The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-08-23
THE HOUSEHOLD
Edited by ANNE RITTENHoUsE
If You Buy "Ready-Madcs."


Before the war there were quite a
lot of American men who customarily
bought their clothes in London as a
matter of economy. Some of these
were men whose business called them
to the English capital once a year, and
at that time they took advantage of
prevailed there on wooden goods. of
fine quality. And then. when they
got these clothes back in the states
duty free, of course, because they were
legitimate. part of their personal
wardrobe-they + took them to their
own American tailors to have them
set up.,I Some New York tailors did
quite a large business in this sort of
thing alone. and possessed rare skill
in giving these London clothes-that
had not perhaps come from the best
London tailor establishments - the
touch that made them look right to
the weIl-dressed American man. = 1t
meant a seam taken in here and
another one let out a fraction of an
inch there; a button put over here,
and possible wrinkle in the lining
taken out on the shoulder, and pad
ding added or taken out, as the Ameri-
can style might have been at the time.
Altho it was a process requiring con-
siderable skill, it was not expensive,
for these tailors knew at a glance just
what these London-made suits needed.
Now there is something very much
clothes you buy in the shops, ready
made, usually need before you ought
to wear them. This may not be due
to any fault in the workmanship of the
clothes, but to some slight deviation or
your own figure from the average pro-
portions adopted by the ready-to-wear
manufactures Women sometimes
say, when they are shopping for ready
made clothes: when I buy a thing
ready made and pay for a finished
garment, 1 want to be able to put it
on at once and wear it." And so they
shop and shop and shop, rejecting
many a garment just because of some
very easily remedied deviation from
perfect fit, and they accept the first
dress that goes on without misfit,
whether it is really what they want or
not Sometimes they despair of get
ting the garment that fits perfectly,
and they wear it as 1t is anyway, with
the result that what might be a very
smart frock or blouse looks misshapen
and badly cut
There is the woman with arms just
trifle longer than normal They are
not long enough to be in bad proper
ton, but they are long enough to look
frightfully awkward when the sleeves
are not long enough. These women.
if they wear ready-made blouses and
do not take the few minutes necessary
to lengthen the sleeves, go through life
actually handicapped as far as ap-
pearances go, whereas the woman
with arms that are just right looks
smart in any blouse she may put on
One woman wins the reputation of be-
ing awkward, until she thinks she is
herself, and the other woman of being
of good proportions, whereas the
actual difference in anatomical pro-
portion is almost inconsidera BILE.
There are other places where you
ment. Sometim es the under-arm seam
needs taking in. the neck line needs
little adjusting. often cuffs need to be
made smaller. All these things are
easy to do, and they surely do make
the garments you buy ready made look
a hundred per cent better.