The Washington herald., 1915-04-29
Tanning the Styles.

| The effort to adopt the 'polymurial al
the name applied to the latest proposed
reform dress for women-has been
spoken of as an effort to tame the
styles Rather is il an effort to reduce
them TO a monotony. sans character, sans
| expression, sans interest. Personally we
are not among those who feel that this
effort on the part of Miss Jean Edgar.
Of New York, and her ilk, to find some
uniform garment suitable for all, occa-
sions will ever come to much. We do
not feel as if ever tickle fashion were
responsible for so many of the ills of
life as the dress reformers try to make
us feel And il doesn't seem at all
necessary to the completion OF woman's
freedom that she GO about CARRIED sub
stantially like every other woman she
meets.
Nor do we agree with Ida Tarbell when
she wrote a few years ago:
"Out of the experiments and blunders
of the early mlitants over the dress
question has come our present and use
full and robably permanent type OF street
suit. in which the American woman has
achieved a genuine democra tization of
her clothes
Any way the probably permanent type
of street sui:' to which Miss Tarbell re-
that were once in fashion. and that shows
that Miss Tarbell overestimated the ef-
feet that the early militants were having
on the matter of dress
Recently Miss Jean Edgar the god
mother of the PoIymurial movement. was
quoteG AS saying:
The general preoccupatio with dress
interferes- with everything else in the
world. 1t upsets domestic life: it dis
proportinna t"ly p:nchcs the poor: it weak
ems morals. it lowers wages. since thous-
ands OF girls work only to earn money
for clothes. it creates envy and malice
1t deterIorates our artistic sense, not only
by its Grotcsqucrics but because it
forces lis to cheap limitations and tawdry
ornament.
Perhaps all these things may in certai in
cases hc true. Perhaps some homes have
| finery. Perhaps some poor folk have
been pin-hed by the quest for dress
Maybe some morals have been weakened
by the love of fine feathers and a thou
sand girls and more work simply tina t
they may earn enough money to buy
clothes. and sometimes no doubt. it Gre
ates spirit of envy and malice and all
uncharitableness.
But on the other hand many a home
has been wrecked and made a place to
avoid because the presiding spirit of that
home did not pay enough attention TO
dr3ss and her own personal appea rance
The fact that new clothes are to be worn
by women every season provides work
for millions of %omen who otherwise
woald lind no employment. Careful and
harmonious dressing raises morals. and
not infreQucntly inspires men and women
10 hi=h achievements 1t is the impetus
which keeps many women al work who
otherwise would have no incentive to
keep them from stagnation. 1t brings
admiration and contcntment 1t makes
charming women more charming and
makes the woman If few charms more
lovely And ahoy" all il keeps the
csthctic sense alive and glowing, for in
the love al beautiful dress many women
and many mon find their only plane of
appreciation of tn" beautiful. Of melodies
in color and symphonies in line
Is il not possible that the good done
by our quest for clothes outwcishs all
the evils wrought Ivy Miss Edgars