The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-09
WILL WOMEN ADOPT TROUSER SKIRTS AFTER WAR

things that women worship today. the
trousered skirt is gaining Roadway
every week.
Would it not be a strange thing if
this tremendous war should really
bring about the trousered skirt as a
standard fashion? The average wo-
man of the world will have some great
and dignified examples of womanhood
to lean up against, if she chooses to
cut off the material of her garment
below the knees and wrap her legs in
some fashion that will keep them
warm and covered and yet give them
comfort.
The moralists may not feel that the
great Georges Sand is a woman to use
as an example for what one is doing,
but this supreme woman novelist of
France, as you we'll remember, always
wore trousers because they were more
comfortable than skirts. Rosa Bon
heur, the greatest Voman painter the
world has produced, always wore
mannish attire because feminine gar
ments lmpeded her activities and took
up her time. Dr. Mary Walker, the
pioneer brain of all that is now the
foremost subject of this country out
side of war-the woman question
had worn trousers for so long that if
she wore a skirt the world would con-
slider her cause defeated.
But all these women wore the
strictly mannish attire. The modern
movement is toward something far
more graceful and effective and less
subject to criticism. 1t is the pattern
ing or women's clothes after the prim-
tive ones of the Orient that leaves
their legs free for the activities into
which they have entered.
me extra short skirt with the very
nigh boot was the first symbol of what
women intended to do in this matter,
but the full skirt with its puttee either
cut in one with the material or made
OF another fabric, and the new ZouaVe
skirt with the leather puttee which is
being worn by the women who are
offering their services to the war, are
garments which, rightly worn, cannot
cause criticism even from woman's Sc
verest enemy-the other woman, for
the oft-repeated lines should really
read:
"Woman's inhumanity to woman has
made countless millions mourn"
Leggings on the Arms.
One of the smart women who wore
a white crepe de chine gown, the full
skirt of which ended in short leggings
of jet over white silk stockings, also
wore on her arms what one of the
men in the audience called leggings of
jet. The latter accessories were quite
fetching. They were shaped somewhat
after the fashion of the old mitt of
black lace, only they were wired to
stand out over the hand, and again,
to stand out from the arm just below
the elbow, where they ended.
There are so many evening gowns
without sleeves this year. and SO many
women whose foreGrms, either thru
nature or athletics, are not especially
lovely, that this fantastic idea of
mitt from knuckles to elbow may
make a strong appeal. They need not
be fashioned of jet, altho II must be
admitted they are more fetching IN
this material than in silver or gold
lace And, by the way, the combina-
ton of Jet with white chiffon brings
about the discussion of new fashion
For several years we have been
placing white lace or silver or gold
lace in conjunction with white sat
in. crepe de chine or chiffon evening
gown, but the smart thing to do this
summer is to abolish the metal acces-
series and use an elaborate design in
cut jet.
For example, there are white chif-
fon Grecian gowns with eight-inch,
straight girdles of jet and two jet
bracelets around the arm above the
elbow, to which the underarm drap-
cry is attached. This trick of keeping
the material of the body close against
the arm when it is lifted, by means of
some kind of strap, is another strik-
ing feature of the present fashions
that every woman may care to adopt.
When the gown is sleeveless, for in
stance this drapery that rises and falls
under the arms with the movement of
the arms not only gives a more SEEM
ly and modest aspect to a frock, but
is essentially graceful. 1t is not neces-
sary to make this arrnlet conspicuous
by using a Chinese, Egyptian or
French jeweled bracelet.