would have to design nearly
everything for herself if she would not
wear immoral clothes. The reason IS
plain enough:
Fashions, especially French fash
ions, are not designed for good wo-
men. They will not spend enough
money to suit the merchants. Tha.
is the reason that every new fashion
is designed originally for the denai-
monde of Paris
The speaker, herself clad in. unes-
tentatious white, asserted that Ameri.
can women are clothes=mad and that
nowhere else is seen the same elabo-
rate over-dressing says among the de-
tclasse woman abroad.
Throughout Europe she continu-
ed, "the women of high nobility and
social position are, like wrens COM
pared with the cockatoos of the half
world. It is an unpleasant thought
that it is the latter who set the STAN
dard which our fashionable women
follow with naive avidity."
The speaker gave especial en-
phasis to this statement:
The Bad Effects.
"The following of fashion dictation
causes foolish women to eat their
hearts out with longings they cannot
afford OF crafty; leads to unhappi-
ness; the ruination of homes and tbs
bartering of virtue itself"
She said that women should de.
, mand for themselves what style OF
dress most becomes them, and Their
stick to that style. Americans are
too Independent, to individual, she
admitted. to be content with Nation
al costume
mo one thing today in woman's
1 life more saps her strength, time
e means and nervous vitality, than thu
: triple-headed lion that guards every
event of daily life in the form of tn;
q questions what shall I wear?' How
= shall it be nader and how shall i