The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-09

1t has been said that women are di- vided into two classes: Those who think of the hat first and the gown after ward. and those who think of the gown and pay little attention to the hat.
 The difference in these attitudes Of mind toward essential parts of costum- cry is a topic that artistic dressmakers never fail to find interesting. Inter view a milliner and he will tell you that a woman may wear an unimportant gown and rise to heights of sartorlal success if she wears an important nat. Interview dressmaker and she will in- sist that the gown should be purchased before any other part of the costume and that all other things should be added thereunto, with or without care
 So, after all, you see, it Is the con- mercialist most interested in the wares he or she has to sell who adapts the argument to suit the case. It is no wonder, that women fall between two stools when they so rarely find an ad- wiser who is able to visualize the whole costume and either sell all of it to the customer or a part of it with plan for the rest thrown in as good will.
 There are shops in this country where one can be fitted out in everything but shoes and stockings, and even these will be bought for the customer if so desired. These shops have modelled themselves on the exclusive French places, where lingerie, hats, veils, furs, handbags and parasols are offered as accessories to the purchased gown. If the person at the head of such a shop is a competent and artistic adviser, then woman cuts her troubles in half by having the entire costume mapped out in one place and sent home in one box.
 It takes a supreme artist to go about from shop to shop, buying a gown at one place, a hat at another, a wrap here and shoes there. and then go home and assemble the various parts into 8 suc- cessful whole.
 This kind of shopping Is the chief rec reation and delight of certain types of women, and woe be to the adviser who takes 1t away from them, for their occupation in life would be gone and they would always consider that they were driven by machinery instead of per- sonai inclination; but the genuinely
 
 business woman would like to equip herself from head to foot under one roof, at onaA tiroA- and dismiss from her mind the problems of that costume.
 In looking at the whole scheme of dressing from the point of view of re- porter of clothes the safe assertion is that the milliners are right. No gown can justify itself, or it's wearer for choos- Ing 1t, if 1t is marred by the wrong hat On the other hand good hat which is admirably posed and which brings out all the best there Is in a face. can redeem a gown that would otherwise be deplorable failure. That is the way to judge the merits.
 There was once a time when women and the public gave more attention to >the face than the figure or to that vague and elusive thing called style. A wom- an had to be pretty. and her prettiness bf the kind that women understood and men admired. Her figure might be un- shapely. her gowns chosen at random and often i'll fitting. but the lovely face was featured and exploited above every thing else.
 Surely, but imperceptibly, the view point of the world toward good look ing woman changed. People demanded more than a lovely face; they grew artis- tic and wanted lovely silhouette. Then they grew insurgent and announced that they cared little for prettiness in the face, unless it was accompanied by, and often overshadowed by. style and we'll