Evening star., 1918-10-27
Skirts Sho,0 a Trick of
Widening at the HIPS
in Order to Offset Mar
ro,Dness at the Ankles.
More Freedom, of Line
and Grace of Move
711ent.
By ANNE RITTENHousE.

VIE SUBSTITUTION OF one idea for
- another as q form of regen-
Grating, rejuvenating and re-
=, arranging the human brain is
As old as psychology. 1t was practiced.
probably, long before the word was
invented. 1t Is one Of the worlds
fundamental creeds. moral, physical
and mental. and when some Of the re-
ligionists got hold Of 1t as a new doc
trine they were only exploiting what
began before the pyramids.
Those who had to deal with a new
kind Of illness in this war, which
comes from shell shock or fear of any
kind. have applied the theory to men,
tai disease with wonderful result. 1t is
part and parcel today Of the doctors
work. True, it is the basis of halluci-
nation, of inflated egotism, of madness
even; but its advantages are greater
than it's defects.
X X
America is going through many
phases tNday. probably the most pow
erful in her career, which have come
about through the substitution in her
composite brain Of one national idea
fob another. And the work filters down
through crevices until it seeps through
the strata of underlying, and seeming
ly insignificant, by-products Of our ma
tional life.
It Is this seepage down to dress
(which Is the point of this preface. Ono
1dea has been substituted for another.
With all the critics against its success
the psychologists watch with interest
the public playing into the hands of
those who started the idea.
French gowns have always been de-
sired by all who had the money to pay
Tor them. Today millionaires ask for
American products. This does not
nnaan,ana mean snat the French gowns are not
that we have even touched. with all
our endeavors. the secrets Of their art;
nor does 1T mean that our buyers no
longer depend upon French inspiration
q nation. under a debt Of gratitude to
Paris that cannot be repaid, feel only
too happy today to get whatever she
oners e us. and we pay price for it
t.1.a .mat stasgers the average mind. But
blind who did not see the trend Of the
dence of it:
Once upon time our dressmakers
and shops were not as honest as they
might have been and as the public
would like them to be, because they
put French labels Into American
gowns. An immense hubbub was raised
nearly two decades. for the French
were rightly furious. and they were
AIDED In their fight on this side of
the water by those who felt that the
evll should be eradicated root and
To-day American labels are put into
trench gowns This is not q wild
statement. 1t is done at some of the
pest houses. Mannequins will come in
told are the designs of the house it,
self, and these models are sold to
shops and lesser dressmakers and pass
throughout the country as the crea-
M uSns OF an american designer. They
to this country by importers, copied
verbatim and turned out as American
creations.
X X
That is not honest: but that is not
exactly the point Of this particular
story. The extreme interest centers in
the fact that the substitution of one
idea for another in the national brain
has compelled or persuaded the trade
to offer to the public whatever it can
that bears an American stamp.
Those who design clothes in this
country. as well as those who sell
them, say that their living depends
upon suiting tho public. They give
this as the fundamental reason why
they changed the American labels to
French ones for nearly two decades
and now change the French labels to
American ones.
Well. IL one method was unfair to
France, the second is far more so. To
change button, or the disposal of a
yard of braid. or the lining Of girdle,
does not make the gown American.
These are the tricks that are used in
the trade to avoid the copyright laws.
but in this day, when France is facing
her industrial condition with the same
supreme courage that she shows in the
trenches, it Is not right, and the pub
lie should not support the taking
away from Paris Of the name and
fame of what she has done.
1t would be much better and would
show noble spirit on our part to give
credit everywhere. There Is always q
large segment Of rich American wom-
en-, and even those without wealth.
who prefer Paris model or a COPY Of
1t to anything that America can turn
out. They are used to French gowns,
and they prefer to remain loyal to
that with which they are familiar.
The statement that has been made
by the trade in women's clothes that
tho sales have been higher than for
years proves the contention that most
Of us made in the beginning Of the
war. that while the millionaires who